[karajorma]

Excuse me, but is there anything wrong with simply asking someone to clarify their position on a subject?

http://www.vandruff.com/art_converse.html

See nit-picking and out of context.

Quite simply, if you aren't smart enough to see the plainly obvious fact that Flipside doesn't support the rioters, you don't belong on here. And if you are repeatedly engaging in either of those two, even after you've been told to stop, you don't belong here.

So you've got exactly one post to justify why your plainly obvious question still needs an answer before I ban you from General Discussions for the week. Or you can be sensible and just drop it.

[Flipside]

NGTM: That is... in all honesty, awesome news.

I wouldn't call it awesome. Not yet. The irony wheels keep on turning. All I see is madness everywhere.

Sadly I agree, from a political viewpoint it may seem like a positive thing, but it boils down to "How dare you smash things! For that, we are going to smash things!"

I applaud their actions from a certain perspective, but the last thing Libya needs is to be split back down the middle again.

Edit : As an aside, that last sentence really is a good example of what you were saying about the English language; back, down and middle all in the same sentence...

[An4ximandros]

I see it as a demonstration, it shows that they are willing to step up to the people who might try to undo the changes they have gone through, that said, I do hope they know when to stop as there is a fine line between gesturing their point and unleashing destruction in retaliation for destruction.

[Flipside]

The risk is always the 'Cycle of Vengeance', the old 'If they put one of yours in the Hospital, you put one of theirs in the Morgue' mentality.

Still, time will tell, hopefully this will prove to be indicative of a growing desire in the Libyan people and not simply a blip on the radar.

[Luis Dias]

It's all a blip. Fractals. Real progress is too slow and "tipping points" rarely make a difference.

[karajorma]

Well the demonstrators are claiming that their goals are to get people to give up their weapons. Which is a pretty laudable goal. Especially in that part of the world.

[NGTM-1R]

Sadly I agree, from a political viewpoint it may seem like a positive thing, but it boils down to "How dare you smash things! For that, we are going to smash things!"

I wouldn't go that far, apparently the main feature of it was they broke in to make way for the cops and government to search the place, and then somebody decided to torch a vehicle in the lot for some reason or another; might have just been a technical that the cops couldn't find keys for so they destroyed it in place.

[Flipside]

Yup, I'll keep my fingers crossed that it is a positive sign for the future. I suppose the militia's reaction to this will be paramount in deciding where to go from here. I have a feeling of the usual methodology of 'blow people up till they submit' is going to earn them a very nasty surprise if they try that in Libya.

[achtung]

I kind of see Libya coming out of the Arab Spring quite well-off if they can get their government propped up properly. The article points out that this situation is serving as a rallying cry for the Libyan government. I hope it sticks.