Re: Opium [was: Re: freelance sysadmining -- superlong -- [WAS: "Red Hat recommends Windows for consumers"]]
On Sun, Nov 16, 2003 at 06:05:35AM +0000, ben wrote:
>
> there is definitely a huge gap between how one imagines something to be
> and to witness the actual event of the same. you're absolutely right,
> and to shock people into civility might not be a bad idea; one which
> might be the reason why the return of dead troops to dover air base is
> off-limits to the press, at the moment, for fear of shocking the
> domestic audience, in that manner. i'm old enough to remember when the
> press had the courage to record the return of the remains of those who
> died in vietnam. that was also a reality check.
That would be a bad idea.
I'm currently reading John Keegan's "The History of War" -- he's a
military historian, he was recently on C-SPAN and Charlie Rose.
He's got a new book out, "Intelligence in War."
There's also a new documentary with Robert Macnamara coming out.
The history of why and how men butcher one another is absolutely
fascinating. The recurring question is: is violence intrinsic to man or
contingent? It's easy to be glib about it. Fact is war has been here for
millenia. Better to be well-informed.
Norman Podhoretz said only ex-communists can talk intelligently about
anti-communism. My ex-wife also told me to listen to old people,
they're probably gonna tell something true.
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