I assume our are referring to what I said about your remarks on the accidental killing of non-combatants by Americans in Afghanistan:

“I might be wrong but it seems to me that the Afghans have been at it for so long and are so numb they don't get that upset at incidents like this.”

“As long as we are just hunting down Taliban and foreigners they may perceive us as just another faction that kills certain people and makes a few mistakes along the way. The fact that we hand out some goodys in the process doesn't hurt.”

My response was to the effect that I couldn’t believe anyone would think the Afghans didn’t get upset over the needless killing of their friends, relatives and tribesmen. I thought the statement that they would be happy with a few “goodys” was demeaning and insulting. I didn’t believe you meant that.

(I was thinking that if you arrived at my house telling me that you were sorry you had wasted my kid, but that I was probably used to it, and that you had a few goodys in a trailer to help me get over it, there could be a potential for trouble.)

You’ve steadily insisted that it is your point of view. I accept that.

About “numb” people and brutalizing kids. It can be done, it is done, and that’s how sociopaths are turned out. It works well. It can be done individually by families, or by societies. It’s done in every town in the US, for instance.

Kids need affection, protection, love and care, and if they don’t get it there is hell to pay. Literally hell.

Are these people numb? Of course they are. Do they have a conscience? Not much, if at all. They have the same conscience the people who raised them did.

A kid raised with people in an Afghan tribe who love and respect each other is in a different situation that a kid in the US having the people who are supposed to be supportive abusing it instead.

The kid with no family and no bombs is in far worse shape than the kid with family and bombs. (Africa is a time-bomb of brutalized orphans.)

(I’ve never gotten used to being around someone who would rather shoot me than walk around me if it were easier.)

Are they responsible for their subsequent acts. Of course. 100%. No excuses.

Are they at fault for never having learned what love, trust, respect, and affection are? Probably not.

Is your average Afghan, or American, numb in that sense. I don’t think so. I think your average Afghan is sensitive to his friends, relatives, and tribesmen the way I am, and I’m not numb to their fate. Not even for a few of your “goodys.”

I believe to say people are “numb” to the fate of their neighbors, and easily satisfied with a few "goodys” is to say they are less than human, sort of the way John Wayne treated minorities in his early movies.

I’ve gotta stop. You live with your point of view, I’ll live with mine. At least I don't have to defend mine.

Arf