VANITY..The state of USF college classes

I took a World Ideologies course this summer and as the war against Hezbollah began we got into a debate and the sides were obviously not equal. I, and one other guy, supported Israel for their efforts to warn the people of Qana and save civilian lifes, but most in the class were not satisfied since the people died and were furious with Israel. . . Fast forward to Wednesday, the professor is talking about Terrorism, then asks "I'm going to do a survey. Who thinks that "violence" is the most important aspect of fighting terrorism? - I and my lone level headed counterpart raise our hands - "very interesting, now who thinks that we should focus on education, economics, healthcare and the like to create an ideological change within the minds of the people and military intervention should be minimal" - everyone else raises their hands. So we couldnt debate b/c it was the day of the final so I decided to send an email to everyone and clarify my answer. here it is...

For those of you that weren't one of the 2 lonely hands that were raised during professor Pengs survey (question 1) about whether military intervention, "violence", is the most important aspect in handling terrorism, I thought I would explain my position further, considering that me and one other were the clear minority. First, allow me to clarify, I do not think that violence is the only way to eliminate terrorism. I believe education, economic, and other avenues should be implemented to bring about the demise of terrorism. However, the most salient issue at hand is protection and safety. The most effective way at securing safety quickly is through action. Military action.

The first and most important thing to do is to eliminate threats. You eliminate threats by destroying them. Terrorists have no regard for yours or my life. Education, food, medicine ... are secondary issues compared to procuring safety for sovereign countries.

Islamic militants hate us. Bottom Line. American tragedy is met with celebration in the streets of many Arab cities. Terrorists hate us and Israel and will not stop until each place reaches its demise. They are religious fanatics that believe they are doing Allah's work and will be rewarded for it. It is ingrained in them from birth to hate us.

We learn about fascism, how is that for authoratarianism fascism? They seek to destroy the western world and establish an Islamic society. We should probably send them some books and hope they don't bomb us again, right? Or maybe, go ahead and remove the bombs, remove the leadership that cultivates the hateful mindset that devalues life. This is universal for Islamic Fundamentalists. Israel is facing the same issue. A call from the world that they are being unbalanced in the prosecution of their own safety. A sovereign nation that was invaded and had their military attacked, killed, and captured and continues to get bombed daily by a group that hates them, a group that does its absolute best to kill, maim, and damage civilians and their homes, meanwhile, Israel does their dead-level best to avoid civilian casualties and they are vilified by people? In our own class students blew off the pamphlet dropping, warning the civilians about what was to happen, even though in was a voluntary tactical weakness. So Israel voluntarily loses military advantage and they are still the bad guy? Hezbollah fires off hundreds of rockets a day into Israeli cities, but they are doing what is "natural" according to a student in the class. Hezbollah killed 241 US military personnel. They are a terrorist organization, so what if they pass out a blanket or some bandaids, does that really make their crookeds straight?

The argument about the casualties in Qana we had a few weeks ago is still viable today with this argument. Qana was a tragedy to be certain. Israel apologized, that wasn't good enough for most people in the class. Has Hezbollah ever apologized for accidently killing civilians? Have they ever warned before an attack? Do they care if they kill civilians? The answer to the 3 questions is of course no. Casualties are sometimes civilians in war, it is tragic but it is a reality of war. The difference is intent. Intent is an amazingly powerful concept in our culture and in humanity as a whole. The intent of Israel was/is to destroy terrorists, their equipment, their strongholds, and their infrastructure. The intent of terrorists is to kill civilians. The Israelis take every effort to protect civilians on both sides, while Hezbollah makes every effort to kill civilians on both sides, because it is a victory either way. Where is the outrage that Hezbollah is using civilian areas to prosecute attacks on Israel? The responsibility for the excess civilian casualties falls on Hezbollah. Also keep in mind that many of these terrible images you see from Lebanon are doctored, staged, or completely false (check this site for an overview- http://www.zombietime.com/reuters_photo_fraud/

It is imperative that freedom loving countries destroy the threat of terrorism. Terrorist will not rest until we are destroyed. Adolf Hitler killed millions of people shaping his perfect society and moved through Europe seizing land and killing more and more. It took an enormous military operation to DESTROY Germany, Japan, and Italy. Many people died, sadly, but many more were saved by the efforts of the Allies. Theres a reason that generation is called "the greatest generation" and its not because they sent Mussilini, Hirohito, and Hitler gift baskets until they realized how silly they were being and then apologized and stepped down. It took a show of power to destroy an evil that was unprecedented. Terrorists are evil. And must be dealt with accordingly.

I wonder how much more has to happen to civilized people before many of us realize the enemy we face and finally stop being an apologist for them.

I am awaiting my respondents.. I've only had one. It was my pal from the class. who said this (in part)

Great message! I especially love the "We > should probably send them some books and hope they don't bomb us again, > right?" That really made me laugh a lot. See the problem is, people still have this "pre-9/11" idea about the world. Also, remember when Professor talked about how how we need to give economic aid, well Israel and the United States did the same with Palestine in the 1990's and that aid went directly to funding a "jihad" against the Jews.

Keep on doing what you are doing.

You absolutely never know who in that class is really listening & starting to think.

Most undergrads are lemmings and afraid to really think and act for themselves.

Someday, some one (probably more that one!) will actually say that you started them to think and finally they started down that path and found the truth.

It's happened to me with three different people, whom I never thought were listening to me during the 90's, when I warned that our country is at great risk due to the neglect fo the Clintonites.

I was totally floored by one 50 year old Boston Liberal Democrat, Jew, ex-school teacher, Clinton voter, who is now so right wing, she scares me!

So keep it up....you are doing good!

We give books, educate and provide healthcare to liberals in our own country, and yet they still hate america. Why would islamic fascists change their minds?

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