07-23-2003, 10:17 PM
The veneer of civilization is thin. Kenya is a favorite example of mine, where a well established native administrative class was unable to prevent entropy.
What either will or will not take place in the Mid East, and globally, is: folks will change their world view to fit that of the western model, which tries to spread all over the globe, or they won't. If they don't, an ideological conflict will continue, similar to the ideological conflicts from the centuries before.
How "should" the world be? That is the basis for ideological conflict.
That's been the basis for a great many wars over the past, ooh, thousand years.
Conflict is natural. What is fantasy is the belief that all conflict can be resolved amicably. History shows that it is an admirable goal doomed to failure due to a fundamental human motivation that is more or less universal :
"I want it my way." It takes a profound set of cultural assumptions and conditioning to overcome that.
Can conflict be totally elimitated? Not any time soon.
Can it be contained? Maybe.
That is reality.
What either will or will not take place in the Mid East, and globally, is: folks will change their world view to fit that of the western model, which tries to spread all over the globe, or they won't. If they don't, an ideological conflict will continue, similar to the ideological conflicts from the centuries before.
How "should" the world be? That is the basis for ideological conflict.
That's been the basis for a great many wars over the past, ooh, thousand years.
Conflict is natural. What is fantasy is the belief that all conflict can be resolved amicably. History shows that it is an admirable goal doomed to failure due to a fundamental human motivation that is more or less universal :
"I want it my way." It takes a profound set of cultural assumptions and conditioning to overcome that.
Can conflict be totally elimitated? Not any time soon.
Can it be contained? Maybe.
That is reality.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete