[extropy-chat] POLITICS: terrorism and strategies

[Chris Phoenix]

Robert Bradbury wrote:
> Yes, and this is why after some thought it seemed reasonable to
> demonstrate that (a) we would nuke Jerusalem; (b) then do it.
> 
> No more Temple on the Mount, no more wailing wall, no more
> tomb of Jesus.  They are all gone.  Kaputski.  If the people
> suggest they will rebuild them we simply suggest we will drop
> another nuke.  I.e. the complete elimination of the historic
> symbols that tie humans to religions that are irrational
> (and more importantly those that promote violence).

This alone demonstrates that your grasp of psychology, sociology, and 
politics is so poor that your proposal should probably be ignored (as 
opposed to criticized).

Two thousand years ago, some anonymous person made one dead body 
disappear.  That was enough to turn a small band of militants into a 
rather successful cross-cultural religion, with many thriving offshoots. 
  Now you propose to obliterate entire landmarks and large numbers of 
associated people?  And you expect the associated spectrum of 
religions/cultures to become *more* sane?

Didn't anyone ever tell you not to create martyrs?  "Historic symbols" 
are merely a reflection of memes--created after the fact.  Destroying 
the physical symbols will only make the memes more virulent.  Think of a 
hydra.

Chris

-- 
Chris Phoenix                                  cphoenix at CRNano.org
Director of Research
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology          http://CRNano.org