Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: That was interesting...

re: That was interesting...
Robert — (archived)

I didn't "have" to ask, Tom, I was curious. In your response you outlined a strategic situation, but you still didn't really answer my question about you think we've learned about wars and their purposes. What is the lesson?

About all I can conclude from your description of a hostile world with threats looming in every direction, coupled with Bush's doctrine of preemptive warfare, is that the lesson you take from history is that the United States must declare war on the entire world to ensure its own security. Do you really believe that the only way we can deal with the world is at gunpoint?

Like many others, I look at the same circumstances and come to the opposite conclusion. With oceans and distance no longer providing a buffer, and with technological multipliers, we're more at risk than ever of starting a fight that we can't finish. We no longer have the shield of distance to hide behind to escape retaliation. Sure, we can send the Marines anywhere in the world; and by the same token a suicide bomber can board an airplane anywhere in the world to come strike back at our homeland in a matter of hours. Yes, we're more vulnerable; and I think it's suicidally irresponsible to respond to that fact with more belligerance. Beat our chests and shriek "bring it on", and they will. They will.

It's not really fair to call Bush a chimpanzee. He's no more a chimpanzee than any other human...which is to say, about 98% chimp. Bush's displays of aggression, the chest-pounding, the rictus grin, the high-pitched shrieks, the feces-flinging...your Dubya is one terrified little monkey. I wish we had a steadier hand at the helm.

(You can probably tell that I'm reading another primatology book. This one was recommended by Mary Anne, and I pass on the recommendation: "Our Inner Ape", by Frans de Waal. Just as you can learn a lot about a person by studying his/her family, you can learn a lot about humans by studying our primate family.)

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (54 posts)