[extropy-chat] War and technological progress

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 02/05/07, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> Do you think that the American invasion of Iraq has discouraged
> > those who wish to martyr themselves for Islam?
>
> People have their own agendas, and are influenced by what you
> do less than is usually thought. For example, consider the Battered
> Wife Syndrome:  her lament is "What am I doing that makes *him*
> so angry?"
>
> Well, you can tell her over and over again that it's *not* her, it's
> him---but she is so constituted as to be unable to believe that.
> She must believe that it's her fault.
>
> So it is with the West.  "What are we doing that makes *them* so
> angry?"  Well---yes, it is true:  if the woman were to stop breathing,
> to take an extreme example, *he* would probably stop beating her.
> And if the West were to stop exporting filth around the world, stop
> corrupting the Muslim youth with everything from clothing styles to
> bad attitudes, tendentious movies, acceptance of homosexuality,
> defiance of parents, and so on and on, and also were to
> become pure isolationists, stop being on Israel's side, profusely
> apologize for placing troops on the Sacred Soil of Saudi Arabia
> to repel aggression in Kuwait, etc., yes, Al Qaeda might very well
> turn its attention elsewhere.  But then, evil does triumph when good
> people do nothing.


Evil also triumphs when evil people think they are doing good but are
actually doing evil, or good people think they are doing good but are
actually doing evil. If we only had the people who know they are evil to
contend with, the world would be a much more peaceful place.

-- 
Stathis Papaioannou
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