[MD] Hippies (and Humour) in the Middle East

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

[Arlo previously]
The Middle East needs more "contrarians" (more bohemians and hippies). Maybe in
hindsight, it was these groups we should have supported, rather than big oil
autocracies and Mujahideens. 

[Platt]
Bohemians and hippies in the Middle East. Do you mean Hamas?.

[Arlo]
No one but you buys this idiotic pairing. Bohemians and hippies advocated a
rejection of social and intellectual patterns, in pursuit of DQ. Hamas
advocates allegience to social patterns. That you would attempt to equate the
two only further evidences your deceptive tactics.


[Arlo previously]
Which is NOT the same as wishing there were more "contrarians". But thanks for
being honest.

[Platt]
Do you doubt I'm contrarian to you?

[Arlo]
Oh not at all. I've begun to consider us "anti" beings. But the point is that I
don't want others "like me", I want more contrarians, as described by Pirsig.

[Platt]
Your defense of a brutal dictatorship is heartwarming.

[Arlo]
As usual, you offer nothing but rhetorical deception. Your inability for one
moment to place yourself as a man-on-the-street in Iran is sad. 

[Platt]
So you see no difference between loyalty to a constitutional democracy that
guarantees free speech and preserves other intellectual values and a brutal
theocracy?

[Arlo]
Any loyalty placed out of blind faith and allegience is damned from the
beginning. Iranians don't consider themselves "supporting a brutal theocracy",
they consider themselves on the side of justice, just as you do. Blind faith in
that belief will always lead to conflict.

[Platt]
Oh, I forgot. Many academics like Noam Chomsky think Muslim terrorism is
justified because of terrible, imperial Amerika.

[Arlo]
And.... more deceptive rhetoric, go figure. What I said was that the situation
is complex, more complex than being able to say "America is responsible" or
"They hate us for our freedom". What's sad is your lack of ability to place any
historical insight into the situation, to see where our actions may have had an
impact, and how rethinking those actions may be part of a viable solution.

[Platt]
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

[Arlo]
Maybe not, but blind faith in any Nation State, whether or not it proclaims
itself to be The Greatest, is the surest way to bring about an end to liberty.

[Platt]
Yes, I know you believe that a country run by a bunch of religious fanatics
dedicated to kill every Jew and infidel is morally equivalent to the U.S.,
thereby being justified to build atomic weapons. Thankfully, most Western
leaders  disagree with you.

[Arlo]
And why shouldn't you end with more deceptive rhetoric? I mean, any option other
than "killing 'em like germs" makes me an "enemy of freedom". Right? I don't
want Iran to build atomic weapons. But, I understand why the man on the street
on Iran might feel just like you do about his country, and maybe manipulated by
fear of you just as much as you are manipulated by fear of him.

But, like I said, the situation is perhaps too volatile not to come to war. Too
many people on both sides want it.

Arlo