We haven't really saved anyone from genocide in Eastern Europe. We've adopted an age old stewardship of a region that needs badly to work out its differences without the intervention of the Ottomans, the Soviets, or the Americans. We are merely prolonging the inevitable.
2009-02-05 16:43:47
I agree Freddie. And by "pro-America" I think I mean, pro-the-idea-of-America, not pro-everything-we-do. Kind of like what I mean when I say that I am "pro-Israel." And no, I am not referring to purposeful action on the part of America toward Iran. The free market is a better tool than government intervention even culturally. Propaganda will never be as effective as the accidental influence of trade.
2009-02-05 16:29:47
One major point of disagreement here, Freddie. While Western culture exports may not lead directly to liberalization or freedom, they do start to plant seeds. Where much of these exports may be trash tv and pop music, somewhere in that flood will be real philosophy and literature. Somewhere in all that pop culture, you'll also get some notion of freedom of speech, of these other basic values we hold dear. It may not happen quickly, but that's not to say it won't happen at all. Sure Kim Jong Il isn't "westernized" by his cowboy movies. But the influence of western culture in Iran, contra to your claim, actually has made a difference. The Iranian people are not the mullah-revering, anti-American mobs so often portrayed on the news. It's a young country and very pro-America in many regards, very modern, very black-market-liberalized. All the more reason, I say, to not bomb the hell out of them.
The commenter archive features may be temporarily disabled at times.
We haven't really saved anyone from genocide in Eastern Europe. We've adopted an age old stewardship of a region that needs badly to work out its differences without the intervention of the Ottomans, the Soviets, or the Americans. We are merely prolonging the inevitable.
I agree Freddie. And by "pro-America" I think I mean, pro-the-idea-of-America, not pro-everything-we-do. Kind of like what I mean when I say that I am "pro-Israel." And no, I am not referring to purposeful action on the part of America toward Iran. The free market is a better tool than government intervention even culturally. Propaganda will never be as effective as the accidental influence of trade.
One major point of disagreement here, Freddie. While Western culture exports may not lead directly to liberalization or freedom, they do start to plant seeds. Where much of these exports may be trash tv and pop music, somewhere in that flood will be real philosophy and literature. Somewhere in all that pop culture, you'll also get some notion of freedom of speech, of these other basic values we hold dear. It may not happen quickly, but that's not to say it won't happen at all. Sure Kim Jong Il isn't "westernized" by his cowboy movies. But the influence of western culture in Iran, contra to your claim, actually has made a difference. The Iranian people are not the mullah-revering, anti-American mobs so often portrayed on the news. It's a young country and very pro-America in many regards, very modern, very black-market-liberalized. All the more reason, I say, to not bomb the hell out of them.