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

[ian glendinning]

Arlo, Platt,

Platt said
"Yes. I'd rather everyone be just like me."

I say, I couldn't think of anything worse, than everyone being the
same as me. Difference is the root of all quality.

Ian

On 2/7/06, Arlo J. Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:
> [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
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