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Originally Posted by flamesfever
I appreciate what you are saying, but didn't that all change to some extent when things came closer to home, with the bombings in New York. IMO, to even vaguely consider going down the nuclear path is 1000 times more dangerous, and I have lived through the entire cold war.
Surely we have to have some hope that this world can be changed for the better, without continually building rage in the majority of people who think and act different than us.
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I don't have enough faith in humanity to ever see the different societies reach common ground.
The one key difference though is the educational level and the human link.
After 9/11 there was a massive backlash against Islamic countries, there was major anger in the states and images of Palestinians for example dancing in the streets didn't help things.
There was a strong nuke them all sentiment happening in the civilized world, but at the heart of it, our society has added a great deal of rational behind it due to education, the lack of a anarchaic honor system and the high level of communication.
If 9/11 had happened in the 50's or 60's Afghanistan could very well be a cratered moonscape right now.
But Afghanistan doesn't have these advantages, for the most part, they are poorly educated, news transmission occurs through Whispers and rumors and they are a passionate people ruled over by a tribal honor code that won't let the cycle of anger stop, they're also massively intimidated by the Taliban who use religion to whip up angry sentiments.
In my heart of hearts, I don't believe that there will ever be peace between the West and the Middle East, and at some point that powder keg will blow.