This thread is in reference to
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=167165
Thought posting it here might be alittle more appropriate.
I have a burning white-hot hatred for all of mankind that literally burns my insides. Everyone here talking about morality and ethics needs to be kicked in the damn head.
Sorry, nothing personal, but if you’re going to debase someone for being a hypocrite, then make sure your own house is in order. That is to say, no one in the world should be thrashing someone or some entity for being a hypocrite when they, themselves are hypocrites. That’s right, everyone here, including me is a hypocrite, that’s part of being human. What type of meta-philisophical nightmaresh world is this when you have people think that just because you are for human rights and idealistic liberalism, that you can stand atop some hill as a white-robed acolyte and point your fingers at the lesser beings who are trying to deal with the multitude of problems in the real world.
Christ, I think I hate liberals almost as much as I hate reactive conservatives. Listen, the idealism and stuff works during times of peace, and it’s great to have opposing viewpoints no matter what time it is, but this holier-than-thou attitude has got to stop. No one is better than anyone. Sorry to ruin your childhood dreams of being the greatest person on earth.
Sometimes we just have to be realistic about things. I know America speaks out against torture and then may be involved in some type of physical torutre, but we have to speak out against torture. How much would people hate us more if we just came out and said “Yeah we torture the hell outta people and love it”, and I’m not talking about the slack-jawed bigmouths who claimed to have some affiliation with American torture methods, I’m saying if we just claimed it as our national policy. Countries would hate us even more than they already do. We’ve got to do something to get information out of this guy and I just don’t think a few pleases and thank-yous along with a gift basket will work.
GWB does what he thinks is best for America and secondly, does what he thinks (or is advised to think) is the best for the world. Get it? America first, world second. And before you put down your tripple cafe latte to type a response from the nice cloth seats that starbucks provides, sit back to think about how great you have it here. I know, it sucks that you could’nt get those Dave Matthews band tickets even though you pre-ordered them in advance from the internet. That sucks, but people sometimes need to realize that that’s how good we have it. That the greatest thing that preoccupies your mind from day-to-day is something trivial like the guy who cut you off or how much gas prices have increased. Gas? The only gas they have in some places is the stuff that comes from the starved-distended bellies of the hungry. The fact that you can even read this should be enough.
Remember folks, international politics is a game, that’s all it is. Maybe it should’nt be that way, but that’s something for our kids to try and change. People say things all the time and don’t mean them. Each country must be able to balance idealism with pragmatism and public opinion, all the while being bumped by other actors who’d love nothing more than to see it all come crahing down. That’s how it works. Just like with people, being a hypocrite is part and parcel of international politics.
Think whatever you want about America and it’s part in the world, but remeber that we do what we do not because we want more, but because we want to keep what we have. And the fact that there are people out there critisizing America for being a hypocrite all the while implying that they have the moral highpoint, just because they subscribe to the liberal idealistic point of view, makes me sick to my stomach. Always try to think of things from all sides.
As my one of my college proffesors put it, “Nobody is better than no one”, yes, as hard as it is to believe, even I am not better than anyone. Except, maybe at playing pogs.