I had meant to write more generally about the malaise decay and general state of confusion, illusion that is our process of non decision making in the wealthier nations of humans- not really sure at this point whether “kind” or “humanity” is applicable to this. We have to get past this- to where Unity with respect for differences, comes to be what humanity, is.
But the attack last night in France- so many dead, so randomly- people living their lives, or enjoying a vacation brought me from realization- understanding what needed to be done- to a decision- commitment to applying resources– for the continued safety, security and well being of the people of the planet Earth, we must form a coalition of nations to put troops on the ground to defeat ISIL in Syria and Iraq, and a committed Marshall plan, to rebuild the countries, with the citizens of those countries. The funds in escrow for cessation of hostilities, before the action. This must be done with the United Nations, and whatever needs to be done to make sure that that body is better equipped to handle these situations, needs to happen.
To fail to do so is to ensure random acts of violence, with malcontents and desperate people, who may or may not have real issues egged on group of evil barbarians that call themselves ISIL and claim Islam as their raison d’aitre- reason for being. I say this because like so many people, claiming to be a part of something, but take only what they like, and what justifies what they want to do anyway. This is hardly selectively a Muslim problem; the opener to this chaos, and the willfully deceitful actions taken that were responsible for the largest death toll of the 21st century- more than a half a million people, with more than 20 million people having this kind of thing happen, every day for a decade, was ostensibly Christian.
The current tactics have no hope of realistically bringing peace. Bombs break and shatter, powerful bombs, produce a vacuum, but no bombs produce order. Creation, strengthening is always harder than destruction It has been known as long as there have been aerial bombings* that they are good primarily for softening your enemy, but to take control, to reduce chaos in an area, requires enough human power to keep things calm, and to demonstrate that in the event people act to use physical force to harm or destroy, that a greater force will subdue them, AND that there are other ways to produce and procure a better life for yourself. Idle hands are the devils playthings- so we must get people there to build their homes, their infrastructure, make sure that they have jobs, building, that feed their families, so we replace an era and legacy of hate and destruction with an act of love and building.
I was horrified to no end by the decision to start a war for literally, no real reason, other than thin lies, oft repeated, and the mismanagement that ensued, it was an issue that politicized me. But this is not that, or can be not that. There are sponsored attacks all over the world emanating from this place, with laughter and cheers for all of the awful things that happen to humanity. And hundreds of thousands of people are leaving that place, because it has descended into Hell. There are only so many ways to do things, and many times it isn’t what it is that you do it is how you do it. I am super un thrilled at the idea of spending additional time in the Middle East, a region of the world the United States has spent a disproportionate amount of time- going back now at least 80 years, treasure and political capital to create messes that enrich a very few here with an opportunity cost- money that could be spent on education, infrastructure or curing diseases here at home. But leaving a place in disarray, with an active conscious evil killing Muslims, Christians, local and foreign alike, and actively encouraging this in other places is not an option.
The other real, fear, is that this becomes an excuse to instill authoritarianism in otherwise free nations, and Nazism- I speak of the racially motivated authoritarian nationalism. We also must ensure we identify this as a fight against extremism, against ISIL, lest we create even more enemies, and raise the tension and oppression to fever pitches that will ensure further attacks. It is really a tough place to be in, and we have to walk that tight rope, lest we lose our freedom, AND our security. We have to be more tolerant of people with different ways, people who belong to different groups- after all – most groupings we belong to, be they Jew, Republican, Democrat, Taiwanese, or Giants fan, are ones we are born into- not a choice we make at all, and less tolerant of ignorant people who factless, baseless, and without a knowledge of what has gone before. We must understand that actual oppression is going to increase the tension that leads to attacks because of real or perceived oppression.
When I was younger, I was getting ready to go out, have some drinks, so I went to the ATM, looking forward to the night. There was a man already there, so I stopped, maybe four feet behind him. Out of nowhere, he whips around and says “DO YOU MIND? Can you get away from me?” . Whoa, “ Dude, I’m standing at a distance that gives you personal space, and I’m not looking for your pin number, useless cuz I don’t have your card.” I’m doing something that’s private, and that’s all you need to know”. I didn’t pursue it further, and didn’t say what I was thinking- if I wanted to take any of that from him, I could.Tthat being nasty would have only made me feel better about doing it, and he only served to make me think about how to do something I wasn’t planning on doing. with a useless bit of security his paranoia brought something closer into being.
We have to act, but we have to act like we know, and act with humanity, compassion and understanding for people in general, realistic about the need to carry a big stick when talking softly, understanding of lessons of the past but a lack of tolerance for those who use any religion, affiliation to promote violence.
The preparations should begin on a scale of a couple of months- we need to plan, but we will have to adapt to changing conditions.
*the same principle likely applies to siege, cannons etc, so really throughout the history of warfare
Unity 