Gee Ed, I don't know any christians, buddists, scientologists or any other belief systems that want to wipe out other belief systems; that would strap bombs on their children and handicapped, let alone 'sane' adults, all in the name of their religion/god.
With all the acrimonious feelings you have about this country, sounds like you'd be much happier in Iraq or Iran! I'll buy your ticket... -Mark -----Original Message----- From: Edmund Storms [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 2:38 PM To: [email protected] Cc: Edmund Storms Subject: Re: [Vo]:Colin Powell and Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan How do you tell the good Christians from the bad Christians, Richard? Surely you know that bad Christians exist. I suggest you use the same method you would apply to Christians. Ed On Nov 2, 2008, at 3:29 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > R C Macaulay wrote: > >> These people have their religious mandate to kill us. You try >> separating the good muslims from the bad ones because I can't see the >> difference. > > Not a problem! Not long ago, by historical standards, most Japanese > people had it in for us, and were determined to kill Americans. It was > more or less a religious thing -- Emperor worship, in their case. I > knew a good many of them, although they are mostly dead by now. They > fell into two groups, easily recognizable: > > 1. People who were formerly committed to killing Americans, but who no > longer felt that way. This was the vast majority. > > 2. People who still have it in for us, and/or the Russians, Chinese, > Koreans, and anyone else they went to war with in the 1930s and 40s. > They are mostly tattooed gangsters (yakuza) who drive around in large > trucks playing military music at high volume, to cause trouble and > bother the neighborhood. You can't miss 'em. In 1990, one of them shot > the mayor of Nagasaki, because he said the Emperor was not god and was > partly responsible for the war. > > I never have had any difficulty telling peaceful Japanese people from > war-mongerers, and I am sure I would have no difficulty identifying > Muslims who want to kill us. > > Such people exist in every country, and every society, including our > own. But the numbers are usually small. There are many in the Muslim > societies at present because these societies are undergoing a crisis. > There is a civil war going on in Saudi Arabia, and in Afghanistan. It > is a fight between modernity (science, rationality and technology) and > a fanatical version of religion. Those wars spilled over into the U.S. > in the 9/11 attack. Fundamentally, they have little to do with us. We > just happen to be in the line of fire, you might say. > > There were many brutal fanatics in Japan in the 1930s because they > were undergoing a similar crisis, and in the U.S. in the 1860s for the > same reason. Such crises never last long. Either the society recovers > and acts civilized again, or it goes too far and destroys itself. > Pre-war Japanese society destroyed itself in 1941 at Pearl Harbor, and > the Confederacy died at Gettysburg in 1863. Sooner or later, Saudi > Arabia will either recover or destroy itself. It cannot go on in a war > with modernity for decades. When it recovers, the threat to us will > recede. That will happen a lot sooner if we stop using oil and > bankrupt them. > > I think the notion that we are in a second cold war that will last for > decades is absurd, and without foundation. > > - Jed > No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.5/1761 - Release Date: 11/1/2008 7:56 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.5/1761 - Release Date: 11/1/2008 7:56 PM
