Spindok – we’re waaaaay off topic here but:
What you say is exactly right. The alternative to war and bigotry is economic cooperation. Free markets mean different people and groups doing what they’re best at, and needing each other so much that they can’t afford the luxury of bigotry.
As far as that goes, I don’t even have to like gays, or Jews, or whomever. I just have to perceive my interests as being better served by dealing with them than not.
If Israel’s neighbors (and internal minorities) are ever going to live at peace with the Israeli Jews (for example), it’s going to be when they realize that the benefit that comes from cooperation and trade exceeds the cheap (but not really) thrills of intifada.
We’ll finally have peace in the world when people start caring more about how well they live than how their neighbors live, and that that person who’s better at something than you are is an opportunity, and not a liability.
