{"id":573,"date":"2002-10-05T20:12:17","date_gmt":"2002-10-06T04:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ogre.nu\/wp\/?p=573"},"modified":"2004-11-14T18:04:24","modified_gmt":"2004-11-15T02:04:24","slug":"a-polite-society-goes-both-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/?p=573","title":{"rendered":"“a polite society” goes both ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Biggerstaff<\/a> (quoted by Possum<\/a> — and how come the permalink syntax is correct on the latter and wrong on the former?) writes: <\/p>\n

I have considerable respect for the argument that past US interventions have created ill will abroad. But however we got here, here we are. I have little respect for the argument that we can simply “go, and sin no more” and expect the ill will to dissipate by itself. I have none for the argument that we can simply throw overboard everything or everyone that offends some foreign potentate and not simply whet said potentate’s appetite for further demands. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How about the idea that “we” retaliate thoroughly (but narrowly) for any actual attack on Us — and then<\/em> “go and sin no more”, not because it might please some thug but because it’s the right thing for America even if<\/em> it pleases some thug?<\/p>\n

Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time until it all happens again: the politicians will piss off someone else, who will find a startling way to kill ten<\/em> thousand Americans, and the cry will once again go up: “We didn’t want a war, but we’ve got one, so pipe down you appeasers.”<\/p>\n

Somehow I’m reminded of the stereotypical petty criminal’s words to the victim-elect who shows a weapon: “Relax, lady, we don’t want no trouble.” No, “we” would much prefer to dictate to the world without resistance or repercussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Craig Biggerstaff (quoted by Possum — and how come the permalink syntax is correct on the latter and wrong on the former?) writes: I have considerable respect for the argument that past US interventions have created ill will abroad. But … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militaria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}