Braindroppings

I read a few of these links. It has been quite a surprise to me how much attention has suddenly been directed toward Syria in the past couple of weeks, and also, how quickly the political situation in Lebanon has changed. I have been wondering if Bush constantly needs to have an "evil" country to blame and confront. Maybe he is afraid that if he doesn't keep the American people in a constant state of fear about something that they might wake up and discover what a total dork he is!

Every good person knows that Iran and Syria are the most decent governments in the world, while US is a fascist country after cultural imperialism and bent on helping the Zionists. As David says, the US president is a dork. Long live the eternally reforming Islamic Republic, Long live the Baath party and the Presidential House of Assad, down with the Great Satan, and all the Satanic dorks.

Ok Amir, based solely on my comment, perhaps I deserve some of your sarcasm. However, contrary to what you seem to think about my political opinions, I hated the tyranny of Saddam, I hate the tyranny of the Mullahs, and I have little respect for the Assads. Nevertheless, I stand behind my opinion of Bush. What I was trying to say with my comment was that I have been disgusted since 9/11 by the way that Bush has continually played upon the fears of the American people to ram his agenda down the people's throats. It is truely Machiavellian! Having said that, I am glad that Saddam is out of power and his sons are dead. I was happy to see the courage of the Iraqi people who went to the polls, and I am glad that there is a democratic movement in Lebanon that seems to be swiftly gaining momentum. However, the cost in Iraqi lives has been very high and grows daily, perhaps more than 100,000 have died. Iran is a much bigger country. Would it be worth it to you to remove the Mullahs from power by war if the cost was say half a million Iranian lives? I am not Iranian and I do not presume to speak on the behalf of Iranian people. I am just a man who thinks that human lives should not be carelessly wasted by the sort of incompetance and negligence that Bush and his cronies demonstrated with their very poorly planned and executed invasion and occupation of Iraq. I do not ever want to see such a thing repeated!

hi,
i couldn't find your email address, so that's why i am leaving a comment here (feel free to remove this one if you like).

the point is i have left you a comment in the previous post that is sitting there waiting for your answer.

Hi David, Iranians lives has been wasted for at least 26 years now. If Khodadad is upbeat, that is because he lives here. People in Iran are dead and enslaved. Now I don't know how much lives are worth, but if you don't like Bush, I can understand that. I am actually Green and have supported Clinton twice, so I can relate to Bush-bashing. The point is that if you don't like what he is doing, get into it, study it, and offer something else. Kerry did not do so, and the goody-good liberals are not doing it now. But amidst all this, in the absence of a workable plan to do something about the dead-zone that is Iran and the middle east, the default position of talking up dictators because of a deep seated Bush hatred has not helped me get out of the hell that I am in as an Iranian-American, has not helped Iranians who continously have hold the worst recordings regarding general decadence, nihilism, braindrain and ethical bankrupcy etc. So, unless you can go to Bashar or Khamenei and the Pasdaran and the Hizbollah and the rest of them and sweattalk them into a chantalong version of Imagine by John Lennon, my disgust with the left that I hold to a higher standard continues as well as the default position of Bush's blinks. I have no qualms with disagreement with Bush, just sit down and tell me what is a workable enlightened way out of the mess that the cowboy don't understand but the learned gentlemen of the liberal middle class know... It is nothing personal. Thank you for your response. Love and Peace... or Else!

Hi Amir, thank you for your response. I am happy to have a discussion with a fellow environmentalist. I wouldn't say that I am a far left liberal. I tend to be in the moderate and pragmatic camp. If Republicans would propose legislation that would really help average Americans instead of lining the pockets of corporations and aristocrats, or pandering to religious fundamentalism, I might consider voting for one or two some day. I like a lot of what Ralph Nader has to say. However, I don't think that his personality is well suited to elective politics. Of course, I could say the same about many politicians, although perhaps for different reasons.
I do sometimes take action and write to my Congressperson or Senators. Sometimes they write (or their staff writes) me back with some general statement of policy. I don't know if writing them really makes a difference. If I sent them a huge re-election check they would no doubt bend over and kiss my back side. Unfortunately, I like most people, can't afford to buy their ear like the corporations or the ultra rich can so easily do. I like your bit about a dictator and terrorist sing-a-long to "Imagine". :) I wish that I had a good idea about how to free Iranians from the "enslavement" that they have suffered. I do not think that the U.S. has the military capacity to invade and occupy Iran, even if they completely abandoned Iraq and Afghanistan. I also think that bombing Iran will only make things worse by more deeply entrenching the Mullah's grip on power and causing them to retaliate. I am actually more worried about Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into terrorist hands if Mushariff is assassinated than I am about the Mullah's having a bomb. Maybe I am completely wrong about this, but it makes sense to me. I'm all in favor of Love and Peace, too!

WhoMan:

What you are asking requires a higher knowledge than the one I have. As I said, I am certainly neither a psychologist nor a sociologist and my interest in the field is purely recreational.

As far as my PERSONAL feelings about that goes, yes, I do believe hanging out with like-minded people creates less conflict, and in our personal lives, that can be essential. My issue was that HOW we end up having those like minded friends to hang out with in the first place? Of course we are always looking for the group that would match us the best, but do we allow a pre-defined set of values, often not defined by us, to create that pool of like-minded people, or do we make random social contacts and then choose from that pool ourselves?