Quote:
Originally Posted by AfroHorse
I'm all for diversity, and letting people get on with what they want to do, but when that involves forcing women to ware certain dress, not letting certain kids have an education, shouldn't you oppose them for the good of your fellow human
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opposing their ways is fine; everyone has the right to oppose any kind of behavior they want. but problems arise when that opposition becomes violent.
for example, fundamentalist christians oppose abortion. that's all well and good, but some of them blow up abortion clinics. they honestly believe they are acting in good faith for their fellow human by committing an act of violence. others, perhaps the doctor performing the abortions included, believe the right to abortion is in and of itself something which should be maintained for the good of our fellow human.
both are opinions, but one results in needless violence. those who enact this violence consider it the effect of allowing abortions in much the same way the bush administration considers their invasions the effect of sovereign nations' behaving in a certain way, but when violence is used it becomes a cause in itself. . . and the effect is always more violence/bad blood/animosity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AfroHorse
I'm not saying western armies should go there and impose all our values on them (which is whats happening, such as attempting to stop opium production), but you could give them a hand and get rid of people who seem to have no real good intentions
Sure, you could argue that its a cultural difference and we have no right to make judgements, but that doesn't really help the people who are on the losing side of those cultural differences
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we've in the past maintained similarly atrocious behavior in regard to women, race, religion, etc. the only difference between our society and theirs is that at some point we decided to change all that. we can't force them to change, all we can hope to do is serve as an example. really we're serving as an example this instant and creating a self-fulfilling, violent prophecy: force is the way to get things done, so use it while you can!
instead of trying to get them to live like we do through show of force, why not prove to them that our way actually IS better? why not fix our schools and our healthcare. why not promote health and happiness amongst our citizens? the fact is that we are not happy, and while they may not be completely happy either what makes us think they'd want the system that's creating our unhappiness on top of theirs? they have to want the change, and if we want them to want to change we have to prove the effectiveness of what they'll be changing into!