Oh, come on. You don’t find some of these at least mildly amusing?
Not to hijack my own thread, but Greathouse, would you consider John Brown a fool? After all, he got himself killed fomenting a slave revolt. Would you consider soldiers that die in combat fools?
Yeah, you probably do. I did, when I was a teenager. After a while, I realised there are things worth fighting for–even if it gets you killed.
Ok, you’re going to compare a couple of tree huggers who got blown up because they were stupid enough to announce that they were going to sail their boat into some place that was off limits to someone who died trying to forment a slace revolt and to military personel.
Yeah, you’ve really got the high ground in that argument. :rolleyes:
Zoe, The statement you were unsure of and attributed to me was made by HSHP. Not a big deal, but just wanted to clear it up.
If they are heroes to you, then great. They aren’t to me. To me they were some dumbasses who got them selves killed by doing something really fucking stupid. YMMV.
Nothing to win, but hey, whatever helps you get to sleep at night.
Do you believe that blowing up the ship was an appropriate reaction by the French government?
I’m all for state security but France went more then a bit overboard. As much as I like the idea of a sinking Greenpeace ship they really shouldn’t have killed two people in the process. If the ship did in fact intend to enter the restricted area the navy could have boarded the ship, detained the crew, and scuttled the Rainbow Warrior. It really wasn’t worth it to piss of the kiwis.
Marc
Actually I don’t think they should have mined the ship. I think they should have left it alone and then if the ship had been in the blast area, then too fucking bad for the crew.
But, I’m not going to loose any sleep over it. I think that their reaction and my reaction would have ended up the same way, except my way would have had more deaths, but the deaths would have been more directly caused by the crews foolish actions.
I do think they brought it on themselves, but like I said I would have rather the French goverment had left them alone and sat by and watched them melt once they were stupid enough to enter the restricted area.
I see Greathouse’s grasp of international politics is as profound as his grasp of ecology and morality…which is to say, stunted.
“A couple of tree huggers.” :rolleyes:
Idiot.
On Saturday, NZ’s former PM, David Lange died. For me and many other NZers (I presume) his death made me recall the time when he was PM.
They were turbulent times for NZ. Times when just about everyone, disagreed with everyone else, about everything political.
The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by the French was an exception. While elsewhere in the world it may have been seen as a govt preventing “dangerous” activists from interfering with Important Government Testing, here it was seen as what it was…a foreign government sanctioning terrorism on a country who was/is an ally.
Greenpeace is not an illegal organisation. It is a group that takes part in illegal activities sometimes. Docking it’s boat in Auckland Harbour was not an illegal activity. New Zealand, then and now, is a country that is seen as sympathetic to the anti-nuclear movement. That did not mean New Zealand was sympathetic to any illegal action by Greenpeace. France commited a deliberate terrorist attack in a friendly country. The fact that international outrage didn’t follow is something NZ found hard to understand.
Sure attack Greenpeace in French waters, do not do it in Auckland Harbour.
RIP David Lange. We will miss you.
And this Australian. I was only a child when David Lange was PM of New Zealand, but I remember a lot of the high drama and how much I admired NZ’s fortitude as a small country taking a stand. David Lange was a good man. My condolences go out to New Zealanders today.
Thank you Idlewild.
NZ’s election is Sept 17th. As bad and sad as it sounds David Langes death may have come at the best time. A time to remind NZers about their past.
Clearly
Ouch! Burn!
Friend Ogre thinks ill of me. Whatever shall I do?
:rolleyes: indeed
Look we all disagree on all sorts of topics here in the pit. If you want to get pissy and upset over this barely noticeable event then, by all means, go for it. I’ll save my outrage for things that matter to me, which this doesn’t. Good for you for being such a caring person that you can get upset over anything and everything. I hope that works out well for you.
Perhaps “friend Ogre” ( doesn’t that sound friendly) was trying to point out that since you don’t know the details, you should probably save your outrage for things things that matter to you.
Whilst it may be “barely noticeable” to you, this does matter to some of us.
Terrorists, WTF? How could anyone be terrorised by a bunch of tree huggers holding up some nuke test (in the very worst case scenario). I know the definition is much abused lately but that’s completely absurd.
You have to remember, though, that i the “thinking” of some morons, any actions carried out by environmentalists deserve violent retaliation or, in this case, pre-emptive attack.
And good for you for being able to find a cause to rally behind. Seriously. But just becasue you and others care about this doesn’t mean that I or any others have to. I understand that this is a close and personal issue for you since you are from NZ. I am not from NZ and I am not from France. I find this to be a topic of minimal importance to me. Just as I’m sure that some of the things that I find very important wouldn’t be important to you. And just because I don’t really care about this subject and therefore see no problem in what the French did does not mean I am an idiot or am lacking in morals. It just means that I hold different thing to be important than you and the rest the upset posters do.
If Ogre and the rest of you wish to think badly of me because of this, then I think I’ll be able to find a way to carry on.
This may all be because I have absolutely no care whatsoever in the environment and therefore think that these guys were doing something pretty stupid. Your values may/will differ from mine…on this issue at least. I just don’t think the environment and the death of a couple of guys who had placed the environment ahead of their own well being to be that big of a deal.
I honestly hope that you and your countrymen are able to get what you seek and/or come to peace over this issue.
Your grandchildren will not thank you for this.
And that will be my burden to bear. I think I can handle that.
Actually, since there seem to be great numbers of twits just like you, that will our burden to bear as well. Get a clue, and get an education…and most of all, get a conscience.
…this may be the calmest post I have ever seen from you Calm Kiwi
:eek:
Well Said.
Yes, yes. I am obviously an uneducated man without a conscience. If I gave any sort of a flying fuck what you thought, then this might actually bother me. Luckily I don’t.
Don’t you need to go spike some trees somewhere?