World Opinion Be Damned

Ayn Rand Institute ^ | 6/3/04 | Alex Epstein

[jimfree]

If world opinion is correct and we act in accorance with it, where is the merit? Is it in conformance or is it in taking the right action?

If world opinion is horribly wrong and we act in conformance are we acting correctly or are we following illegal orders?

[shrinkermd]

Mark Twain Quote on Public Opinion:"We all do no end of feeling and we mistake it for thinking. And out of it we get an aggregation, which we consider a boon. Its name is public opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God."

Twain could have added it is a prison for the resolute applied by the weak.

[shrinkermd]

Mark Twain Quote on Public Opinion:"We all do no end of feeling and we mistake it for thinking. And out of it we get an aggregation, which we consider a boon. Its name is public opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God."

Twain could have added it is a prison for the resolute applied by the weak.

[goodnesswins]

BAAAWWAAAAAA.....go back to DU......or at least go and get yourself a DECENT education, because if you have ANY education....you got CHEATED!

[Guillermo]

I don't think the author was speaking in regards to Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was speaking, among other things, about the Mohammedan hordes here in the US which Bush is (has) appeasing.

[bfree]

Agreed, however if we ever lose that status, I pity those who are left to face those that hate us. Perhaps we need to clean up our image before we become one of the world's former super powers.

Why should we lose that status? You sound like the typical democrap, love everyone. Well, I don't-destroy the enemy and put fear in all the others. I don't want or need friends like the UN or France. To me, they are the enemy.

[F.J. Mitchell]

If I had the talent to write like that-that is exactly what I would write.

[DB]

So you think Bush should come out and say Islam is the enemy?

Then what? We go burn down any Mohammedan's homes we can find?

There lies the problem.

[Guillermo]

I understand what you're saying.

I think the best course of action Bush could have taken was to remain silent, and remain neutral over whether Mohammedanism is peaceful or not.

Of course, coming out and saying "All Mohammedans are terrosists" would not have been the wisest course of action, but to go from Mosque to Mosque, shoeless, proclaiming Islam is peaceful and celebrating Ramadan in the White House was way over the top, imo.

[DB]

I will agree that those actions you list were disturbing to say the least.

There are rational reasons to play it they way he has though.

A bit like a lawyer exercising due process before the final assault.

[muslims=borg]

We have to look out for our own best interests, what other nations think is completely irrelevent. Countries like France love to watch us clean up the world and then criticize us for doing it because they know they can't do it, so instead of acknowledging that they are impotent they act like they are superior.

[snopercod]

Yeah, 9/11 was staged to get into your wallet.

After 9-11, this administration had two choices to secure the country from further terrorist attacks:

1. Ressurect the state and local civil defense organizations of the 50's, or

2. federalize the entire operation so that all decisions are made by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.

Bush chose the latter plan.