[MD] sq social - sq intellectual

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Jos to Platt]
They don't act alone, they are the extension of a culture, if the ideals of the
culture persist there will always be more terrorists. Kill the idea and the
terrorist has no reason to fight.

[Arlo]
Reason, Jos? That's won't get you a hill of beans with the neocons. What you
state is obvious. You won't eliminate certain bugs in your damp basement by
squashing them, they breed faster than your foot can pound. Drop a few bug
bombs, and sooner or later the bugs will return. But, deal with the damp
conditions, buy a dehumidifier, make sure there is no garbage laying around,
replace rotted wood, seal cracks, ... and you can make your basement stabily
bug-free quicker and more lasting. In the current conflict we have terror
leaders, megalomaniacs bent on nothing but their own power. Towards this end
they manipulate religion, distort politics, and prey on the same dichotomy
Platt employs (below). Then we also have rank-and-file Joe's, whose actions
rise in response to this dichtomy, where experienced injustice or perceived
injustice of imperialism and hegemony hurt the common guy. Killing these guys
only gives the leaders more power, and fuels the creation of more of these
guys. Certainly we must act, sometimes proactively, to prevent violence against
ourselves and our family. And in armed conflict, this means military solutions
and death. But when this is employed in a vacuum, it is a futile attempt to
destroy an idea with a bullet (as was stated). That is Platt's war.

And Platt's war is exactly the kind of war that serves only to continue the
conflict. His approach is simple, the US can do no wrong and it is always
morally justified. Imperialism and hegemony are moral conquests, our manifest
destiny. As the morally superior nation, our invasions and economic
manipulations are always moral and good. In creating this comic-book-esque
view, the enemy becomes wholly immoral, and any and all criticisms they level
against the US are always misguided, dismissed and ignored. This is the same
comic-book-esque view the terrorists use to exploit those harmed, or who have
perceived injustice, at the hands of American hegemony. They exploit the
reverse dichtomy, where the US is always the grand evil, incapable of moral
action, an immoral force that seeks to enslave and destroy. In the minds of the
rank-and-file drawn to terrorist camps, it is not "biological crime" but to
fight for justice, where THEY become the unquestionable moral force. And this
is where we stand today. Two sides, both more bent on masturbating their moral
righteousness rather than backing up, sitting down, and reflecting on where
they are, and where they are NOT, responsible; to hear criticisms and accept
them as valid in their proposal. But above all else, to drop the idiotic
patriotic nonsense of being morally supreme.

But you see what appeals to people. Reason? No. Proclaiming moral righteousness?
Bingo. So I say now, as I have repeatedly in the past, if its armageddon these
fools (on both sides) want, then bring it on. Fenrir is always eager. Let's
destroy civilization and hope that in the next cycle of evolution "man" can do
better. I doubt it, but there is always hope.