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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Machaon who wrote (378712)	3/25/2003 1:54:48 PM
From: Kevin Rose	Respond to of 769670

I'll comment on the two general areas of your discussion. Media: The media is having a stronger and stronger impact on the views of people. We've become a society that almost expects to be told what to think. It is easier to follow the thinking of those that are smarter than us than to form our own opinion. On the internet, it is easier to simply post links than to read the actual content and form our own opinion. At least we have the advantage of many available viewpoints; many in totalitarian regimes do not. However, we are as much in danger of forming a single-viewpoint opinion of others, if we insist on limiting our viewing to single, one-viewpoint sources. This is part of the danger of a FOX, which seems to captivate its viewers and cause them to mistrust any other newssource. Supporting Governments: This one is very tough. Obviously, we can't dictate the type of government in every nation. China is a good example of one where we need to slowly 'inject' their people with the benefits of democracy and capitalism, to allow them to change on their own. But, we should not support obviously repressive smaller regimes, even if it means a hit on our short term. Venezuela might be a good place to start in a new policy of refusing to lend support to regimes that are obviously not giving basic human rights to their people. Yes, it seems to be a double standard, and the changing of China may take decades. But, it worked with Russia. The more we set ourselves up as the 'evil foil' on the other side, the more their propaganda people can keep their own people in line. If we open up to them, their people will eventually ask the question: "Why can't we have democracy and prosperity, too?"