Hypocrisy

[mart]

I think we are all concerned about the wrongness of this business. Perhaps we should be just as concerned about the stupidity.
We are always being accused of US bashing but I'm coming round to the view that there is something intrinsically askew in the American psyche.

Mart

[jj]

Yes, I do feel a little sympathy for anyone of low intelligence and/or poor education , regardless of race or gender, who is placed in an invidious position by powerful, well-educated sadists who ought to know better.
It wasn't rednecks who started this war, it was techno-and plutocrats: the rednecks are merely there to act as cannon-fodder, do the dirty work, and lend their unthinking, uncritical supprt for the exercise.
This is exactly why most governments have an unspoken fear of mass higher education- they always prefer a sizeable pool of morons for such 'sensitive' tasks, and it's SO much easier to lead them around by their nose-rings.

[jj]

Nowhere in the first post did I say anything about culpability- having in recent earlier posts touched severally upon this topic of individual responsibility and moral sense, I thought I'd made my position clear and consistent.
To reiterate- I have nothing but scorn for Lindy or any other serviceperson who tortures their charges, and they ought to be punished fully. To try and understand, however partially, WHY someone does something wrong is not to condone the misdeed, however.
My point was that others higher in the command-chain should also share the burden of blame, and punishment- in fact, I'd contend that the higher the rank, the greater the penalty ought to be, as the responsibility increases proportionately.

And to answer your question here: yes, I'd certainly blame the government, in part (haven' t you yourself argued in the past that many crims would choose a better option if it was offered?), and I'd like to think that I could (eventually) forgive the perpetrator of a crime against my Precious Person. But I don't see how it is in any way inconsistent for me to also expect the malefactor to be severely punished- unless the crime was committed by a loony, in which case I'd expect them to be treated- and of course, they WOULD be loonies: no-one in their right mind would DREAM of assaulting me, me being the lovely person wot I am.

[Deuce Bigolo]

We bash America because she is currently the Super Power roaming the world in search of more riches to return home with

Just as umpteen other Nationalities/Empires have done through out the centuries

There is something intrinsically wrong with the Human psyche IMHO

If history is anything to use as a gauge of mankinds psyche then we really are no better than animals-survival of the fittest still seems to be at our core
judging by how many of our fellow humans die each day through actions of other humans and not just Americans

cheers
B....OZ

[jj]

Scapegoats will be found, and the system will then grind on as before, just better-protected.
That's the REAL hypocrisy here.

[jj]

A couple of Yanks were killed in Afghanistan last week- private 'security consultants' (presumably ex-service) testing the safety of the region if/before the return of the UN.
This seems to be an increasingly common practice.

I'm guesssing the report was in the negative.........