A Story Of Two Cultures

Las Vegas Sun/ Associated Press ^ | 9/9/2003 | RON FOURNIER

[AL Perrin]

Democrats Rip Bush on Terror War, Economy By RON FOURNIER ASSOCIATED PRESS

BALTIMORE (AP) -

Sen. Joe Lieberman accused Howard Dean in a campaign debate Tuesday night of turning his back on Israel, and the Democratic presidential front-runner shot back that he and former President Bill Clinton held the same view on the issue.

"It doesn't help...to demagogue this issue," Dean quickly added in the sharpest clash of the young Democratic debate season.

Two days before the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Democrats criticized President Bush's handling of the war on terror at the same time they began to sketch out their differences on foreign policy ...

Several of the contenders criticized Bush over domestic issues.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said the president couldn't find more money for education and health care at the same time he was seeking billions more for the war on terror.

The Democrats were at pains to stress their support for civil rights and other concerns to black - although Al Sharpton said black voters shouldn't allow themselves to be taken for granted.

"We need to correct the party so we can beat Bush with one expanded pie," he said in remarks critical of Democratic attentiveness to black concerns.

[AL Perrin]

A Story Of Two Cultures

Once upon a time, there were two tribes living next to each other. One was the Tainos who were very warlike, and delighted in battles waged, and in conflicts won. They had a hierarchical warrior class who prized strength, bravery, and personal achievement. The other tribe was the Mystics. They were a very peaceful people who meditated daily on the mysteries of life, spent much of their time living simply, and peacefully, creating artful pottery, and exploring their mind and spiritual oneness with nature.

The two tribes lived together for generations never bothering each other, since the Mystics had nothing the Tainos wanted, and the Mystics eschewed the obviously violent lifestyle the Tainos led.

Until one day, a rumor drifted into the Taino camp, that the Mystics had a large cache of gold that they had been keeping secret for many years. Upon hearing this, the Taino chieftain sent an emissary to the Mystic town center to ask if this was so. "Why yes," the Mystic leader answered. "We have much of this gold that we've hidden for many years, but we would be glad to share it with you, if you so desire."

Upon hearing this, the Tainos rose up in their warlike wrath, and marched upon the Mystics, laying waste to the town, killing every single one of the Mystics in a bloody, and vicious massacre. Then, upon searching the Mystic town center the Tainos not only found gold, they found a vast store of it. So much gold, was found in fact, that the Tainos began fighting amongst themselves for it, and wound up killing each other, until finally no one of either tribe, the Mystics, or the Tainos survived.

So - the entire question is: Which culture was superior?

The answer is obvious – neither one. Both were destroyed. The gentle Mystics all perished because they would not defend themselves, and as a result their wonderful spiritual knowledge, and beautiful artistic skills were lost forever. The warlike Tainos were also destroyed by their own greed, and bellicosity, so that their fine traditions of courage, strength, and personal achievement on the field of battle were also gone forever. Both cultures were fatally flawed. Both were imbalanced.

This story then, illustrates well the position we find ourselves in today. We are caught between two equally destructive cultures. Those who delight in killing, such as the warlike, fanatically dedicated Islamic terrorists, and those who oppose war at any cost, like the pacifistic liberal morons who would have us do nothing at all – which of course makes the liberal antiwar crowd, just as bad as al Qaida. Indeed when you have a society that is so pacifistic that it won't even defend itself, then those who are as much imbalanced in the opposite direction will certainly destroy it.

Remember the story above. Neither one was superior. Both were destroyed. What good do principles, or ideology do you if in the end you destroy yourself with them?

[driftless]

The problem with too many liberals is that they refuse to believe that we are in a war. They think that the world has reached the Age of Aquarius and that all problems can be resolved with "love and understanding". These are the kind of people who will get us all killed. Their enormous ignorance of human nature and the role that their own country has played in securing freedom for the world makes them as dangerous as the Islamo-fascist killers who fly planes into our buildings murdering thousands. In the last century leftism killed in the millions. They must be countered as well as the Islamic fascists.