http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/04/us_breaks_up_mahdi_a.php

link here just in case

Warning: There can be only one twobyfour. Hot heeding this rule may result in twobyfuror!

Click on the nick link leads to a blog with a sexual content. Thus #21 is a spam.

1. Iraq was a shithole.

True. On the shithole scale it was about 9.5 out of 10.

2. Iraq currently still is a shithole.

True. However, it is now at about 5.5 on the shithole scale.

3. After we are gone Iraq will continue to be a shithole.

Likely. But one never knows. In 10 years, Iraq may move perhaps to 3, while Netherlands may be at 7 (elucidation).

What is the point? It is far better to have a country in the heart of ME with 5.5 on the shithole scale, rather than 9.5.

If you don’t understand the paragraph above, then you may be one of these people that see a glass with 1/3 filled in as a glass 1/3 full.

I used to think the big difference between left and right was that the left believed in progress while the right believed in the ineradicability of evil.

What bizarre notions you held!

The “progress” left believes in is not a progress, but a concept based on their basic notion that wealth is a zero sum game:

Since wealth is not created, but only acquired by some to the detriment of others, e.g. stealing, a “just” society would be where stealing would be concentrated in hands of ethical distributors (state apparatus) that would distribute it evenly. That is, there are two parts of the distribution process–one pile for ethical distrubutors, their reward for being ethical and as such they get to be rewarded according to their wishes. The other pile goes to everyone else that is not yet so highly evolved.

Currently, the left does not believe in absolute evil (except capitalism), as evil is only an expression of behavior based on different frames of reference. The standard leftist belief is that the behavioral patterns are modifiable by indoctrination. It does not mean that “bad” patterns would disappear, but that the state can provide enough corrective (or coercive) influence to discourage the undesirable behavior. So, in fact, the evil (though called different terms) is accepted as a basic human behavioral pattern, just the temptations are removed by the overseer. The hope is that in time, the social pressures and correction would encourage only the sanctioned patterns.

The relativistic modern leftist creed was actually not present in the past, the left in the commie countries held more traditional views, because it was apparent how corrosive the relativistic principles are. They were strictly reserved for western consumption. Notions of family coherence, patriotism (with a marxist coating) were upheld and things like homosexuality were considered very “incorrect”, and often a prison was considered a tool of correction for sexual deviants.
The Gramsci and followers were actually blacklisted there, so people would not absorb some stupid ideas. But that is gone and what is left is the branch of the left endowed by gramscian conmen.

Just to elucidate the gramscian gameplan, here is the basic tool kit of the Frankfurt School:

To further the advance of their ‘quiet’ cultural revolution – but giving us no ideas about their plans for the future – the School recommended (among other things):

1. The creation of racism offences.
2. Continual change to create confusion
3. The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children
4. The undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority
5. Huge immigration to destroy identity.
6. The promotion of excessive drinking
7. Emptying of churches
8. An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime
9. Dependency on the state or state benefits
10. Control and dumbing down of media
11. Encouraging the breakdown of the family

One of the main ideas of the Frankfurt School was to exploit Freud’s idea of ‘pansexualism’ – the search for pleasure, the exploitation of the differences between the sexes, the overthrowing of traditional relationships between men and women. To further their aims they would:

• attack the authority of the father, deny the specific roles of father and mother, and wrest away from families their rights as primary educators of their children.
• abolish differences in the education of boys and girls
• abolish all forms of male dominance – hence the presence of women in the armed forces
• declare women to be an ‘oppressed class’ and men as ‘oppressors’
Munzenberg summed up the Frankfurt School’s long-term operation thus: ‘We will make the West so corrupt that it stinks.’

Quite a success, eh? Half a century and the stink is set in.

The right believes in absolute evil in contrast to the leftist relativistic views, and the evil is defined in rather specific terms. But the right also believes that the evil can be defeated, because if one knows what is its scope, one can fight it–not when fuzzy definitions and narratives are the norm. The quest of fighting the evil is defined in individualistic terms and tied to a concept of personal responsibility, as opposed to sublimation of the responsibility into hands of the state in leftist conceptual framework.
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.

I used to think the big difference between left and right was that the left believed in progress while the right believed in the ineradicability of evil.

What bizarre notions you held!

The “progress” left believes in is not a progress, but a concept based on their basic notion that wealth is a zero sum game:

Since wealth is not created, but only acquired by some to the detriment of others, e.g. stealing, a “just” society would be where stealing would be concentrated in hands of ethical distributors (state apparatus) that would distribute it evenly. That is, there are two parts of the distribution process–one pile for ethical distrubutors, their reward for being ethical and as such they get to be rewarded according to their wishes. The other pile goes to everyone else that is not yet so highly evolved.

Currently, the left does not believe in absolute evil (except capitalism), as evil is only an expression of behavior based on different frames of reference. The standard leftist belief is that the behavioral patterns are modifiable by indoctrination. It does not mean that “bad” patterns would disappear, but that the state can provide enough corrective (or coercive) influence to discourage the undesirable behavior. So, in fact, the evil (though called different terms) is accepted as a basic human behavioral pattern, just the temptations are removed by the overseer. The hope is that in time, the social pressures and correction would encourage only the sanctioned patterns.

The relativistic modern leftist creed was actually not present in the past, the left in the commie countries held more traditional views, because it was apparent how corrosive the relativistic principles are. They were strictly reserved for western consumption. Notions of family coherence, patriotism (with a marxist coating) were upheld and things like homosexuality were considered very “incorrect”, and often a prison was considered a tool of correction for sexual deviants.
The Gramsci and followers were actually blacklisted there, so people would not absorb some stupid ideas. But that is gone and what is left is the branch of the left endowed by gramscian conmen.

Just to elucidate the gramscian gameplan, here is the basic tool kit of the Frankfurt School:

To further the advance of their ‘quiet’ cultural revolution – but giving us no ideas about their plans for the future – the School recommended (among other things):

1. The creation of racism offences.
2. Continual change to create confusion
3. The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children
4. The undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority
5. Huge immigration to destroy identity.
6. The promotion of excessive drinking
7. Emptying of churches
8. An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime
9. Dependency on the state or state benefits
10. Control and dumbing down of media
11. Encouraging the breakdown of the family

One of the main ideas of the Frankfurt School was to exploit Freud’s idea of ‘pansexualism’ – the search for pleasure, the exploitation of the differences between the sexes, the overthrowing of traditional relationships between men and women. To further their aims they would:

• attack the authority of the father, deny the specific roles of father and mother, and wrest away from families their rights as primary educators of their children.
• abolish differences in the education of boys and girls
• abolish all forms of male dominance – hence the presence of women in the armed forces
• declare women to be an ‘oppressed class’ and men as ‘oppressors’
Munzenberg summed up the Frankfurt School’s long-term operation thus: ‘We will make the West so corrupt that it stinks.’

Quite a success, eh? Half a century and the stink is set in.

The right believes in absolute evil in contrast to the leftist relativistic views, and the evil is defined in rather specific terms. But the right also believes that the evil can be defeated, because if one knows what is its scope, one can fight it–not when fuzzy definitions and narratives are the norm. The quest of fighting the evil is defined in individualistic terms and tied to a concept of personal responsibility, as opposed to sublimation of the responsibility into hands of the state in leftist conceptual framework.