perfidy

I now hear that 71% of the American public now wants the war to begin, quickly. The waiting really is the wearing part, though I think that early next week we may see the beginning of Gulf War II. My current take is that, barring major diplomatic breakthroughs with the undecided members of the security council, we will announce that we aren't seeking a vote because France would have vetoed it anyway, and then attack on the 18th or 19th. This will leave the blame for castrating the UN with France. I am looking forward to talking with (arguing with) my friends from Ohio when they arrive late this evening. While I have not discussed the war with them in any real detail (I don't get back home very often anymore) I hope that the "No war for oil/Bush is a fascist" type of antiwar argument has not seduced them. I don't think it has, though I am very, very curious to hear what they think about the ANSWER crowd that has been organizing these protests (unrepentant Stalinists) or the talk of plans for actively interfering with preparations for war. Or how they justify their opposition to the United States when the U.S. is going up against such a deranged mongoloid fuckw*t as Saddam. Or what relevance French opinions have on American security interests in the Persian Gulf region. 

Eminem is like Pat Boone.

What formal education I have had has largely been in Political Science and in Computer Science. One discipline is more or less engineering, the other is the red-headed stepson of the humanities. History, English, Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology tend very strongly to the left. At my college (and Johno's) the only conservative faculty in the humanities were the two Political Science professors. The history department had two communists, and a liberal. 

Also, I read a lot of science fiction. 

So, I tend to look at history in a very judgmental way. (Many people now think that being judgmental and discriminating are bad things. But ask yourself: how far you would get in a day without deciding between things, or deciding that something was bad?) When I read history, I always think to myself, "Well they were right about that. That was clearly wrong. If they had done this thing, they would have been better off." This is why I like alternate history novels. 

I also take the same approach to current events. I look at what people are doing, and what effect it is having on them or others, and then judge. For example, I have decided that the Palestinians are a messed up people, who are completely wrong on just about every issue – and not just their strained relationship with their neighbors to the west. Someone once quipped that they have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Now, if someone were to offer me evidence that my judgment was incorrect, I would certainly change it. In the case of the Palestinians, I think this is unlikely. And that doesn't mean that I will never criticize Israel. 

You might say that this is likely evidence that I am a white, not very crypto, phallocentric oppressor of subaltern guano farmers. And you'd be right. The only thing that I hate more than Peruvian Guano Farmers is Dirty Hippies. And Norwegians.