re: nolan's beijing olympics article
nolan
i certainly do share your anger at the shameful disregard for life and human beings in general in china.
this is a very hypocritical world we live in, and part of that has to do with our commercial relations with china as well.
from the little that i know about politics, it would appear that our biggest fear has always been mainland china. this strikes right at the heart of our long-term defense strategy, and for the sake of our own survival, we are willing to sacrifice principles.
on the other side of the coin, we will pound on the little countries that are not willing to adhere to "human rights", but who have not been involved in wanton disregard of human life like we have seen in china.
if i could sum it up:
from my perspective, all i can do is conduct myself to the standards that i preach and my moral convictions, but find that even then, i find myself limited to what i can do.
i will, like you, sound off when the conditions dictate so, yet, i have to unwillingly accept that many of these decisions are beyond reason, beyond my control, and have no choice but to ignore/forget them, thus becoming part of the same hypocritical scheme.
what other choice do we have, when a nation is willing to sacrifice as many hundreds of millions of lives as necessary to attain their own version of "principles"? our government has decided that the best way to preserve our way of life is to precisely sacrifice many of the principles which are supposed to be sacred to us, for the sake of our own survival. i have to accept that, despite the obvious conflict involved.
this is a never ending argument, and certainly worth bringing up once in a while, but man, we are just a speck of dust in a very complicated world.
how do we remain sane under such pressures? putting it very coldly: getting back to work and enjoying what we have while it lasts, and thanking God that we have the liberty to speak our mind without fear of reprisal.
pep
nolan
i certainly do share your anger at the shameful disregard for life and human beings in general in china.
this is a very hypocritical world we live in, and part of that has to do with our commercial relations with china as well.
from the little that i know about politics, it would appear that our biggest fear has always been mainland china. this strikes right at the heart of our long-term defense strategy, and for the sake of our own survival, we are willing to sacrifice principles.
on the other side of the coin, we will pound on the little countries that are not willing to adhere to "human rights", but who have not been involved in wanton disregard of human life like we have seen in china.
if i could sum it up:
from my perspective, all i can do is conduct myself to the standards that i preach and my moral convictions, but find that even then, i find myself limited to what i can do.
i will, like you, sound off when the conditions dictate so, yet, i have to unwillingly accept that many of these decisions are beyond reason, beyond my control, and have no choice but to ignore/forget them, thus becoming part of the same hypocritical scheme.
what other choice do we have, when a nation is willing to sacrifice as many hundreds of millions of lives as necessary to attain their own version of "principles"? our government has decided that the best way to preserve our way of life is to precisely sacrifice many of the principles which are supposed to be sacred to us, for the sake of our own survival. i have to accept that, despite the obvious conflict involved.
this is a never ending argument, and certainly worth bringing up once in a while, but man, we are just a speck of dust in a very complicated world.
how do we remain sane under such pressures? putting it very coldly: getting back to work and enjoying what we have while it lasts, and thanking God that we have the liberty to speak our mind without fear of reprisal.
pep
