The last time I checked, we were human beings.
I had a long argument with a friend a couple of days ago. His point was that there’s no real way to blame countries for their actions, since everything they do is in their self interest, and we would have done the same, given the same situation. Gives the phrase ‘One for all, and all for one’ a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?
I disagree, though. In fact, after having thought about it, that view is absolute bollocks. And I’ll tell you why, too.
Consequences exist. The result of your actions is not a simple mathematical formula. There are glaring results, hidden ones, hell, even intangible ones. Example, you say? All right, take the Holocaust.
Millions of Jews dead, tortured, destroyed, displaced. Result?
1. The creation of Israel, a country that’s been in a corner since it began, that’s been fighting for its existence since it was born. A land that was given to the Jews by those that had no right to do the giving in the first place. (No, no, for the last fucking time, NO, you can’t get away from it by simply saying that’s the way the world works, or that morality is relative. If it wasn’t yours in the first place, or if you’re dispensing it on the simple basis that there’s no one strong enough to challenge your actions, that’s called being the bully. Remember class 5? Those lessons are still applicable. Just because the world is more complex, more subtle than what we did back then doesn’t mean that right and wrong go out the window.)
2. The death of freedom of speech. Don’t believe me? All right, try and come up with a way to tell Jews that they’re in the wrong this time, and prepare to duck beneath the accusations of Anti-Semitism. There’s absolutely no way to disapprove of Jewish actions these days. You’re a bastard, a Jew hater, an anti-Semite, or simply a Nazi if you voice an opinion against Jewish action. Strongly condemn their assault on Lebanon? Bloody hell, there’s ten fucking thousand of them wandering around in there! And for what? Two goddamned soldiers?
So what if Mel Gibson says that the Jews are responsible for all the wars? It’s his opinion, for crying out loud! Bill Clinton can have sex in the Oval Office, and not be impeached for it, but Mel Gibson is strung up for a drunken rant?
I don’t know what I’m so angry about. I should be used to the constant lies, the deceit, the maneuvering behind the scenes without giving a toss about the rest of the world, and trying to make money while you’re at it. I’m Indian, after all.
Morality is relative. Fine, I can live with that. BUT THERE’S GOT TO BE SOME MORALITY BEFORE YOU GET ON YOUR HIGH HORSE AND TELL ME THAT, DOESN’T THERE?
I had a long argument with a friend a couple of days ago. His point was that there’s no real way to blame countries for their actions, since everything they do is in their self interest, and we would have done the same, given the same situation. Gives the phrase ‘One for all, and all for one’ a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?
I disagree, though. In fact, after having thought about it, that view is absolute bollocks. And I’ll tell you why, too.
Consequences exist. The result of your actions is not a simple mathematical formula. There are glaring results, hidden ones, hell, even intangible ones. Example, you say? All right, take the Holocaust.
Millions of Jews dead, tortured, destroyed, displaced. Result?
1. The creation of Israel, a country that’s been in a corner since it began, that’s been fighting for its existence since it was born. A land that was given to the Jews by those that had no right to do the giving in the first place. (No, no, for the last fucking time, NO, you can’t get away from it by simply saying that’s the way the world works, or that morality is relative. If it wasn’t yours in the first place, or if you’re dispensing it on the simple basis that there’s no one strong enough to challenge your actions, that’s called being the bully. Remember class 5? Those lessons are still applicable. Just because the world is more complex, more subtle than what we did back then doesn’t mean that right and wrong go out the window.)
2. The death of freedom of speech. Don’t believe me? All right, try and come up with a way to tell Jews that they’re in the wrong this time, and prepare to duck beneath the accusations of Anti-Semitism. There’s absolutely no way to disapprove of Jewish actions these days. You’re a bastard, a Jew hater, an anti-Semite, or simply a Nazi if you voice an opinion against Jewish action. Strongly condemn their assault on Lebanon? Bloody hell, there’s ten fucking thousand of them wandering around in there! And for what? Two goddamned soldiers?
So what if Mel Gibson says that the Jews are responsible for all the wars? It’s his opinion, for crying out loud! Bill Clinton can have sex in the Oval Office, and not be impeached for it, but Mel Gibson is strung up for a drunken rant?
I don’t know what I’m so angry about. I should be used to the constant lies, the deceit, the maneuvering behind the scenes without giving a toss about the rest of the world, and trying to make money while you’re at it. I’m Indian, after all.
Morality is relative. Fine, I can live with that. BUT THERE’S GOT TO BE SOME MORALITY BEFORE YOU GET ON YOUR HIGH HORSE AND TELL ME THAT, DOESN’T THERE?
7 comments:
hehehehehehe. nice.
you're right.
but those are all relative moralities to begin with.
anyway, i don't think (despite today) that we've heard the end of this. how about another session, my friend?
Look, Baboon, no matter how much this might piss you off, I'm going to say it anyway. Maybe I'll say it because it does just that. The harsh reality of this world, and probably any other world, is that the strongest guy makes the rules. America is the strongest guy. It makes the rules. Israel has America's backing, so it does whatever it wants to. It will have America's backing as long as America needs a foothold in the Middle East. Life sucks like that, but the bully is the ruler. All this idealistic 'lets raise our voices as one' stuff will not work, you just cannot do anything constructive like that. Terrorism is not the answer either.
All you can do is wait. Wait for another big boy to come and scare the bully away. Though, there's no saying whether the new big boy will be any better, is there?
"look, baboon..."
i like.
!pig
!obile
rather fatalistic, aren't you?
yeah, what i do or say won't make much of a difference in the overall scheme of things. that doesn't mean there's no reason to try.
bullies can be contained, is also a factor. you don't have to destroy something to disable it. terrorism has no point, true enough.
Exactly.What you say or do will not make much of a difference. My point is that you can go on saying and doing things, but to be effective, you have to wait. And who do you think can contain the bully? It has to be somebody with some kind of resources to stand up to him, not to destroy him, but just to make him stop and take a second thought. And for that too, you have to wait
You're not getting it - intentionally, I think.
Pay attention now.
What I as an individual say or do has relatively negligible impact - as long as it's limited to just me speaking. If my speaking and doing gets others thinking, which gets them speaking and doing, which gets others thinking...it's a domino effect. There's obviously a minimum number of people required to be speaking and doing to set up a self sustaining chain reaction - but that also depends on the exact circumstances.
Remember the Jessical Lal case? It happened, eventually. And that was two people, initially.
Look, waiting is necessary, fair enough. However, waiting is utterly pointless if there's no action being taken in the meantime. You have to be doing something now, if what you're waiting for is future results. They won't just happen out of the blue. There has to be some sort of effort at some time.
As for who, dude, there's already people. Americans themselves. Bill Gates. Special interest groups. Industrialist groups. So on, and so forth. Man, they have professional services on Capitol Hill to lobby for particular causes. Get enough money flowing from the proper directions, you've got the lobbyists on your side. Get the lobbyists, you've got a few senators. Get enough senators, and you've got the India-US Nuke Deal.
Capisce?
Brilliant. A blog with coherent, honest opinions on controversial topics. :) I didn't know they existed.
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