From: Jonathan Davis (jonathan.davis@lineone.net)
Date: Thu Jul 31 2003 - 08:12:11 MDT
Dear Hermit,
I think that the dichotomy is slightly exaggerated. No doubt I would be
lumped into group one (pro-American, Pro-Israeli, Pro-Western) but your
description of this group is somewhat extreme. I can see elements of my
beliefs in both "sides" of the schism. I know you do not want to argue small
stuff and your examples, but I would like to make some things clearer none
the less. I believe we have much more in common here than we realise.
1. I distrust all governments, but sometimes or even mostly I agree with the
US Government (being the embodiment of the US people) and its actions. My
posting such opinions is normally in reaction what I perceive as
anti-American posts. Joe Dees, like me occasionally, feels he is restoring
balance but challenging what has become anti-US dogma here.
2. No one has claimed that "no media is more accurate and fair than that of
the US". If they did they are mistaken. The US media is flawed, but then
again so are almost all mass media systems. Even the BBC is accused of
rampant bias. There is little point in moaning about the US media unless a
suitable benchmark is established to measure rival media systems. It is one
thing to say "The US media has commercial interests filtering the news", it
is quite another to add "so we must give it equal status as the Iraqi
Information Minister's pronouncements".
3. War happens. As a former soldier you know well that war is hell, but
whilst ideologies exists to clash and there is competition for limited
resources - there will be war.
4. Some parts of the world would be better off adopting Western values. It
is perfectly normal to champion one's values attempt to propagate them. That
Western value are winning some memetic wars against legacy systems is not
America's fault.
5. Joe Dees often posts brilliant material but he can of course be
vituperative and somewhat obsessive in his arguing. He is a dissenter and
heterodox who simply clashes with the political dogmas in this church. More
power to him. How we handle differences and dissent is crucial to how we
develop.
I know you are trying to sort out this difficult problem of acrimonious and
off-putting internal squabbles. I think the solution to this is clear rules
of engagement, earning each others respect in areas where we do not disagree
and finally some sort of restatement of our shared values which includes the
rules mentioned above.
Perhaps we also need a natural, external threat?
A church based on reason is fine, but what are we doing to avoid what
happened to the last attempt to create such a church? The one that ended
with the Reign of Terror?
I trust you, probably the most brilliant person I have ever encountered,
will have some refreshing insights into how we can do this.
Kind regards
Jonathan
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