Boots here,boots there...On the ground?

[Heka]

So when does it become about you? When people aligned with these factions come to your backyard and blow people up? Because they have been in the US and Europe, killing people already. I don't what the solution is. I'm frankly not smart enough to have any idea how to combat the zealotry and hysteria that make people act like that.

But little kids are being blown up every single day and I'm pretty sure that makes it everyone's problem.

Of course I wanna stop little kids being blown up. If it were about Australian s going in there to aid the civilians and help the little children it'd be different. But I'm pretty sure thats not what they're planning to do.

And in a way yes, when they start attacking our borders I will feel more involved/responsible. For now we have avoided that side of it. I would like to keep avoiding it.

Imo our military is for protecting our borders, dealing with domestic issues and foreign aid. I don't agree with our soldiers dying for a war we aren't involved in.

[anunitu]

Re: Boots here,boots there...On the ground?

Most people have never been up close and involved in a war. War is never as simple as movies might seem to picture. People get caught in the crossfire,and yes children die.
The idea that you could just go in guns blazing is a very naive view of any thing about war. The fact that we have leaders that think about the repercussions of any plan of action is a good thing.

Hot heads get a lot of people killed.

[Azvanna]

Re: Boots here,boots there...On the ground?

Yeah I'm seeing stuff in the papers about Abbott making decisions about it.

It has nothing to do with us. Make it go away.

I think when it comes to terrorism, it is our problem.

That we haven't had an attack reported could mean that ASIO is doing a really good job of thwarting attempts, not that we are being ignored by terrorist organisations.

Does David Irvine's move to raise Australia's alert level from medium to high mean that ISIS is targeting us, or does it mean that the message is being sent to the Australian public that our impending presence is justified? Also I'm hearing of terror raids being carried out across Sydney this morning by police which is an unprecedented move.

When it comes to ISIS, someone else mentioned on here that it's as if they have declared Holy War on any form of civilisation that is not their own flavour. Because we're a Western democratic, capitalist civilisation, this includes us.

[Heka]

Does David Irvine's move to raise Australia's alert level from medium to high mean that ISIS is targeting us, or does it mean that the message is being sent to the Australian public that our impending presence is justified? Also I'm hearing of terror raids being carried out across Sydney this morning by police which is an unprecedented move.

My first thought when this occurred was that it was raised as a precautionary measure against any retaliation due to decisions being made about our involvement.

I will admit though that I know shit all about the situation. I avoid the papers, because I don't want to know. Yes this keeps me some what ignorant, but I feel that if something important happens I'll find out, either through fb, here or face to face. I just wish we didn't have to get involved.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Boots here,boots there...On the ground?

There would be terrorism anyhow. Western military involvement is just an excuse*--the real reason is the *sheer existence* of the West and of anything or anyone outside of their tiny, extremist vision of Islam.

(and don't ask my opinion on Isreal, unless irate Thalassa would be amusing to you--the government's treatment of the Palestinians makes our pre-Civil Rights era look positively cordial)

*certainly, for some it is a motivation for personal involvement, that shouldn't be an underestimation on anyone's part...but it once again comes down to the totality of the phenomenon (where it comes down to group average vs individual exception) over individual events and people

I get what you're saying, but I don't feel that people tend to follow extremists unless they feel desperate and/or threatened in some way. If people feel secure and have their basic needs met, extremists tend to be an annoying minority that stay on the sidelines. There's a really, really big historic example that I want to use, but it would invoke Godwin's law. To use less concrete but more recent examples, I see this a lot with religious fundamentalism in the West. Although there are some rich extremists broadcasting their message here and there, it tends to be the poor who bite and follow it. Not in all cases, but in a -lot- of cases. The well-to-do tend to be more moderate, on average.

[Tylluan Penry]

[thalassa]

Re: Boots here,boots there...On the ground?

My first thought when this occurred was that it was raised as a precautionary measure against any retaliation due to decisions being made about our involvement.

I listen to NPR...this was mentioned on my ride into work.

[Heka]

I listen to NPR...this was mentioned on my ride into work.

Thanks Thal, it was an interesting and informative read. I didnt even know about the QLD raids. But that's cos I avoid the news.

[nbdy]

Re: Boots here,boots there...On the ground?

Things that bother me when said with regard to any form of human degradation: People saying it has nothing to do with them, that it is not their problem, etc. Anything done to anyone on this earth is also done to you, imo. Each person is an individual expression of humanity, and to degrade one is to degrade all. The qualities you allow to flourish in another also defines the person you are, and collectively what it means to be human in general. This is not a popular opinion in the cult of the individual, but it is not a complicated thought exercise to realize that no person can embody that myth.