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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NightOwl who wrote (125697)	3/6/2004 9:31:07 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

My god.. the poets are certainly coming out tonight, now aren't they!! Nice response NightOwl.. Very eloquent!! When's you're next book of poetry coming out.. I might just buy it... ;0) Hawk

To: NightOwl who wrote (125697)	3/6/2004 2:33:02 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

<every time I hear a "Can't we all just get along?" or "Never again!" or "All for one and one for all!" or yes even "Land of the free and home of the brave." I just want to scream.> This selfishness, cynicism, and fear leads to the brutal Realism of: <it wouldn't hurt to pack a spear gun. Purely for defensive purposes of course. <vbg>...We'll worry about defining "defensive" when we get there.> OK. So you are anxiously treading water, and you can see no firm ground to stand on, near or far. You look around, and realize the water is full of Others, also desperately trying to keep their heads above water, also fearfully clutching their spear-guns. You get a bigger spear-gun. Maybe, like the Israelis, you upgrade your spear, to a submarine-based nuke-tipped cruise missile. And, in the fullness of time, so do all the surrounding Others. Whenever anyone else gets too close, you brandish your spear, or maybe stab it at them. They reciprocate, and you find yourself spending all your time treading water and defending your watery turf. Your Realism hasn't made you happier or safer, but you can't figure out anything better. At last, having tried everything else, having learned and relearned awful lessons by awful experiences, perhaps you survive long enough to realize: 1. everyone is getting nuke-tipped spears 2. you can't stop them 3. you can't stop them from using them on you, if they choose to 4. the only way to be safe, is to conduct yourself so nobody wants to hurt you. 5. Although you are still the same selfish cynical fearful un-angel you've always been, you become a Gandhian pacifist, as the only Realistic solution. 6. You (the collective you) beat your spears into life-rafts, and 7. realize the Promised Land was always there, inside yourself, you were just too confused to see it. OK. Do you also spit and howl, in your frustration and confusion, when you hear: It is in every individual's longterm self-interest, to habitually treat others well, because each of us is dependant on many others, and those Others will mostly reciprocate what we do to them. And: Live by the sword, die by the sword. And: Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.