When the subject of Obama as a “peacemaker” comes up, people like Mary seem to think that the answer is to be nice and talk to people and the problem will go away. This is known as “mirroring,” and it is the blind spot that most people bring to negotiations — the idea that our opponents want the same things we do. In Afghanistan we are dealing with an enemy who insists on praying to Allah multiple times a day, who believes that women are subhuman, that homosexuals be killed on sight (preferably by crushing them under falling walls — look it up) and that any criticism of Allah, his Prophet (PBOH) or his clerics is punishable by beating or death. That is their IRREDUCIBLE CORE BELIEF SYSTEM and for that they are willing to die. We, on the other hand, believe in fundamental human dignity for all, the right to worship or not as we see fit, the right of women and homosexuals to live lives as equal members of society, and the fundamental right to say whatever we damn well choose. Those in turn are OUR IRREDUCIBLE CORE BELIEF SYSTEMS for which SOME of us are willing to fight and die.
Read the whole thing.
Hat tip to Pi Guy over at the Correspondence Committee.
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Long ago, a University Professor I knew enjoyed shocking many of his students by making the observation that "Sometimes, you just have to be willing to kill your enemies."
In a civilized society, it is perhaps too easy for many people to forget that sometimes, it really may be necessary to fight for what is right, that sometimes, your enemy is not reasonable and cannot be dealt with like a reasonable adult.
Sometimes, it is either you, or him. Sometimes, you just have to be willing to kill your enemy.
The world is not a nice place. There are some very bad people in it. Worse yet, they may think that they and those like them are the good people of the world, while you and I are the bad people that need to be corrected or done away with.
They are not like us. They do not want the same things that we want. We are not compatible. When we meet them and when they meet us, there will be conflict. One side will prevail. just one.
Life is an existential struggle. There is no getting away from that fact.
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