Osama Bin Laden killed

[Guts]

We're no better than the 'terrorists' we fight against

I can only speak for myself, but I'm certainly a better person than the average terrorist/taliban. I've never stoned a girl to death for going to school/work/out of the house etc.

[dataDave]

I can only speak for myself, but I'm certainly a better person than the average terrorist/taliban. I've never stoned a girl to death for going to school/work/out of the house etc.

You've seen this first-hand then?

[Charlie]

i sort of get what your trying to say, but surely the difference is the 'good guys' are at least trying not to kill innocent people, whilst terrorists dont really care or fully intend to.

Also the 'chicken and egg; has to taken into account - who struck first

Videos on wikileaks of US military actions (and I doubt the British are much better) suggest we don't really care about innocent casualties. We just pretend we do cos it fits our self labelled 'good guy' role. As for who struck first, I've no idea, I suppose it depends on how far you're willing to trawl through history; the joint US/British insertion of the puppet Shah in Iran in the 1950's when we took away their freedom and right to self govern so we could make money from oil? The Crusades on the Holy Land in the 11th century? The Persian invasion of ancient Greece in the 5th century BC? There are probably even earlier conflicts that escaped the history books. The thing is we can only be responsible for our own actions. We don't have to react to violence with violence. We choose to.

[Guts]

You've seen this first-hand then?

I didn't see WW2 or the holocaust first-hand either. Does that mean they didn't actually happen?

I did saw an Afghan teen girl in the paper who had her nose cut off by taliban though.

[Dogg Thang]

I can only speak for myself, but I'm certainly a better person than the average terrorist/taliban. I've never stoned a girl to death for going to school/work/out of the house etc.

No, but your government has been one of the driving forces in wars that have killed something close to 500,000 people since 9/11. More than in any terrorist attack. It's not all about the numbers of course and you're right, Guts, about how you and we go about our daily lives. And I get torn between the 'live and let live' thing and the thought of allowing archaic, barbaric practices like the one you mention.

But I can see Charlie's point too.

The good guy versus bad guy idea is as naive as it is dangerous. When you're in the streets celebrating a killing, there really isn't much of a difference to people being in the streets celebrating the 9/11 attacks. Innocent people or not. Because more innocents have died since then in wars we have been waging to fight a phantom. An idea. The handily vague concept of 'terrorism'.

As I probably said earlier in the thread, I have so mixed feelings about the whole thing.

I guess just for all of us, I hope for a time when we just won't kill each other. Won't wish each other harm. And I believe we're capable of that. Maybe not yet, but some day. But cheering in the streets when someone, anyone, is killed won't bring us there. At least that's what I think.

[charlesr]

The question won't be literal in most cases - you might use that search string if you just wanted to know more about him (using that string in Google tells you more about the man).

And the headline says "teens don't know who he is", but when you read the stats, those searching for it were mainly 13-30. So, that's mostly NOT teens then....
Media sucks.

[charlesr]

This is one the the stupidest things I've ever read.

You can't just say that without saying why. It's ntsc-uk.

[toythatkills]

Because it just takes some (incorrect) statistics and concludes that x=y. It's absurd.

[Guts]

No, but your government has been one of the driving forces in wars that have killed something close to 500,000 people since 9/11.

Now, now, the Finnish goverment hasn't actually started a war since the early 40's.

[Charlie]

This is one the the stupidest things I've ever read.

That's not a problem, but at least provide a reason why you think that.

[toythatkills]

That's not a problem, but at least provide a reason why you think that.

Coupla posts up

[koopatroopa90]

I guess just for all of us, I hope for a time when we just won't kill each other. Won't wish each other harm. And I believe we're capable of that. Maybe not yet, but some day.

The thing is, no matter how cold I may seem by saying this, war helps to keep the human population numbers under control. The world is over populated as it is - imagine the billions of extra people had the 1st and 2nd world wars not occured. On the flip side war also helps develop new technology, particularly in the medical industry (thus saving lives/increasing pop levels through other means). I studied the history of medicine at GCSE and loads of major breakthroughs directly came about because of war.

[Darwock]

We're no better than the 'terrorists' we fight against, we claim we're on the 'good' side and come up with bull**** excuses and explanations why we have to kill people to achieve our goals

I have never done any of these things actually. Unless 'we' are considered to be automatically complicit with any actions taken by the government? (and the government of a foreign country at that...)

[Charlie]

Coupla posts up

My bad. But my post made mention to more than merely the number of innocents killed by each side. Both sides are looking to force their principles on others, be it the belief the world should be run under Shia law or run under capitalist philosophies. Both sides have their own self interests in mind and kill to protect those interests, be it making money or living in accordance with certain scriptures. It's all nonsense, all about power and control.

[dataDave]

I'm looking forward to the day when we've raped the middle-east for every drop of oil it has... then we can move on to the real big boys (Russia, India and China). I wonder what fabricated excuses will arise for us to go to war then?

World War III will be fought over resources, and I'm certain it's a matter of when rather than if. The only thing that will change that is something miraculous like an alien invasion, and even at that they'd treat us like the Protoss treat the Zerg in the Starcraft universe - total incineration from orbit. It'd be much better if nations just came out with "Look, we need your **** so we're going to take it with force, survival of the fittest and all that..." I'd actually respect that kind of honest stance, people have a choice in what's right and wrong without getting brainwashed with propaganda like the Germans went through with Hitler during World War II.

People come along and try and change the general thought process... Jesus (if you believe that story), Martin Luther King, JFK, Ghandi, John Lennon, even Michael Jackson. All those people just die or get the bullet from fellow humans... or like me you get ridiculed on public forums.

So yeah, everyone's ****ed. Deal with it as best as you can and hope that it doesn't happen in your lifetime. I'm double-****ed because I believe in re-incarnation - hopefully I'll be re-born into the body of another species with lesser intellect someplace else in the galaxy and then I don't have to rack my brains thinking about things like this. Sometimes I think I was born into this form to try and make a change, but that's for everyone to realise at the same time in some form of hive-mind mentality. If the majority was on my wavelength we'd be just fine, we'd be better than fine in fact.

Ha! Some song just came on the radio sampling Martin Luther King.

I actually believe that no one is born a killer, or a hater, or a terrorist... Everyone is born to love (or else there'd be no recreation of the species) it's just programmed into you.

Perhaps self-destruction is nature's way of population control. Who knows. I don't think anyone is intelligent enough to come to any form of conclusion, I'd use 'educated enough' but that in itself is a form of programming and conditioning that is descended down generations. The problem with education is that it becomes dated and dulled and like chinese-whispers it loses it's effect and true purpose. Humans should be left alone to innovate rather than learn from their masters, like Bruce Lee - he never learned from some Chinese Kung-Fu God because they never teach their best moves... 20 generations down the line the Kung-Fu expert knows nothing because all the best **** has been lost, he can't even compete in UFC against a load of meat-heads. Everyone should take a lead like Bruce Lee did, break away from the pack and develop their own skills/styles/methods, and ultimately this should never be passed on, instead the next generation should study from that lead and improve upon it to the best of their spiritual and physical limits.