When is a red line more of a grey area?

[shoju]

Djeez,this reminds me of those antisocials or hooligans you sometimes see in TV programs saying 'yeah I am a very nice guy I won't hurt anyway, but if they touch me or my family I will kill them'. How reasonable this sound, usually these people are the ones that start fighting first.
The people that become aggressive when you accidentally bump against them in the street.
You probably don't mean it this way, but it for sure sounds like it.

I'm very similar in mindset to what you describe. I'm a pretty casual person. I wouldn't start a fight over bumping into me in the street (even though I have serious problems with people touching me that I don't know), but so help me, if you do something to my children, you'll want to change your name and hide.

Most parents are that way. It's a base sense of protectionism that goes as far back in humans (and most species that live in familial units) as you could track.

That doesn't make me antisocial, or a hooligan. That makes me a parent.

Now, how he meant it? I don't know. I think calling out the president because he said "That would be a red line" is a little over the top. Yes. We can sit idly by, and look at other avenues with which to address the problem. He never said:

"If you use chemical warfare, I'm going to send the Seals, and the Rangers, and the Marines in, and kick your ass so hard you'll be defecating through your mouth"

Calling for him to do that, "Because he Said" is just silly talk. Personally, I don't care what he said. We can talk with Russia, We can talk with other countries. We don't have to be the ones to get in the middle of another conflict that has absolutely NOTHING to do with us. It isn't our fight. it isn't our war. It's their's. Is it awful to see terrible things happen to civilians?

You bet.

But what is the difference between what is happening to these civilians, and what happens to people in our own country? Or those who get caught in the middle of the bloody as hell Cartel Wars in Mexico? Or the drug runners in Central America? Or the Civil Wars in Africa? Or those who stave to death in North Korea?

Nothing. They are all innocent people being terrorized by insane idiocy. Except the fact that their corner of the world (Syria) has a centralized theme of not liking us too much.

So, the answer here, is to not involve ourselves, because that is the type of thing that has only furthered to damage our reputation in the area. If we want to "play the hero" then why don't we start a little closer to home. Clean up our block, and then worry about helping others. Start with Mexico and Central America. Help those countries get a handle on problems that actually, you know, have an effect on our country.

Then, once we have our block in order, we can go off and worry about the innocent people stuck in a bad situation. We can't continue to try and champion everyone else's causes for them. We aren't big brother. We aren't the world police. We need to stop acting like it.

Yes, I'm sure that sounds a little cold, and isolationist.

Bad things happen to good people. It sucks. But we can't help everyone. Hell, some would argue we do a pretty piss poor job of helping our own.