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Re: gas out
----- Original Message -----
From: jg900 <jg900 at bright_net>
To: Joshua M. Neds-Fox <jnedsfox at moody_edu>
Cc: OtR <over-the-rhine at actwin_com>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 1999 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: gas out
>one thing to lay down your life for another. that's fine. kind of a nice
>thing to do, and i'm all for that. but see, that's kind of a passive
>thing, not quite like flying planes over a land and bombing the hell out
of
>it, killing a few people while you're at it. that's more an active thing.
>i'm not too hip on that idea, i learned that lesson when i was a child
and
>we were sending off cousins to Viet Nam. i could come home from school and
>watch news updates with Walter Cronkite from 'Nam. i realized back then
>that this wasn't cool. oh, yeah, i guess i'm a liberal. so, bite me!
ok, i got a scenerio for you, say some one was going to kill you, and in
defending you, i shot and killed the assilant or at least severely maimed
him. does that make my action any less worthy? or should i just let him
shoot you if i can't disarm him without harming him?
and why do you feel so defensive about being a liberal, i consider myself to
be a social liberal, but i also do feel that certain moral obligations and
honor must be upheld. and sometimes aggressive actions are necessary.
[actually, i am all about aggressive actions, isnt' that right? to those
of you out there who know me :) i guess when i comes down to it, i would
take aggressive actions to defend myself, my friends, and anyone in need
from unjustified violence, i rather be the one doing the kicking than be on
the receiving end, but i digress :)]
And speaking of Vietnam, i happen to think our actions there were not only
not wrong but definitely justified. on the political end, we were to
contain the domino effect of communism spreading across Asia, had we not
intervened, the former USSR and China would think that they'd have a free
hand in toppling non-communist governments. We were partially successful as
in that we made the effort and put up a fight. even though S. Vietnam fell
eventually, no other southeastern asia country did. On a more idealist
front, we were there to defend the self-determination of an ally who did not
wish to be under communism rule, and self-determination is one of the basic
principle upon which this country was founded. Of course wars aren't
"cool", but at the time, it was a necessary evil. and speaking so causally
about that war as "wasn't cool" degrades the spirit of those who fought and
died there.
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