I am so glad that I am not the only one on this list who thinks that
powerful, monied individuals and cooperating groups can and do take actions
contrary to the interests of most or a large part of the American
citizenry/citizens of western democracries. I get called a racist troll,
but I am just saying that people act in their own best interests and that
powerful people and powerful groups are...*powerful*, and most importantly,
that there do exist conflicting interests between those who HAVE and those
who HAVE NOT (relatively speaking).
This should be evident, I would think, but propaganda/religion takes hold,
and forget about logic....
>From: "Alex F. Bokov" <alexboko@umich.edu>
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.org
>To: <extropians@extropy.org>
>Subject: Re: Anthrax addendum.
>Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:30:46 -0400 (EDT)
>
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
>On Mon, 15 Oct 2001, John Clark wrote:
>
> > Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com>
> >
> > > From where I sit the US is quite interested in a war.
> >
> > That's ridiculous, there is no reason America would want any war right
> > now, much less a "major and indefinite" one. Do you think Americans
>just
> > woke up one fine day and thought " You know what I'd really like, I'd
>like to
> > rule the poorest country in the world, Afghanistan"? It's not
>complicated, no
> > need to look for hidden motives, we are at war because somebody is
>trying
> > to kill us and they've already made a very good start.
>
>Nobody is really out to serve the will of the American people or any
>other people. Of course an indefinite war would not be in our
>interests as citizens. Powerful elites pursue their agendae by
>
> a) spin
> b) hijacking of the bureaucracy of power
> c) naked aggression
> d) conceding to the genuine will of the people
>
>...whichever has the best cost:benefit ratio in a given situation. The only
>things saving our butts are:
>
> a) nobler individuals who came before us in our respective countries
> who crafted institutions resistant (but never immune) to cooptation
> b) power elites are domain specific
> c) the agendae of power elites often conflict with each other (at the
> moment, Islamic theocrats vs. secular corporatists)
> d) the actions power elites take to further their own power are
> subject to the same imperfect information and unintended
> consequences that confound the actions of humans in general.
>
>- --
>* I believe that the majority of the world's Muslims are good, *
>* honorable people. If you are a Muslim and want to reassure me and *
>* others that you are part of this good, honorable majority, all *
>* you need to say are nine simple words: "I OPPOSE the Wahhabi cult *
>* and its Jihad." *
>
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