[ionia23]

 Woah......

I take it we aren't voting Republican this year?

[Jiggyhound]

just do away with the lot of em! appoint a rabbit head of the state or something. Carrots for all!

[Grey Wolf]

Nah. Mickey gets more write-in votes than Bugs

[Rictor]

Originally posted by Beowulf
You know what?

Good. If **** looses it's because he's a ****ing socialist. Goddamn criminal amnesty, supports affirmative action, ****ing passed the largest welfare increase in decades...

Do I want Kerry? Who that liar? That ****ing douche-bag of vinegar tomatoes. That ****er who has NEVER had a solid stance on ANYTHING?

No. I want neither. If **** looses, I'll be happy because it will smack the ****ing republitards into shape. If **** wins, I'll be happy because the scum-bag Kerry is the most untrustworthy **** around.

****. America is ****ing dieing. Republitards == Demicommies.

Up is down, weak is strong, everything you know is wrong..

____________________________-

The thing is, the approval ratings are falling compared to American casualties, not Iraqi ones. Kill 10,000. Or a hundred thousand. Hell, kill the whole lot of 'em, just don't harm our precious soldiers.

America deserves ****, and worse. When people argue that the Republicans are leaning leftward, that the media is liberal and the Democratic candidate is a bonafide imperialist, I have no pity for any losses America incurs, be it soldiers of civil liberties.

Harsh? Sure. Truthful? You betcha.

[ionia23]

Originally posted by Rictor

The thing is, the approval ratings are falling compared to American casualties, not Iraqi ones. Kill 10,000. Or a hundred thousand. Hell, kill the whole lot of 'em, just don't harm our precious soldiers.

Isn't that kind of the idea?  Color me biased or something....

[mikhael]

God forbid someone care about their countrymen. Yes, in the minds of the voters, an american soldier's life is of infinitely greater value than some iraqi. Get over it. That's the way the world works.

God I hate agreeing with ionia.

[Rictor]

A civilian's life is more important than a soldier's. A soldier chooses to be on the field of battle, and is well trained and equiped. He can defend himself. A civilian does not choose to be on a battlefield, unless it is his/her home, and they are utterly defenceless.

Hitler's 100 to 1 rule, was that just the way the world works? Or would you consider that to be a crime?

[Grey Wolf]

Yeah, but you're forgetting about the standard human psyche. The average person identifies more with people from the same area as they are from.

[Jiggyhound]

they look after their own , so to speak..

[mikhael]

Rictor takes his own standards and applies them to the world. He doesn't seem to grok that the RICTOR != WORLD.

Yeah, a soldier chooses to be on the battlefield. I, being a military sort, say that makes him worth more than the puling civilian that stayed home and let someone else fight. But hey, that's just my opinion.

As much as I consider the US invasion of Iraq contemptible, when it comes down to a choice between an american solider's life and any number of random iraqis, guess who wins in my mind? That's right, boys and girls, the american soldier.

[Grey Wolf]

I was really going for a sociological view, not a personal view.

[ionia23]

Originally posted by mikhael
God forbid someone care about their countrymen. Yes, in the minds of the voters, an american soldier's life is of infinitely greater value than some iraqi. Get over it. That's the way the world works.

God I hate agreeing with ionia.

It's pure coincedence, I swear

[mikhael]

Sociologically, it gets very simple:

Not my tribe? Not my problem.
Over the Horizon? Not my problem.

The calculus of it is cold and terrible and beautiful in a way. What's that wonderful quote? "A death is a tragedy, million is a statistic." or some such.

[Rictor]

I never said that my standard is the world's. It is my opinion, and quite obviously it is different than the world's.

The fact remains, civilians are defenceless. And the fact also remains, they did not choose be be in harm's way. The fight came to them, literally.

This has nothing to do with national identity or whatever you choose to call it. You can hate the world outside the US for all I care. They're all Commies and appeasers and terrorsts and fanatics. I don't care what you think, so long as it does not have any negative effects on the rest os the world. Drape your house in the American flag, buy only American products...your choice. But once your opinions start ****ing with other people, its no longer up to you.

All people, Iraqi or American or Bulgarian are born with equal rights. No one is inferior or superior to anyone else. And here I can safely say that this is world opinion, not my own, becuase there are very few peope in the world who would disagree with that statement. Unless you are in the military yourself, you don;t really have the power to kill somone in Iraq, except through your support or lack thereof for the government doing the killing. When you say that you would rather see 10 Iraqi civies die than a single American, you are endorsing the superiority of Americans.

So again I ask, how is this different than the 100 to 1 rule implemented by Nazi Germany?

Originally posted by mikhael
The calculus of it is cold and terrible and beautiful in a way. What's that wonderful quote? "A death is a tragedy, million is a statistic." or some such.

Stalin. He's a wonderful example to fololow isn't he?

[ionia23]

Originally posted by mikhael
Sociologically, it gets very simple:

Not my tribe? Not my problem.
Over the Horizon? Not my problem.

The calculus of it is cold and terrible and beautiful in a way. What's that wonderful quote? "A death is a tragedy, million is a statistic." or some such.

That's the problem with working for the government, particularly in a decision-making capacity.  You have to deal in abstractions.  Stinks, but what's the alternative?

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by mikhael
Sociologically, it gets very simple:

Not my tribe? Not my problem.
Over the Horizon? Not my problem.

The calculus of it is cold and terrible and beautiful in a way. What's that wonderful quote? "A death is a tragedy, million is a statistic." or some such.

That's about right. This is primarily because our mind-set is still in the Neolithic Era and early Bronze Age. Our minds do not physically consider a nation to be much more than a massive tribe, and when members of our "tribe" are killed, we feel threatened. This will trigger one of two instinctive reactions, each of which an be represented in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts: Fight and flight. Fight through the eagerness of the public to support a war on Afghanistan. Flight through the public reaction to the continued death of our soldiers. You may think of it in higher terms, but for the vast majority these last few years have been reactions by instinct, not knowledge.

[ionia23]

Originally posted by Rictor
So again I ask, how is this different than the 100 to 1 rule implemented by Nazi Germany?

Just over 700 American soliders have been been killed in Iraq so far, not counting civilian worker casualties, Iraqis working with the coalition forces, and other members of the coalition.

They're a long, long ways from home in a foreign land where 1/2 the people there (estimated) don't want them, didn't want them, and celebrate when they get killed.  

Every time a solider gets killed in Iraq someone has to call their families back home and explain why, sometimes that includes President ****.  I'd hate to make one of those.

And yet, they keep doing it.  For a country that, if you believe the media, could care less.  Talk about a morale crusher.

You're right.  You'd be hard pressed to find an American who would lose any sleep if one of the people who dragged and mutilated the bodies of those foreign workers got killed.  You don't cry for the enemy.

It's different because obviously an Iraqi life has value or we wouldn't be there.

Of course, so does Iraqi oil.  Might as well call a spade a spade.

[ionia23]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf 2009
That's about right. This is primarily because our mind-set is still in the Neolithic Era and early Bronze Age. Our minds do not physically consider a nation to be much more than a massive tribe, and when members of our "tribe" are killed, we feel threatened. This will trigger one of two instinctive reactions, each of which an be represented in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts: Fight and flight. Fight through the eagerness of the public to support a war on Afghanistan. Flight through the public reaction to the continued death of our soldiers. You may think of it in higher terms, but for the vast majority these last few years have been reactions by instinct, not knowledge.

[Kazan]

Rictor: you also have a habit of calling people who pick up a gun and fire on a soldier a civilian - until you fix that you're onpinion about military operations means exactly DICK

Ionia23: druggies should keep their opinions to themselves

[01010]

Originally posted by Kazan


Ionia23: druggies should keep their opinions to themselves

So should ego-maniacs, fundamentalists, children, porn stars, smokers, non smokers, **** it, you name them, they should keep it quiet.