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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

almarst-2001 - 02:50pm Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2434 of 2441)

rshowalter 4/20/01 2:35pm

Agly indeed. Did her troubles happen 15 year ago?

servzone0 - 03:08pm Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2435 of 2441)

Thanks for the links guys Ive been on the phone and computer , telling the truthabout America. If Joy.you.to gets killed by a missile. Today or in future because she wouldnt become a prostitute. The world will know what The Leaders of America have done to a loyal American citizen."Gore And Bush" Thanks again.. And speak up for what is right. Selling woman and children is not in gods plans,"Not very nice either"! And keep up the great work with china and Russia. I will check back with you,"hopefully"

rshowalter - 03:13pm Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2436 of 2441)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

That was when we had the conversation -- and I don't believe she was lying.

True or not, if stories like hers were often repeated, and came into circulation among journalists, there would be a deep bias, sometimes perhaps amounting to blindness, in some journalistic circles, among some reporters, both male and female.

That would be a reason for bias, that did not have to do with oil company corruption (though oil influence is not something I discount either.)

Efforts to reduce old hatreds, in such circumstances, both by talking, and by actions that show that such things are not to be repeated, are important. Important morally, but economically and politically, too. Without reconciliation, a society with such a reputation finds itself marginalized in many ways that impoverish that society.

rshowalter - 03:20pm Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2437 of 2441)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

lunarchick 4/20/01 9:40am raised a profound question:

" Is truth more peculiar to some cultures and religions than others? Are the Nations that 'value truth' doing better than those that evade it; work on Old Testament (an eye for an eye); suffer loss of 'face' complexes; are run by Gangsters; exclude gender and 'other' 'outer' groupings.

There are "cultural relativists" who say "no - everyone is entitled to his own opinion." But if the standard is one of disciplined beauty where the proportion and consistency of practice and doctrine with respect to specific assumption can be talked about, the question "is trugh more peculiar to some cultures and religions than others?" is a reasonable one. One can say

"this is beautiful - or ugly - in this context"

and say so on discussable grounds.

Especially when there is a glaring disparity between what is said and actually done, something can be called ugly in its own terms. And that disparity can be checked.

Some things are ugly. rshowalter 4/20/01 10:40am

rshowalter - 03:23pm Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2438 of 2441)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

And it seems to me that if a culture embodies some deep and essential lies, it can do itself grave harm -- it can immobilize itslelf in a web of fictions that make honest, efficient adaptations possible. It seems to me that this may well be true of cultures that have done very badly - and seem remarkably inflexible, and full of hate.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF INCEST by Lloyd DeMause

makes bracing reading, but if it is as credible as it seems to be, ought to give people sentimental about the "inherent goodness or mankind" pause.

. http://www.psychohistory.com/ .. (you have to go into the articles section of the site)

When I read DeMause, I thought this --- if what he says is true, the catalepsy of some countries and cultures - their inability to show the economic growth one would expect, their inability to come to accomodations that one might expect, may be in large part due to having such a huge framework of lies and brutal usages, that there is just not the common ground, and respect for truth, that the complex cooperation of modern economic life takes.

DeMause makes the case, and it is a case that held my attention, that incest, and some really brutal dehumanization of female children (and male ones too) is all-too-common. What he cites about the US and Europe is harrowing enough -- what he sets out about India, other asian countries, and the Middle East may go far to explain paralysis.

Societies that have religious groups who have adapted to the situation with a great deal of hypocrisy and lies may be truly inferior cultures to that extent -- unable to adapt, and full of people who are easy to blackmail from guilt. Some of the horrors of Africa, including female circumcision, are wrenching as well.

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