INTELLECTUALS LIE, THE POWERLESS DIE

sloopskipper says on Jul 9, 2008, 06:43:

It seems the URL got truncated, somehow, try:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07092008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/intell...

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aztec says on Jul 9, 2008, 06:56:

Thanks, sloopskipper!

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sloopskipper says on Jul 9, 2008, 07:08:

My pleasure, a good read.

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dwmte7 says on Jul 9, 2008, 09:25:

great article...clear and poignant. send to friends.

d

dwmte

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dwmte7 says on Jul 9, 2008, 11:10:

sloop...wtf....i copied and sent this to friends and yours did what aztec's did. "page not found". duh.

my friends, about 30 of em are e'ing me wanting to know what's up. i have no clue. what's the fix
douglas

dwmte

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aztec says on Jul 9, 2008, 12:33:

Because of the difficulty with the url I have posted the whole article.

Posted: 3:50 am
July 9, 2008

THE greatest lie intellectuals tell us is that "the pen is mightier than the sword." That's what cowards claim when they want to preen as heroes.

Billions of words have been hurled at Sudan's government. The misery in Darfur not only continues but deepens. While intellectuals wrestled with compound sentences, Darfur degenerated from selective oppression to savage anarchy.

Legions of columnists and commentators have deplored Robert Mugabe's monstrous rule in Zimbabwe. But none of the hand-wringing by American, European or even African intellectuals restrained one fist or stopped one club in midair. Guess who "won" that election.

Regiments of professors and pundits have bemoaned China's gobbling of Tibet for half a century. The result? Beijing cracked down even harder.

"Brave" columnists wrote countless columns bemoaning the suffering of the Kurds and the Shia under Saddam Hussein. Their earnest paragraphs didn't save a single life.

Only when better men acted did the surviving victims of one of the world's worst dictatorships glimpse freedom - an imperfect freedom but better than a mass grave.

Nothing positive is going to happen in Sudan or Zimbabwe (or Tibet) until rule-of-law states take action. As outraged activists scribble on, Beijing blithely continues supporting these and other rogue regimes (and our president crawls to the Olympics - it's as if FDR had rushed to the games in Berlin).

There was a good reason the assassins of 9/11 attacked the targets they did, rather than steering those planes into Columbia University or Harvard Yard: They knew that the potency of the intellectual is illusory, that it dissolves at the first shot.

As I pointed out on July 4, even our glorious Declaration of Independence and our Constitution would be no more than bizarre artifacts had they not been defended by patriots willing to fight.

Does anyone really believe that there's anything we can write or say that will persuade al Qaeda to make nice? It's on the strategic defensive today but only because our soldiers and Marines thumped the hell out of its cadres in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The point isn't that military solutions are always the best solutions - any problem that can be resolved without bloodshed should be handled peaceably. But we've got to stop playing pretend: In this hate-plagued, often merciless world, events sometimes demand action, not just talk.

Our diplomats and "distinguished commentators" see the world from the 17th floor of a luxury hotel or the office of an English-speaking Cabinet member. The insular safety of their lives has convinced them that every problem has a peaceful solution if only we can all have a good chat.

But those who rule by the sword (or the fist, or engineered famines or outright genocide) don't want to hash things out. They want to win. No elegant phrase has ever stopped a bullet in midflight.

Please, educate me: In over 5,000 years of more or less recorded history, how many tyrannies have been overthrown by noble sentiments? How many genocides have been averted by reasonable discussions? How many wars have been prevented by Quakers?

As William James - no archconservative - put it a century ago, "History is a bath of blood." It's been a long time since we got badly splashed (9/11's casualties were an average day in Normandy). We're so spoiled that we've forgotten how brutal humankind can be. But our enemies are determined to remind us. Meanwhile, they practice on the innocents close at hand.

If the pen truly were mightier than the sword, the defense industry would be making ink, paper and keyboards, rather than smart bombs and body armor. A pen wielded by a talented writer may wound a target's ego, but a sword will cut off the writer's head.

Pacifists mean well. But they're a dictator's best friends. The man who won't fight for justice abets the terrorist, the tyrant and the concentration-camp guard.

All decent men want peace. But wise men know that not all men are decent.

The use of the pen is an indulgence we can afford only because better men and women grip the sword on our behalf.

Ralph Peters' new book is "Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07092008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/intell...

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romy says on Jul 9, 2008, 12:41:

based on false premises the argument in this article falls apart. Maybe this guy should take logic 101

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aztec says on Jul 9, 2008, 12:43:

Romy are you not an Argentinian living in Canada?

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romy says on Jul 9, 2008, 12:44:

?

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dwmte7 says on Jul 9, 2008, 13:16:

say what?

dwmte

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dwmte7 says on Jul 9, 2008, 13:17:

this aint about argument, premise and logic, it's about truth

dwmte

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romy says on Jul 9, 2008, 13:19:

so Ralph Peters is God.... I didn't know that, thanks

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dwmte7 says on Jul 9, 2008, 14:55:

i was unawares of that also, romy...thanks.

dwmte

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romy says on Jul 9, 2008, 14:57:

The only one excused from being logical is God... the only one with the "Truth"... apparently, I don't know myself

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billyb says on Jul 9, 2008, 18:07:

"based on false premises "

romy, can you point out which are the false premises in the article and how they are false? Or was that just rhetoric?

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CatGirl says on Jul 9, 2008, 19:27:

jeje, you guys!

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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lanegrapaisa says on Jul 9, 2008, 20:17:

I think the article was great and I agree 100%, I really liked the part about the quakers , hehehe

Hasta el santo Papa tira peos!

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romy says on Jul 9, 2008, 23:50:

BB-you're not worth my time

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kalder says on Jul 10, 2008, 00:53:

'"the pen is mightier than the sword." That's what cowards claim when they want to preen as heroes.'

It's an excellent point.

As is the wider article. As a cursory leaf through any history book would verify.

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

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kalder says on Jul 10, 2008, 04:24:

If Goering said it, it must be right! Is that the idea Hans?

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

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billyb says on Jul 10, 2008, 05:28:

romy says on Jul 9, 2008, 23:50: flag

"BB-you're not worth my time"

How typical of you romy, you make a comment and can't back it up when questioned on it. All you do is spout idealogical babble without the understanding behind it. And you wonder why you are ridiculed on here? Come on clever boy, tell us which premises are fasle. Don't do it for me, do it for what's left of your credibility.

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romy says on Jul 10, 2008, 08:08:

(yawn)

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billyb says on Jul 10, 2008, 08:21:

romy says on Jul 10 (today): flag

(yawn)


Another gen from romy. Still won't answer the question. Why? Because he doesn't know what his point was LOL>

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romy says on Jul 10, 2008, 08:30:

(zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

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billyb says on Jul 10, 2008, 17:46:

there you are in a nutshell romy, after you got busted on here for pasting false articles with untrue titles you were left with nothing to add. sad.

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romy says on Jul 10, 2008, 18:17:

someone that likes BB please explain to him that I do not wish to waste my time with him. Has it been that hard to understand? Imagine if I had actually deconstructed the article and then proven it to be a bunch of BS, what then would have happened to BB and his sanity? I'm starting to feel pity.

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billyb says on Jul 10, 2008, 18:38:

I am heartbroken. LOL.

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CatGirl says on Jul 10, 2008, 21:48:

You two are cute when you go back and forth...I like to watch. No reason to explain, jeje
Please continue, jijiji

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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romy says on Jul 11, 2008, 03:55:

Catgirl- for you I would, if I wasn't so bored of BB. Hopefully someone else will play with me, others like to attack but they don't play when I hit them back

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dwmte7 says on Jul 11, 2008, 06:28:

intellectual 'lucha' is fun, my friend, but 'playin' with ya.....gotta pass there.

dwmte

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rocinante says on Jul 11, 2008, 10:13:

"Imagine if I had actually deconstructed the article and then proven it to be a bunch of BS, " - Romy

That would require thought and being mature enough to not only join a discussion where you might be in the minority but back up an opinion with some semblence of wisdom and reason.

Why be in a thread otherwise?

I love being on the other side of the group and being able to impart my opinion. When I agree with everything it's usually boring for me and I don't respond. But when the majority of posters are on one side and I post a dissent, whether they end up agreeing or not matters little, as long as they see my side and better yet respect my side - that's all I could ever hope for.

Empty words such as "based on false premises the argument in this article falls apart." is much easier to type. Or maybe you are just afraid of the bunch? Afraid your views will be rejected or not respected?

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Peso 1400 by November" Feb 5, 2008

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rocinante says on Jul 11, 2008, 10:18:

The best defense for a fight or conflict is avoiding it and the author of the article mentions this with his "The point isn't that military solutions are always the best solutions - any problem that can be resolved without bloodshed should be handled peaceably". There probably many conflicts that have been avoided or solved through pen and reason - however these get little press. I've also heard the pen is mightier than the pig. I can't argue with that.

"World economic indicators point to a democrat winning 2008. It will surely be Obama. Peso 1400 by November" Feb 5, 2008

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dwmte7 says on Jul 12, 2008, 18:03:

roci...nice.....a buddy of mine was into this japanese thing called aikido....and he told me that in this art, the first line of defense is a smile. quaint. beats an ak47.

dwmte

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romy says on Jul 12, 2008, 23:11:

;)

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aztec says on Jul 14, 2008, 10:11:

Awareness

by clander In Stuff that white people like.

"An interesting fact about white people is that they firmly believe that all of the world’s problems can be solved through “awareness.�? Meaning the process of making other people aware of problems, and then magically someone else like the government will fix it.

This belief allows them to feel that sweet self-satisfaction without actually having to solve anything or face any difficult challenges. Because, the only challenge of raising awareness is people not being aware. In a worst case scenario, if you fail someone doesn’t know about the problem. End of story."

What makes this even more appealing for white people is that you can raise “awareness�? through expensive dinners, parties, marathons, selling t-shirts, fashion shows, concerts, eating at restaurants and bracelets. In other words, white people just have to keep doing stuff they like, EXCEPT now they can feel better about making a difference.

Raising awareness is also awesome because once you raise awareness to an acceptable, aribtrary level, you can just back off and say “Bam! did my part. Now it’s your turn. Fix it.�?

So to summarize - you get all the benefits of helping (self satisfaction, telling other people) but no need for difficult decisions or the ensuing criticism (how do you criticize awareness?). Once again, white people find a way to score that sweet double victory.

Popular things to be aware of: The Environment, Diseases like Cancer and AIDS, Africa, Poverty, Anorexia, Homophobia, Midde School Field Hockey/Lacrosse teams, Drug Rehab, and political prisoners.

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CatGirl says on Jul 14, 2008, 10:24:

Roci - I love being on the other side of the group and being able to impart my opinion. When I agree with everything it's usually boring for me and I don't respond. But when the majority of posters are on one side and I post a dissent, whether they end up agreeing or not matters little, as long as they see my side and better yet respect my side - that's all I could ever hope for.

Good statement, food for thought. But I do like to give positive feedback - it is just....positive. If you only comment where you disagree..hmm dunno. But my question to you Roci is - How do you Know they see your "side"? What measures do you use?

Douglas: says ....a buddy of mine was into this japanese thing called aikido....and he told me that in this art, the first line of defense is a smile. quaint. beats an ak47.

Good too - One thing they teach you is to use your opponent's energy - against themselves. When they push foward.... you pull in the same direction - they lose balance and fall with twice the force. (working smarter instead of working harder - or on another, sit back and let the Scorpion sting himself to death)

My father has a great story he tells about how he got into the Martial Arts. He was trying to impress a gal taking a class and acted like a fool on the mat. His instructor was blind. Interesting story - but maybe too long and deviates from this OP, so will stop now. Movers are here..Ciao

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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