1  |   Order by index

Oct 31, 2001, 11:59am

Ooooo ... I couldn't let this one pass...

I like the French. They gave us that nice statue.

I've never been to France, but I picture it as filled with philosophers,
sitting around the cafes, working out the problems of the world all through
the day and most of the night. They gave us such well known phrases as
"Liberty!, Fraternity!, and one other thing that wasn't as important as the
first two so I forgot it!".

We Americans are mostly selfish and self centered I grant you. We didn't
have cafes like the French, so we had to invent Starbucks. Of course no
American can afford to sit at a Starbucks for more than an hour or so, but
that's another issue.

Most Americans think this: "You people over there in Europe and the Middle
East work out your own differences and leave us out of it. We'll just sit
here at our Starbucks, for and hour, and then go home and pour some hot
water over Folgers Crystals for the rest of the day.", Oh and: "Can we buy
some oil off ya?"

I think America, the French, the English, and even the Germans these days
would much rather sit around and work all this out on paper over a nice mug
of coffee / tea / beer. We could all be "well behaved" as you put it.

The problem is that there are people in this world who are not satisfied
with talk. They see themselves as victims (see my previous post). They
think that all the problems in their lives can be traced back to things that
happened before most of them were born (thus they can't be to blame, get
it?). "In 1921 the British did something bad to us. American's speak
English. Lets attack Americans and our lives will be better again. QED".
In 1492 Spain did something bad to us. Columbus sailed for American in 1492.
Let's attack America. QED" Infantile!!!! But the concept sells over
there doesn't it? And that's all that matters.

For these people "The End Justifies the Means". More than any other
statement, that statement summarizes the view of those that end up unable to
resist the need to attack America and thus draw it into conflicts for which
we would otherwise not interrupt our afternoon lattes. I believe the
phrase was used in the Communist Manifesto to let its adherents know that
they need not be bound by laws, treaties, or common morality in their
pursuit of the rule of the proletariat. The Nazi's certainly believed
that the end justifies the means, any debate about that? Examine the
rhetoric of Osama and those like him and you will see that it is the core of
their belief too. They cannot live in a world populated by those who don't
think exactly like they do, and until such a world is achieved, the end
justifies the means.

Unless I am mistaken, you will not find that phrase, or even a similar
concept embedded in our founding documents. America, and modern day Europe
are distinguishable from the rest of the world by their belief in "process"
for lack of a better term. Justice here is codified, and predictable.
Judges INTERPRET the law rather than make it on a case by case basis. Law
is made by people that we elect, and when we change our minds, we have to
wait for the electoral process to change those people who in turn might
eventually change the law. It is a horribly inefficient system. But one
that people my age (old) are not going to easily part with. I hope that
when that system is threatened, those much younger than I will tear
themselves away from TV long enough to defend it. It remains to be seen how
strong our resolve will be.

I can almost guarantee you that if it had been the Eiffel tower that had
been destroyed, us Americans would be more inclined to sit here and think
the situation over for a while before taking any action. A long while.

I suspect that in every workplace there is a big guy, lets call him "Burt",
who towers over everyone else and weighs twice as much. We all do our share
of the work on a day to day bases. But when a huge package shows up at the
reception desk and it has to be gotten to the 8th floor, and it won't fit in
the elevator, everyone looks around and says "where's Burt?".

It may be that there is some heavy lifting to be done in the world right
now. And maybe we are not always so well behaved over here in America, but
I assure you, most of us in America are not too crazy about being "Burt"
right now.


[View Quote]

1  |   Order by index