At 10:49 AM 9/26/96 -0400, Brian Davis wrote:
On Wed, 25 Sep 1996, Jean-Francois Avon wrote:
On 25 Sep 96 at 5:59, Brian Davis wrote:
I disagree that that will be the response, but you should be willing to allow one group of people to fight fire with fire.
But generally, it has been found a much better solution to fight fire with water, and this is why I am not convinced of the ideological effectiveness of AP, although I don't doubt it's operationnal effectiveness at all.
If by "operation effectiveness" you mean some people will be killed, I agree. I also agree with the fire/water comment (maybe in more ways than one!); my comment related to my belief that AP-supporters shouldn't complain about especially draconian measures taken against them by governments, given their modus operandi.
I think you totally missed Jean-Francois' point: Turn your last statement around, and that's how _I_ look at the operation of governments: "Government supporters shouldn't complain about especially draconian measures taken against them by AP, given their modus operandi." I for one would welcome a debate on just such an issue. Remember, to justify the status quo you need to defend not only the comparatively-free governments of a handful of western nations, but in fact each and every government on the face of the earth. Don't think you can just say, "This government is sorta okay," because what I am proposing fixes all the other governments on earth. You can't support the maintenance of an oppressive system most everywhere else, simply because (arguendo) they "sorta" got it right, here. (And I'd argue against that last claim!) Besides, I've long ago given up the idea that the leadership of the US will really, truly attempt to promote freedom around the world. No, they won't. They will continue to support the thugs. The problem they have with overthrowing the thugs is that "what goes around comes around," and they're well aware that they're gonna get kicked off their throne once the precedent is set with a few dozen foreign governments getting replaced. Jim Bell jimbell@pacifier.com