Current stance, after a few weeks of contemplation. was Re: Why Do They Hate Us?

[Gary Lawrence Murphy]

>>>>> "J" == Jeff Bone <jbone@jump.net> writes:

    J> Did I say that?  I didn't describe any particular means by
    J> which we should correct the situation.  

Ok, I concede you weren't advocating death penalties, but you still
advocate severe punishment for thought-crimes.

    J> Withdraw diplomatic recognition from all non-secular states.
    J> Sever all trade ties and commerce with all non-secular states.

That includes Britain, doesn't it?

    J> TRULY marginalize any nation which would be a breeding ground
    J> of religious fanaticism.

Ever watch 100 Huntley Street? Or the 700 Club?  Those are, of course,
the very mildest of the US-based religious fanatical factions.
There's also the homophobic cults, the white supremists, the black
militants --- I won't go anywhere near the question of Scientology or
Mormons ... or even Catholics and Jesuits, but at the drop of a hat
I'll gleefully launch into the Clinical Psychologists (IHMO, worse in
morals and more toxic than all the others rolled into one)

I haven't seen any stats, but I'd expect the USA produces more banned
books than all other nations combined.

    J> If a particular thought system has as a core, irrevocable
    J> principle "X must suffer / die," then X has not only the right
    J> but the *obligation* to eliminate the agency of that thought
    J> system.

So Satanists can attack Christians?  It's often bothered me that St
John's Revelations does not reform the followers of the Beast; they
are promised hell fire and damnation, not redemption.  They are
offered redemption, of course, but only if they _convert_.  In this
respect, the Taleban probably offer us redemption were we crazed
enough to consider it, and likewise, we offered them improbable
redemption. The Inquisition offered Jews like Nostradamus redemption,
and the Nazi's offered everyone but the Jews redemption.  But
St. John?  Nope.

Speaking of which, here's an entirely different topic but one I wonder
if the wide-ranging readership might offer some reconnaisance.  I've
been trying to track movies where the hero is a Redeeming Angel
instead of an Avenging Angel.  The architype is pretty darn rare,
although the one consistent producer of excellent tellings of such
heroic tails is the Pokemon crew.  To qualify for my catagorization,
the hero must leave the villian totally redeemed, without fault or
further blame, totally forgiven, ready and willing, and fully trusted
to become a positive contributor to the greater community.

-- 
Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@teledyn.com> TeleDynamics Communications Inc
Business Innovations Through Open Source Systems: http://www.teledyn.com
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers."(Pablo Picasso)