Fighting Evil

[Sgt. Boomer]

The_Punisher Wrote:Force always solves the problem, but it might not be the best solution.

Actually, he’s perfectly correct.

Lincoln said that the ballot is stronger than the bullet – but he wasn’t voted out of office was he?

Nazi Germany may not have been able to completely eradicate crime, but they certainly had no problem with repeat offenders; and their overall crime rate was lower than ours today. And given enough time and troops they would have wiped out all partisan activity. In the end most people acquiesce to force, and with sufficient force, those who don’t are quickly killed.

Israel could very easily settle their problems with the Palestinians if they really did behave like Nazis (as so many brain dead critics have falsely accused them of doing). Simply put, dead enemies can’t attack you.

Enforced order breaks down when there is too little force. The USSR was a stable (horrific, but stable) empire until Gorbachev\'s glasnost. It was the first relaxing of force that started the breakup of European Communism. When the Chinese tested their government’s resolve, the brutal beating they took in Tiananmen Square put an abrupt end to democratization there.

Saddam Hussein had few problems with insurgents and rebels when he was in power, and I’m sure the U.S. could pacify Iraq if they simply adopted some of his old tactics. But therein lies the dilemma for any nation or people that believes in goodness: unrestrained force may be the most expedient solution to the problem, but is prohibited by conscience.

Thus the Western democracies find themselves playing by the unenviable rules of not hitting first, only hitting as hard (or less) as they absolutely have to, and only hitting where they absolutely have to. And generally allowing themselves to be a target for everyone who doesn’t play by their rules.

Fortunately, man doesn’t wield the greatest force in the Universe. Nature’s power dwarfs our own. Ideas have proven to be more durable than weapons.

And Goodness has shown an astonishing ability to triumph over all sorts of nastiness throughout history. Coincidence? Maybe --- but I doubt it.

Value systems X,Y, and Z have always found themselves trumped in time by value system A.

And it doesn’t matter if “they” blame us. Criminals generally blame their victims... or the police, or society. There is no moral equivalence between the Nazi’s and the Japanese starting a war of conquest and enslavement, and the West using what force was necessary to end it. Nor between the U.S. deposing the Taliban, and Iran wanting to “wipe Israel off the map.”

=D.C.L.I=TuRb0jUg3nD Wrote:In fact, I think big bombs only scare other politicians.

I think you just summed up why the atomic bombs (against Japan) were necessary, not evil.




And Jonathan--- what Moe said.