The Uncomfortable Truth

A lot of propagandists on the right would have you believe that talking to someone is exactly the same as giving in to them. They are smart enough to know better, but they take advantage of their listeners’ ignorance. The problem is that their lies get repeated ad nauseum throughout the internet—increasing exponentially the stupidity factor.
Have you seen the stupidity out there lately?
In case you need some background, the short version:
Seventy-some-odd years ago, when Adolph Hitler was beginning his conquest of Europe, then British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, met with Hitler and caved in to his demands--in the interests of peace. Chamberlain “gave” the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia to Hitler.
We all know how that turned out.
From this, the lesson has been learned that one never gives in to dictators.
Presently, some would have us believe that simply talking to the people who have righteous disagreements with us amounts to the same thing that Chamberlain did.
Recently Jimmy Carter was pilloried by the media because he met with Hamas, the duly-elected representatives of the Palestinian people.
“Blessed are the peacemakers . . . . . who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And, oh yeah, “Love your enemies.”
But, I digress.
There is no single definition of terrorist. We can call Hamas a terrorist organization, because they want to see the destruction of Israel. The US could be called terrorist because we would like to see a “regime change” here and there.
So?
We can call the president of Iran a terrorist, but does that make him one? Sheesh! The guy’s got lower poll ratings than our own president—if you can believe that—does anyone in Iran even listen to the fool?
I had to give Barack Obama points for saying he would talk to our enemies. He lost those points when he backtracked on that statement in an appeasement of his own to the corporate-controlled media.
Pussy.
SOMEbody needs to talk to these clowns.
Somebody needs to sit across from the table and tell Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that his rhetoric is scaring the women and children, and would he please refrain. Tell him that if he doesn’t, we have a smart-bomb with his name on it. You can get more with a kind word and a bomb than you can with a kind word.
What’s so hard about that?
What is so wrong with that? (Other than the fact it is in complete contradiction with that whole “love your enemies” idea.)
This is talk, not appeasement.
But we need to listen, too. Iran is bordered by two nuclear powers, with a third nation in civil war on another border. You think they might have some legitimate concerns here? Just who the Hell are we to decide if another nation can have the same weapons we have already made use of?
“But they’re a terrorist nation.”
Says who? American media? The same media that just regurgitates the government line? The same media that hasn't done a decent investigative report since Watergate? The same media that bows to the wishes of its handful of stockholders--who also own stock in "war-profitable" companies?
The truth is we know very little about Iran and we will never know if we don't sit down and talk to them.
Hamas? Their beef with us is that Israel is our ally. We make it clear to them that if they mess with US interests—and that does NOT mean our oil supply—we will take out their leadership. And we will keep taking it out until they act like civilized people. Their problems with the Israelis are NOT our problem. Let the Israelis handle it.
Pakistan? I’ve said it before: We give them a month to turn over Osama. After that, we will see to his destruction. (We might call them first and tell them to evacuate.)
That is the key, however. We have to back up our words.
Two decades ago, Iranian-backed Shias were kidnapping Americans of the streets of Beirut with apparent impunity. The story is they tried it just once with a Soviet citizen. The next day, a prominent Shia leader was kidnapped by the Soviets. The leader’s genitalia was then delivered to Shia headquarters. Within an hour the Soviet was released.
The story may or may not be true, but the Soviets did not have any of their citizens held prisoner for years as we did.
Teddy Roosevelt said it best, but you can’t “talk softly” if you don’t talk at all.