The Q'ran, the Bible, and probably a bunch of other religious traditions all have the same problem. They contradict themselves constantly.
One can find justifications for vast multitudes of diametrically opposed moral, ethical, and sectarian positions in all of them.
If we seek justification, we can find it; but it will likely be a hollow justification. The same for others who see our positions as ludicrous. We'll all be right, and we'll all be wrong simultaneously.
I try to approach these things differently. Looking to the past gives only the solutions of the past, and if they had actually worked, we wouldn't be where we are currently.
Conversely, I look to the future, set a goal, and work directly toward that goal, choosing available solutions from those supported by available means, all of them, and not just the pretty ones. I have to think outside the box, cannot put faith into past efforts because they did not work, could not work, or we would not be trying to fix the same problems incessantly. Doing the same thing repeatedly in search of a different outcome is the very definition of insanity, yet current efforts only confirm that we most consistently seek to be insane.
Rather than stepping outside the box, we dismiss such thinking as wrongheaded.
We all make the same assumptions. We assume that humanity means well and seeks its own perfection. But nature selects for success, not for altruism.
We are natural predators; and like all predators, safeguarding the nest of our offspring takes priority. All those who ignore that fail the test of natural selection, because those who do will eat the others' offspring. Claiming otherwise is simply denial of the ultimate truth.
When we got down to the bottom line in the 1940's we had to make hard choices as a Western Society. We had to do things many called inhuman. If they were inhuman, humans would not have been capable of doing them. If we had not done them, we would be speaking either German of Japanese, but not both; because neither of them would have stopped at defeating the Allies.
It's time to stop masquerading as the good guys. Everybody does it here in the West and everybody's wrong about that. The declared and dedicated enemies of the West have made the move to full commitment. Now we either do the same. or we fail the first test of nature; we get to watch our children be slaughtered.
Isn't that what we're talking about right here? I don't care who hates us. Our enemies already hate us, and a lot of the folks who call us friends hate us just the same. I don't see a lot of downside to being hated when it's already such a popular sentiment. I prefer to grin and bear it, and refuse to let it get in the way of safeguarding our children.
The Middle East was just advised to take the stand. NATO is being given the same mandate. If the Middle East shirks, NATO must not, and the Middle East will (rightly) become the area of contention. It started there, it should end there. I think the Bible even has something to say on the subject. If Russia and China want to join the fray, fine by me. Personally, I would not expect them to support the Middle East when there's more at stake than simply confronting the West. For the purposes of this argument, they are not the Middle East, and that's the salient point.
The decisive war has already started. The real first shot was fired this week in Manchester when they went for the kids. Any real parallels between Manchester and Pearl Harbor differ only in their time frame. This is not the end, but it is the end of the beginning.
Greg
