I only had this discussion with my brother a few nights ago.
Whilst, I do believe in what you are saying ( I was basically arguing the same thing to him ) he did bring up something with me.
Hitler.
You see, unfortunately, no matter how we got to where we are today, ISIS are responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people ( so too are the West ) :(
Unfortunately, there will be collateral damage. TT
I actually cannot believe I just said that.
However, if the US just sat by watching Hitler, countless millions more would have been sent to the gas chambers, and evil would have prevailed. Of course, in the process, hundreds and thousands of innocent lives were also lost.
If the US were doing nothing today, in regards to ISIS, there would be outcry "Why are you not helping!?"
Really think about that for a moment.
It is a really difficult thing for me to say, but, sometimes, (and only sometimes), I think we must fight evil, with evil. I do wish this was not the case. I hate to say this, really I do. It goes against every single thing I stand for, but this really is a situation that calls for the West to stamp out the evil of ISIS.
It is just that I cannot stand to see thousands upon thousands being raped, murdered and thrown off buildings for their sexual preferences any more.
I do not want to get into a big argument here. I think we should all start world peace with our neighbours and those closest to us, from the inside out, and trust me, I want nothing more than the US led coalition to pull all troops out of foreign soil. We have no right to be there, I agree.
But I also think, we simply cannot stand idle and watch evil wipe out innocent lives by the hundreds and thousands.
I am so torn. I am a big advocate of peaceful discussion to resolve problems. I just don't think that is going to work here.
If i had it my way....
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Source: My brother is a medic in the Australian Army. A lieutenant colonel. I can show you videos of kids coming in with missing limbs, legs, arms, family etc and so-forth to the makeshift hospital he was working in. A constant flow of young innocent children 24hrs a day. These videos were enough to make my father cry. I have only seen him cry once before (Sept 11th). My brother was there trying to help. He saved countless lives. Countless. It is really a sad and difficult situation. But I do believe, we cannot stand idle and let the evil which is taking place there continue. I have seen it, videos sent home straight from my brother, second hand...I too was a cynic, until I saw these videos. It took those videos, for me to change my mind. A very, very sad situation indeed.
All we can continue to do is love one another as much as we can, we all bleed blue. We all need to go on a spaceship, and look at this little blue dot we live on from space. Only then, will we perhaps have a chance of realizing how ridiculous it is fighting over a small parcel of land, an ideology etc etc and really come to the realization of how futile war, really is.
It is refreshing to read your reply. Thanks. Agree, that love is the only solution and it is not such a remote or idealistic possibility if we all don't just look at the problem but 'see' it for what it is. I have always viewed history as 'dead', used only to instil hatred. In my humble opinion, history has nothing to teach simply because the present is always in flux and the future, like time -- doesn't exist. Watching Judgement at Nuremburg, i understood that the US didn't lift a finger until it became clear that it was only a matter of time that Mr Hitler would come knocking on its door too, albeit none too politely, if they didn't act swiftly.
How i wish I could believe that US 'intervention' as liberators and champions in the battle against 'evil' is a JUST one. But, having spent 25 years in the media it is hard to continue to be taken in by those lies. The colonial expansion of the United States is a mirror image of that of the British Empire. While the Englishman enslaves on principle, Captain America fights the JUST fight -- the end result is the same -- death and destruction for those who don't comply and surrender what the Empire is after. The truth is not longer hidden except from from those who refuse to see.
Finally, I found somebody who feels the same.
Terence Mckenna fan?
He identifies culture/history as being an immense problem.
I tend to agree.
Never heard of Terence but glad to meet you :)
I am sure you would like him. Check out some of his YouTube videos if you find the time.
So lets say for arguments sake that the US military stopped all of its foreign activities. No more bombing, bringing stability anywhere, just a purely defensive force that stayed within our borders. You say love is the only solution, what happens when ordinary citizens, with love in their heart, try to spread the message of gender equality to a country that is staunchly against it? When that same country views our media, our culture, our way of life as threatening the fabric of their society, won't they still respond, even violently, when they feel their beliefs are being threatened?
Obviously our military intervention can be the direct cause of retaliatory violence against us, but I believe that people will always find a reason to justify their terrorism.
I think his point is that there is no difference between ISIS and Western militaries and that violence is deserved but not necessary.
At least that's what I got out of it.
Your view seems to be based in pragmatic reality. What I just read from the OP seems to be based in wishful thinking