White Man's Burden Returns.

[KlatooBNikto]

Some time ago, another Guru of the Neocons,an old time British imperialist called Paul Johnson, proposed that the Arabs and Muslims are incapable of governing themselves and that it would be necessary for Britain and the U.S. to impose a "benign colonial" structure on these people.The outward purpose, as with these imperial enterprises,would be to "bring civilization" to these dark and benighted lands. After they absorb the values of the West, the reins of government can be turned back to them.

Of course, this would involve some bloodshed and using their oil resources but this is a small price to pay for the rewards the enterprise will bring.

I don't know where Paul Johnson is hiding out these days but he must be totally delighted that his proposal is being implemented with lightning speed in Iraq and elsewhere by his disciple George W.Bush.

[TWiley]

1. This was the same argument that the Christians used to justify slavery

in America. It looks like the old arguments are coming out of the closet along with the sheets.

Notice how often the concept of "deserving" comes up. "They do not deserve the protections of our constitution" "They do not deserve a lawyer" "They do not have a family so they do not deserve a promoting" and so on.

Once discrimination is sold (against gays at present) to a substantial number of people, the invisible ladder of privilege becomes a bit more distinguishable.

This is what Plato proposed in the republic. To sustain a government controlled by only a few, it is necessary to let the person below you feel that he has a leg up on someone else. No Greek could be enslaved, any Greek could enslave a person of any other culture.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. How interesting

I wonder if he forgot about the Golden Age of Islam, when the sciences flourished there while Europe was plunged into what is called the Dark Ages.

This is merely verbal justification for a resources grab, just like it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when European colonialists took over vast portions of the planet. And let's not forget the US's "manifest desitny", which implied that Native peoples were so much trash to be swept out of the way so "good German farmers can come and tame the land".

[TWiley]

4. Pertaining to the "manifest destiny" doctrine.

Consider the problems that all immagrants have had after entering the United States, including whites, (example the Irish)and the Christian moral-political arguements used to justify slavery and the doctrine of the manifest destiny.

Fast forward to today and examine the group that branished the words "Heritage" "Patriotic" "Traditional" to justify the mineral grab in Iraq. You will also notice that this is where a tremendous support for teaching creation as the true science is.

I believe this current group of conservative fanatics is actually the evidence of a virulent strain of moral disease that has been passed down from every generation since the beginning of our country.

This is why they use the words "Heritage" or "Patriotic". Slavery and discrimination is their heritage, and shapes their patriotic view of America today.

Today, the republican party is hosting a festering nest of these crackpots, and it is actively recruiting religion to do the justification. Just like the old days.

I feel it might be important to our party to somehow understand these issues, and to create a dialog with the intent of framing the policies of the bush administration, and the republican party in general, in those terms.

The battle will be between "us"; the rights of all races and sexual persuasions coupled with the rights of the planet; versus "them" the morally defective individuals who have hijacked Christianity and American icons to create a new form of selfishness - greed with a halo - that justifies their brutish behavior at home (like Enron) or abroad.

It is this small vein of belief that is the true source of terrorism in the world. Any of us would be good and damn pissed off if they did the same to us here in our homeland.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Wasn't that the party-line for South Africa and Rhodesia?

And didn't that mindset prove to be false and unworkable? Nelson Mandela seemed to show this policy had fatal flaws.

[sangh0]

5. Are all your ideas so shallow?

Do you ALWAYS depend on such shallow and simplistic arguments that rely on such old and outdated and often bigoted generalizations like "religious mindset", and "white man's burden"?

[TWiley]

6. Are your glasses really this dark and thick?

A person would have to be completely ignorant of current issues to not see the correlations.

What about the outdated, simplistic and bigoted generalization which best describes the return of the old religious mindset .... creationism. Gawd created the world in 6 days because we are too stupid to look for another explanation

Rarely is an issue or a view totally new. More often it is the same damn thing over and over.