[whiteperil] Sean: Root causes

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Posted by Sean:
Root causes
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1161572598.shtml


   [1]Rondi [2]gets letters and finds that the ability to spell does not
   necessarily vary directly with the ability to think. She and I may
   disagree over the relative merits of Madonna (yay!) and The Sound of
   Music (KILL. ME. NOW.), but she's absolutely right about this:

     It turns out that students in a Toronto-area high school class were
     asked to pick a newspaper column they disagreed with. At least 12
     students picked mine. In groups of two or three, they explained
     why.
     Explain they did ... and all I can say is, out of the mouth of
     babes and sucklings hast thou ordained defeatism. Rather than the
     adorable youthful conviction that war is not the answer, these
     teens seemed sure of two things: 1) The United States is to blame
     for the anger and actions of Islamofascists, for "creating more
     enemies," and 2) War may be the answer, but since Islamofascists
     will always be two steps ahead of us, we're bound to lose.
     ...
     More student optimism: "As our technology becomes more advanced, so
     does Al Qaeda's. An example of this would be the liquid explosives
     disguised as Gatorade found in an airport in Great Britain this
     summer ... no matter how much we spend on precautions ... our lives
     will always be endangered...."
     Ah, blithe spirits! Did your teacher happen to tell you about
     fighting on the beaches and landing grounds and never surrendering?
     Or did he at least, say, mention the intelligence that uncovered
     the liquid explosives plot and other information? If so, I'd be
     curious to know the spin he put on it, given these words from a
     pupil: "Our intelligence is useless today because they are always
     two steps ahead of us." Where can I order my burqa?

   Of course, you don't have to go to Canada to hear such arguments made.
   Besides frequently being wrong in the particulars--if al-Qaeda were
   really always two steps ahead of us, life would have looked a lot
   different over the last five years--they seem to me to betray a more
   general misunderstanding of the way life works. Civilization doesn't
   just happen; human progress is produced by warring against other
   people's malevolence and nature's indifference. Societies that just
   kind of accept their surroundings and harmonize with them as a first
   principle tend not to get anywhere. Not every project the human
   imagination can dream up is practicable, no, but history certainly
   indicates that wars can be won. Of course, if you're not convinced
   that we deserve to win anyway, I suppose that doesn't make much
   difference.

References

   1. http://wonkitties.blogspot.com/2006/10/shameless-self-promotion-necon-edition.html
   2. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1016/p09s01-coop.html