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Huge, fascinating, and interesting subject...where does one even begin? "Relative Standards" is a good way to describe it. It's largely a product of the last 3 to 4 decades...the period in which I came of age (I'm a Viet Nam vet), and is loosely tied in with the huge social upheaval we went through in the 1960's. Anyone who experienced that era can tell you, our whole OUTLOOK changed in the space of one decade.
on the contary, i think that this is a flaw of human nature--rather than a flaw of modern liberal human nature--and has been around for quite a while in one form or another.
my high school humanities teacher explained that societies have a liberal-conservative cycle, and i was intrigued enough that i have looked for it since then.
my theory is that if we looked hard enough, we'd find examples of this prior to the 20th century, and certainly earlier than 40+ years.
i won't pretend to know any of this for sure though, and will await some more opinions.
on the contary, i think that this is a flaw of human nature--rather than a flaw of modern liberal human nature--and has been around for quite a while in one form or another.
my high school humanities teacher explained that societies have a liberal-conservative cycle, and i was intrigued enough that i have looked for it since then.
my theory is that if we looked hard enough, we'd find examples of this prior to the 20th century, and certainly earlier than 40+ years.
i won't pretend to know any of this for sure though, and will await some more opinions.
You may be correct in that there have been RELATIVELY liberal periods in the past, interspersed with RELATIVELY conservative ones..."relative", that is, to their period in history. I do NOT, though, think there's any REAL parallel in the past with our modern liberal mindset which tends to hold all cultures as equivalent, morality as 'relative', ethics as 'elective', and the 'Western World' as somehow uniquely 'guilty' of past transgressions in a way that no other society is, or ever has been, guilty. THAT sort of liberal thought, as far as I know, is almost entirely a product of Post-WWII America, and a few other 'Western' nations.
Ok, this was pretty ironic and is EXACTLY what I'm getting at.
Click on the Cuba link the last 4 articles basically having nothing to do with the nation of Cuba. They have 2 articles about Guantanamo and then a death penalty article which was more about the US.
You have to go back almost a year when they had an article about 75 cuban citizens arrested for dissent (58 still in jail after 5 years). Pretty funny/sad that the Cuban government can arrest and hold so many of their own citizens for 5-6 years and not hear much of a peep out of Amnesty International. (Too busy with Guantanamo I guess)
Ok, lets click on North Korea...wow, about 1 article per year on arguably the worst regime on the planet. ouch. Way to go AI!
Once again, that's 'Western guilt' you're noticing. Critcize us...(the USA) and we'll listen....we'll feel bad...we'll more than likely AGREE with you, and we'll probably throw in a few self-criticisms of our own.
What do you think happens when you write a criticism...(even a SCATHING criticism) of North Korea? Or China? Or Russia? What sort of 'feedback' would you expect?
There's BIG MONEY in Western guilt....plenty of 'moral high ground', too...
You may be correct in that there have been RELATIVELY liberal periods in the past, interspersed with RELATIVELY conservative ones..."relative", that is, to their period in history. I do NOT, though, think there's any REAL parallel in the past with our modern liberal mindset which tends to hold all cultures as equivalent, morality as 'relative', ethics as 'elective', and the 'Western World' as somehow uniquely 'guilty' of past transgressions in a way that no other society is, or ever has been, guilty. THAT sort of liberal thought, as far as I know, is almost entirely a product of Post-WWII America, and a few other 'Western' nations.
now that, i have no argument against, though i would still be interested in seeing if there is any parallel throughout the pre-20th century world.
why no totals for the number of AI articles on the USA?
were the numbers there embarassingly high?
Yes, they would be. Heck as I pointed out the Cuba section seems to have as many or more articles aimed at the US counting towards the Cuban "total".
I have no problem with introspection and recognizing our mistakes...we certainly have made them as a nation. Definitely during the cold-war we did a lot of bad things by supporting "our" dictators etc. we don't have clean hands.
However, I get tired of hearing about Guantanamo Bay (fundraiser) ad nauseum while Cuba sits right next door as a model dictatorship. I frankly think that a lot of the criticism will be re-worded since Bush was so unpopular and Obama is so very popular. After all, they want to raise money and they don't want to anger contributors....
That pointed out, to me it's a tough situation for all involved. I could find fault with our government for either detaining these people or letting them go. We demand our government protect us, yet then say turn lose those who may be trying to harm us, yet fully protect us. WE, THE PEOPLE, have demanded the government be placed in a Catch 22 situation so we can blame it on both sides. With respect to Bush, whether he made the right decision or not is not my concern- my concern is that he made a decision, stood by it, and tried to protect the citizens. I am certain Obama will stand by his convictions as well.
All that said, I must admit that the detainees also have some limited rights. They have a right to humane treatment in accordance with the Geneva Convestion guidlines, they have a right to have ascertained if they are being properly detained (not necessarily a trial due to their status) and that detainment should be verified by some sort of international standard for documentation purposes.
You may be correct in that there have been RELATIVELY liberal periods in the past, interspersed with RELATIVELY conservative ones..."relative", that is, to their period in history. I do NOT, though, think there's any REAL parallel in the past with our modern liberal mindset which tends to hold all cultures as equivalent, morality as 'relative', ethics as 'elective', and the 'Western World' as somehow uniquely 'guilty' of past transgressions in a way that no other society is, or ever has been, guilty. THAT sort of liberal thought, as far as I know, is almost entirely a product of Post-WWII America, and a few other 'Western' nations.
I think this era is about as liberal as the first few decades of the Twentieth Century, maybe a little less so. What's different is the issues. Diversity is more an issue now because the "Global Village" Marshall McLuhan predicted has become a reality so we're dealing with the problems that were predicted and a few surprises. The early Twentieth Century was dealing with the conflicts of the change brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Workers rights, Unionism, Communism, and anti-trust legislation were examples of some of the social causes of that period.
Unbidden, this analogy pops into my mind.
That the US is like a pastor/minister that preaches good and evil and has a reputation to uphold within the community but beats his children behind closed doors.
Every once in awhile one of the kids shows up at school with a black eye and broken nose.
Unbidden, this analogy pops into my mind.
That the US is like a pastor/minister that preaches good and evil and has a reputation to uphold within the community but beats his children behind closed doors.
Every once in awhile one of the kids shows up at school with a black eye and broken nose.
Yep and to keep with the analogy...several other parents in the school beat their kids and have even killed several. However, since they aren't pastors it's ok, they are held to a lower expectation of behavior.
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