China is always bad, Israel is always good, Arabs are evil, America is always right, etc.
If that is all you're drawing from this discussion, maybe we should start a "Reading Is Fundamental" discussion thread especially for you so you can bone up on your cognitive interpretation skills.
Because I'm NOT seeing such broad brushes applied to either China or Israel, and even less towards Arabs, who are not being discussed on this thread (this is the China thread, btw).
And I know that I certainly don't present the views that you claim are present here. I have no hatred of the Chinese. However, I bear considerable distrust towards their communist (fascist) government which bears no accountability to their population.
As for Israel, they have been a nation fighting for their very existence from the onset of their declaration of independence, which is very similar to the history of the US. They're a bit too socialistic for my liking, but at least they are a democracy, with a government accountable to its people. If anything, I respect Israel and how, through sheer force of will, have been able to defeat enemies of far larger size and population bent upon their destruction.
As for the Arabs, my view of them is similar to my view of certain fundamentalist Christians... The more extreme they are, the less I like them. The more moderate and tolerant they are, the more I like them. Pretty simple. And please note that are no truly democratic Arab societies. Turkey is probably the closest example to a democracy in the region, but they aren't Arab. So since their political and cultural structures bear little in common with the US, I see little reason to favor them. In fact, were it not for the oil, the mid-east would still be a political and economic backwater with little consequence to global security.
And I certainly don't accept certain Muslim extremist views towards the concept of martyrdom and/or participating in suicide bombings. Nor do I approve of their willing use of children as combatants. These are tactics that we haven't seen exhibited since WWII with the Japanese. And it displays an utter disregard for human life.
Fortunately, not all muslims, or Arabs are nearly so extreme. In fact, they are just as disgusted as I am with these overt acts of self-destruction and terrorism, because they know how easy it is for people to cast all muslims as terrorists or radical extremists willing to sacrifice themselves to Allah at the earliest opportunity.
As for America... when I see Americans emmigrating enmasse for some other country, rather than facing an inundation of foreign immigrants seeking access to our nation, then I'll stop believing America, while not always "right", is certainly the "most correct" of all economies and political systems in existence on this planet today.
As for Clinton, I would suggest that "rags" like The New Republic, especially when they had people like Michael Kinsley on their staff, were probably some of the biggest apologists for Clinton. I certainly know Kinsley was whenever he appeared as a pundit on some talk show.
Hawk |
