attacks on Paris

[thalassa]

Re: attacks on Paris

Perhaps it's that the older I get, the more jaded I'm becoming. But we are starting to get to a point where hugs and flowers aren't going to help anything, except console those left behind of the ones who were lost. Turning away, offering a handshake to those who just tore your world apart will do nothing except give them an invitation to do it again, knowing that there are truly no penalties to their actions. Far-left can be just as dangerous and destructive as far-right. If you stay silent, you look like a fool who has no thoughts to share, but if you speak out often and loudly, you look like the fool who doesn't think at all.

The military gig has taught me that violence only ever leads to more and often worse violence.
So when you resort to violence, you better be sure that it directed at the right target and you better be sure that it is important enough to loose for. Any and every fool goes to fight when they think they can win...it's the fight you are willing to lose and die fighting for that is worth the cost. If you don't think something is worth dying for, then you shouldn't think it's worth killing...and vice versa. In the end, the person with the long view of history, with the commitment to kill and to be killed that wins. And right now, there are very few first worlders that understand the paradox that making life priceless makes it oh-so-very cheap.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: attacks on Paris

^^^ Most religious extremists are super-focused on Heaven/Paradise, etc., and are taught that this life isn't all that important. It's a whole different paradigm than what the average, mainstream person is indoctrinated into, and it allows/reinforces that commitment to kill and be killed.

[habbalah]

Re: attacks on Paris

I'm ok guys!!! I'm safe. Not in Paris.

I'm quite shaken up though... Saw videos of the shootings... Probably a bad idea...

I'm so glad you're all right.

[LearningMan]

Re: attacks on Paris

I'm ok guys!!! I'm safe. Not in Paris.

I'm quite shaken up though... Saw videos of the shootings... Probably a bad idea...

Glad you're doing okay.

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: attacks on Paris

The military gig has taught me that violence only ever leads to more and often worse violence.
So when you resort to violence, you better be sure that it directed at the right target and you better be sure that it is important enough to loose for. Any and every fool goes to fight when they think they can win...it's the fight you are willing to lose and die fighting for that is worth the cost. If you don't think something is worth dying for, then you shouldn't think it's worth killing...and vice versa. In the end, the person with the long view of history, with the commitment to kill and to be killed that wins. And right now, there are very few first worlders that understand the paradox that making life priceless makes it oh-so-very cheap.

A former boss of mine, upon interviewing me for the job, asked me one question that I've used ever since when I interview others. "Do you love to win, or hate to lose?" Even though he always claimed that there was no correct answer, he'd never hired anyone who said that they loved to win. While it may not entirely seem that this has any bearing, let me explain. It's not about winning, about doing everything you can to make sure that you come out on top. It's about not losing. It's taking the steps needed to know that when the dust settles, that everything you struggled for was not in vain. If you refuse to lose, you are willing to give it your all to succeed, be that (in this situation) taking a life or giving your own.

[DanieMarie]

Re: attacks on Paris

The military gig has taught me that violence only ever leads to more and often worse violence.
So when you resort to violence, you better be sure that it directed at the right target and you better be sure that it is important enough to loose for. Any and every fool goes to fight when they think they can win...it's the fight you are willing to lose and die fighting for that is worth the cost. If you don't think something is worth dying for, then you shouldn't think it's worth killing...and vice versa. In the end, the person with the long view of history, with the commitment to kill and to be killed that wins. And right now, there are very few first worlders that understand the paradox that making life priceless makes it oh-so-very cheap.

Yep. And we've seen how that's gone on this continent before. The last time we let fear of a group of people take over and let the far right spread, it did not end well.

Also, to expand on a few past comments, I agree that the far-left can also be dangerous, but the militant faction of the far-left is not the pressing issue in Europe right now. They're not the ones aggressively marching down neighbourhood streets (there was a random PEGIDA demonstration in my neighbourhood last Monday...highly uncomfortable) and screaming that we should get rid of all the Muslims and/or foreigners.

[unseen1]

Re: attacks on Paris

There will be no reasoning with these people. All talk does is give them time to regroup and plan. We can talk all day about why they are the way they are, in the end it does not matter. Three combat tours has taught me many things one of them being that you cannot coexist with those who want you dead. When you take the lives of innocent you life should be forfeit.

All life is precious, the fact is that to some it is not. There is just one way to deal with that mentality.

I like the meme I've seen floating around "You give peace a chance, I'll cover you in case it does not work out".

[anubisa]

Re: attacks on Paris

The same thing it's always been up to.

You're right Medusa. I guess I am always surprised by the cruelty of people in the world. It seems that we can be more and more cruel.

[Herbert]

Re: attacks on Paris

This is just... terribly sad. I have no words.

[Yorin]

Re: attacks on Paris

I'm ok guys!!! I'm safe. Not in Paris.

I'm quite shaken up though... Saw videos of the shootings... Probably a bad idea...

I heard about it at work and about had a panic attack worrying about you dear. So very gld you weren't there. ~hugs tight~

You know, if I'd had to fly to Paris to find a way to resurrect you, I would've been very put out ;P

[Sean R. R.]

Re: attacks on Paris

Thank you all guys. I love you all! <3

[anunitu]

Re: attacks on Paris

Yeh,if you croke then who we gonna call little God boy...I mean I have my stand up act all worked out,and you are the main theme....Dig a foxhole and be safe...

Not to mention you are one of a handful who understand my humor..

[Sean R. R.]

Re: attacks on Paris

Indeed :P /10char

[DavidMcCann]

Re: attacks on Paris

There will be no reasoning with these people.

Very true. Anyone who thinks we can negotiate with militant Islam, be it Al-Quaeda, Boko Harma, or Daesh should just ask themselves where all the pagans in Arabia went.

I'm sorry to say that the only solution would be the expulsion of Sunni Muslims from the West. Sorry, because (1) if we did it a lot of innocent people would suffer and (2) our politicians would never have the guts to do it anyway. Usually our actions actually cause the trouble. The two secular regimes in the Near East were those of Iraq and Syria. We overthrew the first and got Daesh. Now the US and UK governments want to overthow the Syrian regime and complete the job. And where does the interpretation of Islam that fuels these groups come from? Out good friends the Saudis.

[nbdy]

Re: attacks on Paris

All life is precious, the fact is that to some it is not. There is just one way to deal with that mentality.

So what you are saying is that all life is precious, unless it is a life that doesn't think that all life is precious? What you have highlighted, though probably inadvertently, is that all life is not precious. Preciousness is a condition stipulated by an intelligence, and life is simply life. We may see life as a gift or a curse or a trial or an adventure, etc, but we act on our perceptions rather than any inherent truth of existence. The fact is that human society denigrates life in a million little ways every day, we destroy people's lives, we make people wish they were dead. The fact that you or I personally did not pull the trigger when a person suicides is no exoneration. The sickness we see in terrorists did not occur in a vacuum; it might be argued that it is but a symptom. It is not OK in the way that a high temperature is not OK when a person is ill, but let's not pretend that the temperature just doesn't get it. Yes, bring down the temperature, but look for the cause.