Posted by Tap [ThatAgnosticPerson] on April 05, 1999 at 01:11:55 {6.uz.4vynM8c5nWRtv1gtly6WEe0Rc}:
In Reply to: **Look out Milosivic posted by WW on April 04, 1999 at 21:18:58:
WW,
No, no, no. Again, you missed my point because you have allowed yourself to be whipped up into a war frenzy by the media.
My point was simply that NATO has now been comprimised. I was making no moral judgement about the "war".
I'll say this as nice as I can. Based on your last message and so many of your past messages, you seem to let your emotions rule your thinking which descibes how a large percentage of humanity makes its decisions. If it "feels" right then do it with conviction and if one can feel "righteous" while doing it then all the better.
You said: "Any ID**T can see the human tragedy began before the NATO bombing was only accelerated because the "Butcher of Kosovo" knows his time is short." Funny, but one of Clinton's henchmen said basically, "Yeah, we knew he would step up the atrocities once we started bombing." He said this to defend himself and his President against charges that they had no clue as to what they were doing.
I would have asked him this (and I ask you), if you knew the atrocities would only get worse in reponse to bombing, then why bomb? I thought you were bombing to stop the atrocities, and yet you admit you knew you would only make them worse? What is it that you are really trying to accomplish?
The answer is that they are doing what feels right for the moment, damn the consequences. Obviously, the people being killed are only a pawn to you for some greater purpose perhaps just to feel better about yourself because you "did something" even if that something meant that 10 times the number of people were slaughtered. Beware the man with good intentions.
WW, you puff yourself up with righteous indignation setting yourself up as "one who cares". Let me ask you, why are you not screaming about the massacres still going on in many places in Africa? Are black people expendable? What will you do if Clinton pulls out?
What got you excited about this mess in the first place? The answer is: "the media". The media joins with Clinton in trying to stir up a self-righteous war hysteria and you follow right along like a good little boy. No examining of the situation, no thinking of its history, no wondering if you're being fed a bag of horse hockey.
Just how much do you care anyway? Enough to join the military and fight those evil men? Enough to send gobs of money? These are serious questions because they probe your innermost convictions.
It is very, very easy to sit in your armchair and say you support your government in stopping another Hilter. It seems obvious to me that politicians like Clinton thrive in environments where the populace wants others to do their thinking for them -- where the populace loves having moral decisions spoon fed to them -- decisions where the populace can tell themselves, "look how righteous we are because we made the right decision". Yet, the decision required no thinking, no investigation, no wisdom.
What do I believe should have been done? I'm humble enough to understand that I do not know enough to answer that question. I do know quite well that Clinton has no trouble lying to the American people for his own ends. That he wants a legacy. That he has a cabinet full of people who range from having no military experience to actually hating the military. That when asked about contingency plans his planners looked dumbfounded because they never thought further along then bombing and killing people.
Basically, I have little faith that anything will be resolved, but I have deep fears that the situation will only be made worse. I know enough not to cheerlead Clinton from my armchair like you are doing. I know that before I would send troops to die in a foreign country, I'd better be willing to go myself and, although I don't know you, from the content of your message I doubt you'd be willing to do that.
That is the problem with war hysteria. The common people can easily be hyped up into a rabid, self-righteous, us-versus-them, non-thinking frame of mind and to me your reply fit that description. It is just that thinking people who understand how easy it is to be led by the media seem to be in the minority.
Don't be so quick to support killing people and making war. Be especially wary of your
thinking process when you find that you have no qualms about killing people you don't know, in a country you've never visited, to stop actions which you've never seen with your own eyes.