[extropy-chat] Tyranny in place

[Lee Corbin]

Samantha writes

>> So you see (as you explain below) that any inconvenience to
>> Al Qaeda that occurs overseas  is just a side-effect of a 
>> government grab for more power?  Would you try to make
>> that argument apply to America in World War II, the Civil
>> War, Korea, and Viet Nam?  Or is something different now?
> 
> I don't believe Al Qaeda is or ever was a significant enough problem to
> justify what has been and is being done in this idiotic war on a form of
> asymmetric warfare.  Bush has repeadely even lowered the priority of
> finding bin Laden.  

Why was the bombing of Pearl Harbor any different?  Fewer lives were
lost than on 9-11, and wouldn't the mature thing to do have been to 
just sit down with the Japanese and ask them what their problem was?
(They were upset about the oil sanctions.)  We could just have just
negotiated it out with them, do you think?

> Do you think Al Qaeda are the end and be-all of terrorism?  Do you think
> it is remotely possible to ever find and "bury" all cells of any such
> organization?

No, on both counts.

>  Bush and most of the administration claim this war is
> never ending.  The people should have been up in arms and soon as this
> was claimed.  But no, most of us bring our freedom and our money gladly
> to Washington to protect us from the B-A-A-D and E-V-I-L endless menace.

Am I to infer that you don't think Al Qaeda attacks on the West.it will
be endless?   You suppose that they'll just fade away over time?

>> One thing that is more dangerous now than in any point in
>> Western history is the huge size of the bureaucracies, and
>> their self-sustaining agendas. Far more civil rights were
>> abrogated during the Civil War and World War II, and
>> in effect in World War I, than now, but it was easy to pull
>> back once the menace was contained.
> 
> Yep.  Which is why a "war" defined as endless is hideously dangerous.

You are perfectly correct.  The world is not in a good state peace-wise  :-)

But look on the bright side:  in terms of per capita deaths, this one
looks to be one of the gentlest in history.  The only long term question
is whether the war will gradually fade away, or escalate to total
conflict once Hispanic North America and Moslem Europe lock
horns.

Lee