Pass The Ammo

Hilarious!

Nice try, but stupidity is subjectional and so you can’t really call one group stupid thus giving the impression that you are smarter.

Also an explanation behind each of these reasons would be nice, otherwise it sounds like another Foxworthy joke in a genre of jokes beat far past death.

Who the hell explains every punch line in a joke? Thats retarded. Leaf here must be committee member…subjectively of course.

What leif said. Also, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush Sr. are just a few responsible for 911 and they did it for global corporate elitist interests. They have yet to say a single true sentence. Am I an idiotarinimist for checking the facts for myself and seeing the obvious? That would be a bummer. I’m over it.

I was listening to the Sean Hannity show on the radio yesterday and some kook lady got on trying to pretend to be a rational democrat (yyyeeeaaa no such thing) but at the end of her rant she said, “Sean, do you really believe that those were airplanes that ran into the Towers? They were military missles.” (This quote is paraphrased).

How can you communicate with people who buy into all these crazy conspiracy theories? They just cannot accept the truth because it doesn’t sit well with them ideologically. Honestly, I think there are some deep-seeded pyschological issues going on here. Yes, they are psychos.

you mean beyond pacifism…?

Im calmer than you are

Most of these are great, except:

1) If you think that the proper response to terrorism is to “understand” the “root causes” of “Muslim discontent”…

How is attempting to understand the ideas of others idiotic? Chad, do you think that my attempts to understand “the root causes” of your “discontent” are also so stupid?:cry:

2)If you seriously believe that there is a “corporate ruling class”…

With income inequality like that which exists today, the idea that a small group of wealthy people can have a disproportionate amount of control is hardly idiotic. While I think that some “leftists” tend to blame everything on “the evil corporations”, using them as a scapegoat whether or not it’s justified, there is definitely some substance to the corporate control idea. Keeping costs down and profits up is not usually conducive to being particularly huminatarian.

Pardon me, but i think you’re rather missing the point. I still think that the act of flying airliners into crowded office buildings with the intention of killing as many people as possible and sending a message to the United States (is that explicit enough for you? I’m not trying to avoid the issue, Chad) is something that we ought to try to understand, if only so that we can prevent it from happening again. Even if what the other side has to say is completely stupid, it deserves to be listened to merely so that we can figure out how to change it. (Hint: Invading Iraq was not the appropriate response.)

And i replaced “terrorism” with “ideas” because I think the most important part about terrorism is the motivation behind it, not the particular action. Anyone can kill people if they are really determined to, the important question is why would the want to in the first place, and why would so many other people sympathize?

I suppose that’s the fundamental difference of opinion here. You think 9/11 was simply the result of a bunch of insane people with a crazy agenda - “They hate us for our values.” Yeah, that must be it.

I think it was indicative of a more complicated conflict between our society and theirs that can’t be solved by simply trying to kill every last one. (Hint: if 150,000 soldiers in Iraq can’t manage to wipe out the supposedly tiny group of insurgents, then either it’s not a simple matter of killing enough people, or they’re a lot smarter than you thought, or it’s not just a small group of radicals.) Until we come up with a solution better than invading countries with dubious motives, the basic conflict is going to continue, mark my words.

While some of Bin Laden & Co’s rhetoric is so religious and off-the-wall that it is indeed “beyond understanding”, what really worries me is that Al Qaeda’s violent response to our society seems to be spreading. Did you see what happened after those cartoons were published? Terrorism is becoming more mainstream all the time.

Now your response will probably be “well, what should we do instead, wait for the next attack?” and obviously doing nothing would be unacceptable as well, which is why I find the Democratic Party’s response so unsatisfactory. However, there are other things we can do to discourage terrorism.

Unfortunately, these are things like developing our media outlets in the middle east (VOA style), providing financial incentives for democratic government, improving diplomatic relations in the region, basically pretending we care about the well-being of the Islamic world. We also need to put in a genuine effort to secure the nuclear materials of the former Soviet Union, etc. All of these things require time and effort (I’m sorry I can’t provide more concrete examples, but they exist.)

Now you may be thinking “YOU LIBTARD, TERRORISM ISN’T SOMETHING YOU CAN FIGHT WITH YOUR LIBERAL “EVERYBODY CAN LIVE TOGETHER” BS” but your way isn’t working either, and is very expensive in human and financial terms, so perhaps it’s time to consider something more nuanced. And the first step is figuring out what the problem really is.

Ok Chad, any estimates how fast we’re eliminating Al-Qaeda? How about how fast they’re recruiting new members? I’ll bet you anything Al Qaeda is growing in size and strength as a result of our actions. Because for every terrorist you kill, there are 5 more waiting in line to avenge the newly created martyr.

The terrorists are much smarter than you give them credit for. All that Islamic rhetoric and other $hit is a means to an end, namely control. And our actions have exacerbated the situation that allows Bin Laden, etc. to manipulate people into fighting against us. By attempting to wipe them out militarily, we confer upon them the glorious title of “islamic warrior”.

Instead of cowards who kill innocent people for no apparent reason (remember the “outpouring of international sympathy” after 9/11???), they now seem more like freedom fighters or warriors of Islam or whatever. The trick is to get the Islamic world to stop them. I seem to have heard someone say something about local cooperation being the most important part of fighting the insurgents. who was it? oh wait, US troops! (link)

the Army seems to at least partly recognize the problem, shame you don’t.

Chad - I want to understand them so I can more completely eliminate them, because I think your method doesn’t do that. I guess it’s that simple. Perhaps some liberals mean “sympathize” with the terrorists when the say “understand”, but make no mistake, I do not.

JJ - Your point about a lack of alternatives is absolutely spot on. That is why the Democratic party is so impotent at the moment, because they can’t think of anything better to do (plus a bunch of other stupid stuff, but anyway.) My inclination is to say that the reason there seem to be no alternatives is because nobody really intelligent and with the right resources has put their mind to it, or if they have, their suggestions are being ignored (the latter is more likely). It is certainly a difficult situation, and I am left, in the words of Robert Bork, “With plenty of valid criticisms, but very few solutions.”