First off, let me clearly state that my intent was not, and never has been, to offend or insult you. I apologize if my post in any way had that affect.
How does anti-American sentiment justify terrorism, murder, and bloodshed? Or, for that matter, anti Israeli, anti Spanish, anti Korean, etc?
It does not. It is, as I spelled out up there, a tool of force to try to impel others to do your will. Bullying with satchel charges, if you will.
I absolutely, totally, 100% agree with you here. However. How does the 9/11 attack justify the american military dropping hundreds of bombs on Iraq? It doesn't, but it has been, and is being, used as such justification.
As for "accepting responsibility for the past:" a non sequiter, and of zero value. We, and that's all of us, have a future to build. The past we can learn from, the whigning about who killed whom takes us back to Cain and Abel. Wasted effort.
That part I have a big problem with. It's not a question of blame, it's a matter of responsability. It's not enough to just say mistakes may have been made, but tough luck, live for the future.
The best way I can demonstrate this is discussing the situation where I live. We have, in my area, a very large population of Native Indians living in and around Thunder Bay. My uncle is one of those people who believes the government of canada should offer no benefits to these people -- what he calls equitable treatment. The problem with his viewpoint is that equal treatment does not equal equality :P in this case. Due to the actions of Canadians and the government from decades and generations past, myself and others like me (upper middle class white folks) have a huge, inherent advantage over the majority of the Native population. Simply put, without offering tax breaks, free education, and other social programs, the Native population will never reach an equal level in Canada. Unfortunately, that means people like my uncle, competing for jobs against the Natives in our area, seem to get the short end of the stick.
I see a similar situation regarding american foreign policies. While I don't believe for a second that americans today are responsable for the actions of americans 50 years ago, I do believe that they must accept that those actions are part of the cause of today's problems.
Now, to set aside the Blah blah about America being a legitimate target of a terrorists, please explain France and Spain as legitimate terror targets. Koreans. Philippinos. Italians.
There are no legitimate targets of terrorism. That's not my point at all. My point is that if the US can't understand how the actions of yesterday helped bring about what's happening today, they're always going to have to deal with it tomorow.
Many naive fools like yourself didn't even know it was going on.
Now, I understand that you saw my post as insulting, so I'll just pretend I didn't see this part. You obviously saw insult where none was intended, and I fully understand and apologize for that. However, don't you dare be upset and angry with me for such a reason in the same post where you use such a personal attack.
gekko
How does anti-American sentiment justify terrorism, murder, and bloodshed? Or, for that matter, anti Israeli, anti Spanish, anti Korean, etc?
It does not. It is, as I spelled out up there, a tool of force to try to impel others to do your will. Bullying with satchel charges, if you will.
I absolutely, totally, 100% agree with you here. However. How does the 9/11 attack justify the american military dropping hundreds of bombs on Iraq? It doesn't, but it has been, and is being, used as such justification.
As for "accepting responsibility for the past:" a non sequiter, and of zero value. We, and that's all of us, have a future to build. The past we can learn from, the whigning about who killed whom takes us back to Cain and Abel. Wasted effort.
That part I have a big problem with. It's not a question of blame, it's a matter of responsability. It's not enough to just say mistakes may have been made, but tough luck, live for the future.
The best way I can demonstrate this is discussing the situation where I live. We have, in my area, a very large population of Native Indians living in and around Thunder Bay. My uncle is one of those people who believes the government of canada should offer no benefits to these people -- what he calls equitable treatment. The problem with his viewpoint is that equal treatment does not equal equality :P in this case. Due to the actions of Canadians and the government from decades and generations past, myself and others like me (upper middle class white folks) have a huge, inherent advantage over the majority of the Native population. Simply put, without offering tax breaks, free education, and other social programs, the Native population will never reach an equal level in Canada. Unfortunately, that means people like my uncle, competing for jobs against the Natives in our area, seem to get the short end of the stick.
I see a similar situation regarding american foreign policies. While I don't believe for a second that americans today are responsable for the actions of americans 50 years ago, I do believe that they must accept that those actions are part of the cause of today's problems.
Now, to set aside the Blah blah about America being a legitimate target of a terrorists, please explain France and Spain as legitimate terror targets. Koreans. Philippinos. Italians.
There are no legitimate targets of terrorism. That's not my point at all. My point is that if the US can't understand how the actions of yesterday helped bring about what's happening today, they're always going to have to deal with it tomorow.
Many naive fools like yourself didn't even know it was going on.
Now, I understand that you saw my post as insulting, so I'll just pretend I didn't see this part. You obviously saw insult where none was intended, and I fully understand and apologize for that. However, don't you dare be upset and angry with me for such a reason in the same post where you use such a personal attack.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"