Current stance, after a few weeks of contemplation

[Russell Turpin]

I wrote:
>>Your analysis was good pre-Enlightenment. Today, it is a
>>couple of centuries out of date. Much of the Islamic world
>>still thinks this way. But if they think this is a battle
>>of Christendom vs. Islam, they are sadly mistaken.

Tom Whore responded:
>Knowing WHY and HOW the side thats bombing you is NEVER a mistake.

Exactly. And if the Taliban thinks the US is bombing them
because they are Moslem, they are sadly mistaken. As to why
they attacked us, you're right that *that* was driven by
*their* religion. And we need to understand that. But their
viewpoint alone is not enough to make this a continuation of
the crusades. That the west has changed makes this something
different.

>Understanding the ressons and wherefores can totaly open your mind to 
>avenues of action undreamt of in your "enlightened" state. Do not be so 
>quick to think we are any more advanced than we were hundreds of years go 
>in all ways of thinking. You can chnage the clothes, change
>the names and dityes, even add tech to taste, but under many folks systems 
>of being there is still, (yes even in "enlightend western" countrys) a base 
>of values predicated on a god of some sort and its laws.

Except for a few extremists like the Army of God, western
believers rarely act directly on their god's laws. Instead,
for practical political effect, they throw their god's
views into the same secular meatgrinder of democracy that
takes my views, and your views, and Jeff's views, and spits
out some kind of sausage that is then served to the bishop,
the pastor, the iman, the rabbi, the atheist, the randroid,
the businessman, the worker, the socialist, and the banker.
The fact that we all sit and eat this sausage together,
without much shooting despite its poor fit to any of our
taste, is true progress, on a historical scale.

Russell


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