GrandmasterTheGameOfLife

This question is

If gasoline prices reached $10 a gallon would you have a different view on the war in Iraq?

romansh

This is a US question ....it's there in Europe?

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Maximus

The Canadian dollar would like $3.60 U.S.

hell_raiser195

Im from the UK and petrol and deisel prices have rocketed, i drive a motorbike, which doesnt use a whole lot of fuel, but im finding it more and more expensive to run, just another reason to be against the so called "war-on-terrorism". Funny name that, I sometimes wonder if we really do have the moral high ground...

Skepticologist

I've wondered the same thing, and I've become convinced that the "moral high ground" is nothing more than one of a series of delusions infecting the thinking, or lack of same, of the Manichean evangelical right-wingers in this country, too many of whom, including our illustrious president, are still making policy decisions for the rest of us at the behest of the wealthiest 1% of the country's population.

As beneficiaries of having been being born in developed and affluent countries, it's difficult to comprehend the "evil" (as in "axis of . . . ") that lies behind the taking of almost 3,000 innocent U.S. lives on September 11, 2001. It's equally difficult to accept the fact that there are numerous men and women whose misfortune at having been born in developing and poor (third-world) countries makes them willing and ready to shed the mortal coil we first-world inhabitants value so highly in the interest of securing their place in whatever their concept of heaven is.

But that's our modern-day reality and, much as we'd like to chalk it all up to psychological deficiencies of those we don't even begin to understand, there's never been an entire race or civilization, including WWII Germans, who've been successfully diagnosed as mentally deluded.

The same is true of those we find it all too easy to consider evil infidels. They're just reacting exactly as we would in the face of any imperalistic power's attempts to dictate how we go about living our lives.

__________________
"I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of."

Clarence Darrow

hell_raiser195

Well, being from the UK Im on the outside looking in, but even here (for some reason) there are often protestors calling for Bush to resign, he is seen as a danger, not only to other countries, but to his own people as well. Some peopke even fear America will fall into a dictatorship, which in the opinion of is ridiculous because nothing like that could happen again, but on the other hand if it can happen in Darfur and be overlooked...
Bush is seen as a warmonger, his people were attacked by someone unknown and he picked a country (seemingly at random) accused them of having WMDs and declared war... I dont trust him im afraid

NotConvinced

I would argue that the actions of these numerous men and women who are willing to shed this mortal coil in hopes of reaching heaven, isn't chiefly due to their misfortune of being born into developing/poor countries. Seeing as how we have plenty of history of the effects of poor religious interpretation to study (hundreds of years of dark ages for one, then crusades, etc.), it's easier than not to see why they do it, they're being conditioned to do it. Being conditioned by who? Mostly by the society they're brought up in. So if this societal conditioning is causing such problems, attacking it is perfectly understandable, for the protection of all human life, is it not?

Yes it's easy to see ourselves reacting in like fashion if we faced this "imperalistic power's attempts to dictate our way of life," but does that make it right? The 10 year-old boy who thinks he's protecting his family by throwing a grenade at coalition forces may be by all accounts be deemed innocent. But in dealing with the situation coalition forces may be forced to take appropriate action. Should we not attempt to fight if need be to attack the root cause(s) of why he'd have to do so? If one of those root causes is the imperialist nature we portray, then sure we should act to remedy it. I would argue that one of the root causes is the religious view that we Americans don't live our lives as They would dictate. Thus in ironic fashion, both sides are trying to dictate how the other should live their lives. And while we may understand why they're religious fanatics, I'm be willing to bet they're less understanding of why we live our lives as we do.