09-10-2004, 02:18 PM
Hi,
I just think that you cannot end terrorism using war . . .
The word 'war' has come to be a meaningless term, with its primary meaning of armed conflict almost totally lost in the swamp of secondary meanings such as "competitive or opposing action of incompatibles : antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) : mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands : the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction" from M-W Online. From the same source, we find that 'discord' is its synonym (and if that is so, then 'mild summer breeze' and 'hurricane' are interchangeable).
Those using such a watered down meaning for 'war' find it easy to declare war on poverty, on drugs, on crime, on ants, on mildew, and on terrorism. Then, if they are sufficiently weak minded, they confuse the modern moronic meaning of 'war' with the traditional one and get the military involved. Since the military is not trained or organized for the job, they do what they can -- and given the caliber of the US military, that is often amazingly good.
The fault is not in declaring 'war' on terrorism -- for that is just perpetuation of lexical ignorance. The fault is being so unimaginative, so ignorant, so naive as to think that that 'war' should be fought with the military. Sure, it is big, it is showy, it impresses a population that routinely scores in the bottom of all world educational comparisons. And as hundreds of years of failure show, it is *stupid*.
--Pete
I just think that you cannot end terrorism using war . . .
The word 'war' has come to be a meaningless term, with its primary meaning of armed conflict almost totally lost in the swamp of secondary meanings such as "competitive or opposing action of incompatibles : antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) : mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands : the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction" from M-W Online. From the same source, we find that 'discord' is its synonym (and if that is so, then 'mild summer breeze' and 'hurricane' are interchangeable).
Those using such a watered down meaning for 'war' find it easy to declare war on poverty, on drugs, on crime, on ants, on mildew, and on terrorism. Then, if they are sufficiently weak minded, they confuse the modern moronic meaning of 'war' with the traditional one and get the military involved. Since the military is not trained or organized for the job, they do what they can -- and given the caliber of the US military, that is often amazingly good.
The fault is not in declaring 'war' on terrorism -- for that is just perpetuation of lexical ignorance. The fault is being so unimaginative, so ignorant, so naive as to think that that 'war' should be fought with the military. Sure, it is big, it is showy, it impresses a population that routinely scores in the bottom of all world educational comparisons. And as hundreds of years of failure show, it is *stupid*.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?