Sunfish,
I thank you for your apology. May I also offer you one, if I offended any of your (or anyone else's in this discussion) sensibilities. I too feel passionately about this issue, albeit at the other end of the spectrum to some here.
I'm afraid I am not a fan of Humanism - I cannot believe in all truth that there is ANY way in which mankind can 'perfect' itself, and the reason this thread is here at all is testament to that - ie a well trained and disciplined soldier from a nation who's laws and values respect human rights and the GC is
ALLEGED to have 'lost it' with a prisoner and caused his death - in other words, he is
ALLEGEDLY guilty of being.........HUMAN. The capacity for deeds of magnitude evil rests within each and every one of us - it is a fundamental part of our nature and CANNOT be eradicated, by 'scientific' or any other methods. One only needs to look at the manifold conflicts raging around the world at the moment to understand this.
I also believe that we will never 'spread our values' to the Arab / Islamic world as there is little, if any, common ground between our cultures. Many people make the mistake of judging islamic culture with western values - what results is almost always a misrepresentation of the truth.
Happytruckin,
You are correct, and perhaps my 'pinko armchair general' quip was a little hot-headed - please see my apology above. I have, however, been 'outside the wire' on more than one occasion at Basrah and other places, and I can safely say I would NOT wish my primary duties to entail doing this on a daily basis. I have nothing but respect for those who do - hence my heartfelt hesitation to spew right-on, politically-correct condemnation on those who find themselves in difficulty, without
prima facie evidence of wrongdoing.
Dave Martin,
It's a bit difficult to condemn a news program when by your own admission:
I don't look at it as a news source
Your assertion that FOX and simliar are taking over the minds of Americans is somewhat wide of the mark - it is but one cable news channel among many, and most of the others, along with most of the powerful printed media in the US, are left-leaning. Whatever your view of FOX, it does one thing extremely well - it holds those on the left to account for their views and deeds, something which virtually none of the other mainstream networks do. It also, as has already been aluded to here, provides a 'balance' to the mainstream liberal media, as well as inviting those with opposing views onto programmes like The O'Reilly Factor to say their piece. I for one enjoy FOX news, but as I'm sure you've guessed, I am a little right-leaning in my views!
16B