Flypaper Theory

[quote]Moriarty wrote:

What if we don’t believe we’re the “good guys”? What if we just believe we’re establishing a liberal democracy (because that’s the form of society we prefer) and don’t make a value judgment as to whether it is “good” or “bad”. Then is it ok?
[/quote]

No, because that would be hubris.

It means assuming that your kind of government is good for all people when it probably isn`t.

These people are still organized in tribes for Christs sake.

Killing a few hundred thousand in the name of democracy just to find out that this means fitting a round peg in a square hole is definitely not ok.

Communism collapsed, because it was doomed to failure and because people had enough of it, you maybe helped it along a little with an arms race.

In a way you did marginalise nazism, but not by bombing Germany, which united the people under its leaders, but during and after the war by re-educating POW and funding newspapers and radio stations.

Right now al Jazeera does more to fight Islamo fascism than you do.

[quote]Moriarty wrote:
What if we don’t believe we’re the “good guys”? What if we just believe we’re establishing a liberal democracy (because that’s the form of society we prefer) and don’t make a value judgment as to whether it is “good” or “bad”. Then is it ok? [/quote]

Democracy? Ha! Need I remind you that the US has toppled more functioning democracies all over the world?

Stop kidding yourself. You’re only interested in democracy when the winner is on your side.

[quote]orion wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:

The other thing is that 9-11 did nothing to endanger a liberal democracy,

Yes, mass murder and financial ruin are healthy for a democracy.

1/10 of each years car deaths, 1/1000 of the US GNP.

So apparently Iraq will not be a democracy?

the Patriot Act, wiretapping and Guantanamo certainly did.

We have checks and balances that are working quite well.

Compared to what?

Your founders intentions?

Mwuahhhahahhahah, cough, mhwuahahahaha…

Should you not defend the rule of the people at home first before you try to export it to another region?

It is defended everyday.

When and by whom?
[/quote]

Our court system has already ruled on some of these things and will rule on more. Our legislature has made changes as well.

[quote]

Or is it simply easier for the average American to have brown people killed in his name than to stand up to his government?

Racism? You can do better than that.

Not racism. Not caring about people who are different than the average American.[/quote]

Complete bullshit. The American citizen is incredibly generous to people of all over the world.

I think Mick, in his obnoxious way, is right about your anti-Americanism. You go beyond not agreeing with certain policies. You make false accusations.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:

The other thing is that 9-11 did nothing to endanger a liberal democracy,

Yes, mass murder and financial ruin are healthy for a democracy.

1/10 of each years car deaths, 1/1000 of the US GNP.

So apparently Iraq will not be a democracy?

the Patriot Act, wiretapping and Guantanamo certainly did.

We have checks and balances that are working quite well.

Compared to what?

Your founders intentions?

Mwuahhhahahhahah, cough, mhwuahahahaha…

Should you not defend the rule of the people at home first before you try to export it to another region?

It is defended everyday.

When and by whom?

Our court system has already ruled on some of these things and will rule on more. Our legislature has made changes as well.

Or is it simply easier for the average American to have brown people killed in his name than to stand up to his government?

Racism? You can do better than that.

Not racism. Not caring about people who are different than the average American.

Complete bullshit. The American citizen is incredibly generous to people of all over the world.

I think Mick, in his obnoxious way, is right about your anti-Americanism. You go beyond not agreeing with certain policies. You make false accusations.[/quote]

Was it not you that posted that your children matter to you more than other peoples children as a matter of course?

Is some of the reasoning for the war not that you “fight them over there so that you do not have to fight them over here”?

Does that not translate into that you would have rather their hospitals, their schools and their lives destroyed than the occasional bomb going off in the US?

Is it not true that you can have a 9-11 every day in Iraq without even a 1/1000 of the media coverage of one 9-11 in the US?

[quote]lixy wrote:
Agreed. But you’re forgetting that Iraq under Saddam was the most secular country in the region.
[/quote]

I didn’t “forget” that. Actually I don’t think I even mentioned Iraq at all. Orion suggested that the US government is morally equivalent to Al Qaeda because civilians die as the result of the actions of each. I was trying to have a discussion about that and that alone.

[quote]lixy wrote:
Again, I agree. But the deaths should be the result of “the people” of the land determining their destiny. Not some foreign power bullying them at gunpoint.
[/quote]

This is completely irrelevant to the discussion I was trying to have.

[quote]lixy wrote:
I’m willing to die for their principles is fine by me. You, on the other hand, are killing for yours. There’s a huge difference which you try to amalgamate with your “civilians deaths”.
[/quote]

I’m killing someone? Who I am killing lixy? (BTW, yes I am willing to kill for my principles, not just die. But last I checked I’m not killing anyone right now.)

[quote]lixy wrote:
Yep. All of the above, plus your most hypocritical support to the Al-Sauds (one of the most repressive human-rights abusing government and nest for “Islamo-fascism”).
[/quote]

I support the Al-Sauds?

[quote]lixy wrote:
Democracy? Ha! Need I remind you that the US has toppled more functioning democracies all over the world?
[/quote]

What’s your point? How is this relevant to what we’re talking about?

[quote]lixy wrote:
Stop kidding yourself. You’re only interested in democracy when the winner is on your side.
[/quote]

No shit. Your point?

What does this have to do with the topic at hand, which is whether or not Al Qaeda and the US are morally equivalent because of the death of civilians (and if that even matters).

[quote]orion wrote:
Moriarty wrote:

What if we don’t believe we’re the “good guys”? What if we just believe we’re establishing a liberal democracy (because that’s the form of society we prefer) and don’t make a value judgment as to whether it is “good” or “bad”. Then is it ok?

No, because that would be hubris.

It means assuming that your kind of government is good for all people when it probably isn`t.
[/quote]

Quoting to emphasize the fact that you don’t even read the posts you reply to.

[quote]Moriarty wrote:
orion wrote:
Moriarty wrote:

What if we don’t believe we’re the “good guys”? What if we just believe we’re establishing a liberal democracy (because that’s the form of society we prefer) and don’t make a value judgment as to whether it is “good” or “bad”. Then is it ok?

No, because that would be hubris.

It means assuming that your kind of government is good for all people when it probably isn`t.

Quoting to emphasize the fact that you don’t even read the posts you reply to.

[/quote]

Na, it is just that your “what if” is preposterous.

This is Woodrow Wilson II, “making the world save for democracy.”

Which did of course work like a charm.

If this shares the fate of the last crusade for democracy the whole region will explode in all out war.

[quote]orion wrote:
Right now al Jazeera does more to fight Islamo fascism than you do.

[/quote]

Yeah, by broadcasting Osama Bin Laden and his al-qaeda aids speeches so more people could see them? How is that fighting Islamo-fascism?

[quote]lixy wrote:

Those exceptions, exist on the other side as well. They are called Al-Qaeda. Most of the time, people forget that the bulk of “your enemies” in Iraq are nationalists who’d do anything to free their land from the foreign military force.
[/quote]

On another thread, you said that the muslim world is heading toward the middle ground between wahabbist theology and military dicatorship.

So, what you are saying is that the people of Iraq want to live under a dictator like Saddam? When given the choice to choose, they would choose that? Certainly that would not be this moderate “middle ground” government you spoke of, would it?

We are in Iraq trying to forge a middle ground for these people. If we leave Iraq, do you really see a moderate democratic country forming in our wake?

These “nationalists” who are trying to “free their land from the foreign military force” are leading the country to one of those two other extremes.

And these are the people you support while you claiming you do not?

You condemn the Saudis, but if the Saudis fell, who would take their place? People like the Taliban, al-qaeda? You seem to think a moderate democracy would emerge. Where would these people come from? Where are these people now? Certainly not in Iraq, since most of them have been killed by the Baathist or al-qaeda “freedom fighters.” Great guys these “freedom fighters” if this is the kind of “freedom” you want.

[quote]Gkhan wrote:
orion wrote:
Right now al Jazeera does more to fight Islamo fascism than you do.

Yeah, by broadcasting Osama Bin Laden and his al-qaeda aids speeches so more people could see them? How is that fighting Islamo-fascism?[/quote]

First it does not actively recruit among young Muslims, which is technically enough to do more than you do and then they are a news channel.

They are giving them an non western independent voice.

And, God is great, no OJ or Britney.

[quote]Mick28 wrote:
Moriarty wrote:
Mick28 wrote:
Maybe I resent the fact that someone from austria feels compelled to constantly bang away at my government. Even though I don’t agree with everything they do, reading your shit on here daily is just getting old.

So…in the very nicest way…FUCK OFF.

:slight_smile:

Why do people go on the internet, seek out discussion forums, and then complain about “having” to read someone’s “shit”?

Seriously Mick, you make a good point or two from time to time but the whole “fuck off” internet tough guy act was old a long time ago. Either enjoy the arguing or just stop reading. No one is going to leave just because you put “fuck off” in all caps this time.

Normally I would agree. But quite honestly I’m sick of two specific posters. And while they have the right to go on and on about “the great satan”, I have as much a right to attack them…any way that I please.

But keep in mind you can take your own advice if you don’t like what I post don’t read it.

[/quote]

You´re just jealous.

[quote]orion wrote:

Was it not you that posted that your children matter to you more than other peoples children as a matter of course?
[/quote]
Anyone that claims differently is a lunatic or a liar.

[quote]

Is some of the reasoning for the war not that you “fight them over there so that you do not have to fight them over here”?

Does that not translate into that you would have rather their hospitals, their schools and their lives destroyed than the occasional bomb going off in the US?

Is it not true that you can have a 9-11 every day in Iraq without even a 1/1000 of the media coverage of one 9-11 in the US?[/quote]

What does this rambling have to do with your hateful accusations that Americans don’t care about the “brown people” in the world?

You are seriously losing it.

[quote]orion wrote:

You obviously do not get my point.

I was asking where this feeling of US moral superiority comes from when the US is killing more civilians than terrorists ever could.

The answer is apparently that the US do not want to kill those people, it just happens as a matter of consequence.

That would be a form of dolus eventualis though, which borders so close to intent that it is sometimes indistinguishable from it.

Is that a serious way to see things that you can kill as many people as you like as an unintended consequence but not one if you really mean it?

When does this logic become absurd?

At a ratio of 10:1? 100:1? 10000:1?

Your answer is that you bring more reasons to the table why the war in Iraq is justified while I question that there is a significant difference between the US moral outlook and that of Bin Laden.

Both see people as disposable pawns.

Giving me more reasons WHY you think it is necessary to use them as disposable pawns has really nothing to do with the questions I have yet to get an answer too.

[/quote]

I understand exactly what you are saying and why, and it does not matter what I say, you will not accept it.

Just like you ignore the mass graves in Iraq.

What gave us the moral superiority to to attack Hitler? Was it only because he said publicly that he declared war with us? Saddam had declared war with us repeatedly, but we ignored him for years.

Be honest, this has nothing to do with anything America has done. This is about your belief in your belief in your moral superiority over America. That no matter what we do it is wrong.

If you have a problem differentiating between a terrorist and an American soldier, then you are nothing but a blind idiot. I am not saying this to attack you, but to point out what is going on in your head.

I can understand people being against the war. But I am still waiting for one intelligent argument on the subject. Comparing the soldiers to terrorists is not an intelligent argument, and never will be. My opinion can in fact be changed if somebody can intelligently give me a reason.

I’ll be nice and explain, as has probably been done millions of times before. America attempts to minimize civilian causalities. In fact one of the reasons the Iraq post war battles are still going on is because of that attempt to minimize civilian casualties. Terrorists specifically focused on attacking the civilians.

But this does not matter to you, which is why you use terms like moral superiority in an attempt to attack us verbally.

What I think is happening with you is everybody you know in the real world, no on line, all believe the same thing, and you are following along because that is what is familiar to you. Ask yourself what would happen if you walked into the middle of a group of your close friends and said you now supported Bush and America?

Even as a test you would not do it, not because it isn’t what you believe, but how you would feel not agreeing with your friends.

Back to the deaths in Iraq, I am unhappy about every single one of them. I regret their deaths, including the brainwashed masses convinced they will get their virgins for committing suicide even when the Koran specifically forbids it.

I also regret the women who were raped by Saddam’s “professional rapists” as one of their forms of torture. I regret the people Saddam gassed.

I am also saddened by the one child that dies from an inoculation when that same inoculation saved thousands of other children.

I realize you want peace. I want it too. But I am no fool, and know history.

Do you know of when the Vikings were becoming the feared group they were, on country decided to ask them not to leave if they simply paid them off.

Guess what, it worked…for the first group. The told their Viking friends about the easy haul, and the following year every freaken Viking in the world descended on that little country.

Arthur Neville Chamberlain forgot this little piece of history, and is famous for attempting to appease Hitler similar to appeasing the Vikings.

And now you do the same.

You also ask us to walk away from a people who currently still need us. To turn our backs on them. To just let them rot. How many will die then? If they are not stable before we leave, imagine how many would die then? Is not the idea of leaving worse then staying? Does that not make you more like the terrorists, especially since your position specifically supports them?

You keep repeating the moral superiority line and have yet to look in the mirror to see your moral hypocrisy.

[quote]Mick28 wrote:
orion wrote:
Mick28 wrote:
Moriarty wrote:
Mick28 wrote:
Maybe I resent the fact that someone from austria feels compelled to constantly bang away at my government. Even though I don’t agree with everything they do, reading your shit on here daily is just getting old.

So…in the very nicest way…FUCK OFF.

:slight_smile:

Why do people go on the internet, seek out discussion forums, and then complain about “having” to read someone’s “shit”?

Seriously Mick, you make a good point or two from time to time but the whole “fuck off” internet tough guy act was old a long time ago. Either enjoy the arguing or just stop reading. No one is going to leave just because you put “fuck off” in all caps this time.

Normally I would agree. But quite honestly I’m sick of two specific posters. And while they have the right to go on and on about “the great satan”, I have as much a right to attack them…any way that I please.

But keep in mind you can take your own advice if you don’t like what I post don’t read it.

You´re just jealous.

Of a lonely austrian woman who lives with her cats and sympathizes with terrorists?

Um…nope.
[/quote]

Yes it is sad that even this makesyou jealous.

I pray for you.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:

Was it not you that posted that your children matter to you more than other peoples children as a matter of course?

Anyone that claims differently is a lunatic or a liar.

Is some of the reasoning for the war not that you “fight them over there so that you do not have to fight them over here”?

Does that not translate into that you would have rather their hospitals, their schools and their lives destroyed than the occasional bomb going off in the US?

Is it not true that you can have a 9-11 every day in Iraq without even a 1/1000 of the media coverage of one 9-11 in the US?

What does this rambling have to do with your hateful accusations that Americans don’t care about the “brown people” in the world?

You are seriously losing it.
[/quote]

Strawman.

What I continuously posted is that Americans do not care enough anou those brown people to stand up to their government.

I also posted that American civilians killed matter way more to American than Arab civilians killed, as in way, way , more.

The Inquisition cared for its victims, as do drunks who beat up their wifes.

I would not say you are losing it, but your reading comprehension obviously carries only about three paragraphs and then your RAM is wiped blank.

[quote]orion wrote:

Strawman.

What I continuously posted is that Americans do not care enough anou those brown people to stand up to their government.
[/quote]

And you are wrong. We are spending a fortune and sacrificing American lives to protect their fledgling democracy with the hope that Iraq can be free and can interact with the world on a normal level.

Your country is the one that is not helping matters.

And you are correct in that. It is normal to care more for your own but that does not mean you must be callous towards others.

More hateful shit that has nothing to do with the subject.

You are pretty fucking arrogant to believe that your ideas are so deep that they cannot be comprehended. In fact they are simple ideas that are easily understood and are found lacking.