I don't have a problem with having a superior culture, just on the "ours is so cool, you MUST ADOPT IT" attitude.
Fair enough, and that's not really my position. I prefer my imperialism spreading through cultural means, like media and other entertainment products. But it's a slow process, and in some specifically spelled out contexts, we can't afford to wait.
you're saying we should put the entire Muslim world to the sword
I never said any such thing, and never will. I'm sorry that's what you see in my position. There is a specific, narrowly addressable, highly inimical and malicious set of beliefs that come from a particular cross-pollination of traditional Arabic culture and a sect of Islam (though arguably it's no longer Islamic at all), Wahhabism, that started in the early 19th century. That particular twisting of Islam -- cursory examination of Islamic history and tenets will reveal how strongly heterodox Wahhabism is with pretty much all the other Islamic sects -- will not stop attacking the Western world.
We can't stay on defense all the time, partly because any effective defense requires an unacceptable surrender of freedoms, and partly because even an effective defense can be penetrated in time. The best way to maintain both safety and freedom is to stop the attacks from being launched in the first place, and if the people trying to kill us will not desist, then their will and ability to fight must be crushed utterly.
It pretty much comes down to:
Crushing a specific pathological subset of an enemy culture, as we crushed Japanese militarism
Restrictions on freedoms at home that dwarf the Patriot act
Losing a major city or two to terrorist attack
Becoming an Wahhabist/Islamic state under strict Shari'a
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syntheid
no subject
Date: 2004-07-25 02:21 pm (UTC)Fair enough, and that's not really my position. I prefer my imperialism spreading through cultural means, like media and other entertainment products. But it's a slow process, and in some specifically spelled out contexts, we can't afford to wait.
you're saying we should put the entire Muslim world to the sword
I never said any such thing, and never will. I'm sorry that's what you see in my position. There is a specific, narrowly addressable, highly inimical and malicious set of beliefs that come from a particular cross-pollination of traditional Arabic culture and a sect of Islam (though arguably it's no longer Islamic at all), Wahhabism, that started in the early 19th century. That particular twisting of Islam -- cursory examination of Islamic history and tenets will reveal how strongly heterodox Wahhabism is with pretty much all the other Islamic sects -- will not stop attacking the Western world.
We can't stay on defense all the time, partly because any effective defense requires an unacceptable surrender of freedoms, and partly because even an effective defense can be penetrated in time. The best way to maintain both safety and freedom is to stop the attacks from being launched in the first place, and if the people trying to kill us will not desist, then their will and ability to fight must be crushed utterly.
It pretty much comes down to:
All these choices suck, but we gotta pick one.