[extropy-chat] Uses of Religion

[Olga Bourlin]

From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin at rawbw.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 9:20 AM
>
>> So what's the difference between Saddam killing them and Iraqi's killing 
>> each other?

>There are many.  But probably the most important is indeed media related[:]

IMO one of the crucial differences is that the blood used to be mainly on 
Saddam's hands.  Now it is on George Bush's hands (and he's added many sons 
and daughters of Westerners to the pile).  Another important difference is 
that the reputation of the USA has sunk to a very low level (Abu Ghraib: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prison)

Guantanamo:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1371609,00.html

I needn't belabor the slide we've taken down to the "bad guys'" level, as 
well as the downslide our democrary is taking.

> It simply didn't matter *how* many people in Iraq were murdered each year 
> because it wasn't in our face every night.  ln exactly the same way that 
> it simply doesn't matter *how* many people die in Sudan.  The important 
> thing in the West---and now to the rest of the world---is, for the billion 
> or so bystanders, whether the nightly news is painful or merely 
> interesting.

No.  It mattered then and it matters now.

Olga