[ExI] The Evils of the West

[Lee Corbin]

Stefano Vaj wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 3:22 AM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
>> Yes, but to be more precise, being nice can arise
>> out of habit.
> 
> Wasn't it an old American say "speak softly but carry a big stick"?

Yes.

> IMHO, western policies are too often arrogant and weak at the same time.

But when T. Roosevelt made that statement, America may
have been arrogant (along with all of Western civilization)
but not weak.

> Political correctness and its dreams of a westernised one-world
> imposes our not being "nice", not even when it would be in our best
> interest, and at the same time keeps us  eminently vulnerable.

Very true. What upsets the Muslim world as much as anything---
and receives very, very little press here (please see Dinesh
D'Sousa's book "The Enemy at Home")---is how incredibly
irritating are all the western liberal agendas like planned
parenthood and women's rights in Muslim countries. They
just *hate* the constant relentless pressure to alter their
customs in these ways that the west wants to foist upon them.

>> On the world stage, this means trying to help all societies
>> acquire the Western institutions that deliver the goods.
> 
> Historical experience should show that such external "help" is a
> recipe for disaster - including to some extent for the "helpers".

The *right* way to issue such help is through trade, but also
through destructive pressure against corrupt governments.
It would apparently also help to shut down the IMF, since
no matter what they've ever done, it seems to harm the
nations it tries to help. And the econ issues are admittedly
very, very difficult.

(The common denominator as to why the World Bank and the IMF
always harm instead of help very possibly is that one cannot
simply go into a bad part of town and try to help by giving
away money---you'll just make things worse.)

Lee