| | A few questions for the war hungry amoung us.
'Slavepens'; the world is full of them. Should we liberate them all, or only the ones that will not impose significant personal costs in doing so? Would a rational person have considered pre-war Iraq capable of being liberalised within the realms of reasonable cost, or even the possible?
Would a person who continues to favour western intervention, despite the repeated failure of such in areas which do not have supporting historical precedents, be best described as 'ahistorical'? Certainly history never repeats, but are there presently any distinctive factors which make Iraq any more likely to successfully implement liberty and democracy than ever before? Is violence the best method of enamouring strangers to western practices or might diplomacy be better suited?
Is the Bush administration a liberal paradise trying to spread liberty or are they more likely to be moral relativists who believe in the realist premises of power, struggle, and relative gains?
I don't believe I have heard any convincing answers to these questions. I can't help but think that the Hitchenses amoung us, that so easily swing between communism and extreme liberalism are simply war-lovers, passionate extremists who love conflict and wish for across-the-board panaceas for human problems, ready and willing to incur massive costs to institute their epic fantasies. I myself look back with sentiment towards those grand times in which man fought man with ever increasing brutality and technological sophistication. Just think of all that we have gained through conflict!
Just admit it, those of you who support the war want action! A grand opera of violence, passion and death where lives are given purpose and significance by the great currents of history being made. Diplomacy is far too boring. Argumentation and reasoning fail to satisfy entirely our animal urges to fight, to stand up and be counted. The philosophical arguements have all been made, the only avenue left for originality is in action itself. Forget Iraq, we need a real war where the struggle is significant enough for us to really feel the thrill of it. China awaits! Russia hails again! Indonesia beckons! The world is full of evil and suffering, let us strike with force now before time, ideas and progress alow these evils to cure themselves!
Forgive my facetiousness, I have had too little sleep. Truly there is much to be said for struggle, and there is much to struggle for when one has strong principles. Let us not, however, forget the poor unfortunates in this world who try to do their best for themselves and their families but whom are continually swept up in other people's struggles and whose lives are destroyed. Perhaps we should think of them a little before we let our sophisticated intellectual arguments, and all the beautiful simplifications and generalisations that they entail, ruin their lives.
Nicholai Mumford
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
-Blaise Pascal (Pensees, 1670)
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