From: karl@dixie.com (Karl Klingman)
Subject: Re: Don't be silly, please
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 02:33:54 GMT
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.

davei@wam.umd.edu (The One True Dave) writes:



>  
>many of you are grossly misinformed.

Apparently, you should include yourself in this catagory.  I see from
your address that you are still in school.  Good.  You will find a
library nearby.  Seek out the history section.

>  Thirdly, yes, the situation in Somalia is partly the US's fault.

Will you please explain to me how the U. S. induced these people
to overpopulate their country?  How did the U. S. cause the drought?
The problem is cultural and geographical, not political.  Because they
are Moslim they will not practice birth control.  They have too many
children.  When droughts come -- and they always do in desert lands --
they starve to death.  There is nothing political here. Also this is 
nothing new.  This has gone on for thousands of years.

>The Marxists were trying to take over by force, and we gave our 
>support to those who could stop the Marxists without forcing us
>to send an army. This is also what happened in many of the Central
>American countries. Failure to stay uninvolved militarily is what
>started Vietnam and failure to do anything is why China is communist
>now.

Bzzzt.  Wrong answer from the neophyte political historian. 
As I pointed out above, the situation in Somalia is not caused by
politics, but just to get your history straight:

First:
Siat Barre tried to play both sides of the game.  First he milked the 
commies for all he could get, then when that resource started drying up 
he started milking the U. S.  After the region lost its stratigic luster, 
we also pulled the plug.

Second:
The view that America's debacle in Viet Nam was caused by a failure
to "stay uninvolved militarily" is like saying that Somalia's problem
is caused by the Somali people's "inability to become involved gustitorily".
While the statement may be true, it doesn't convey any useful information.

Third:
The U. S. had plenty of contact with Mao and Chiang during the  
the 1930's, when Japan invaded China.  There was a great deal of 
discussion at that time by President Roosevelt and his cabinet about 
whether the United States should supply arms to Mao, since they were 
the most effective fighting force in China.  Suffice it to say that 
the reason China is communist now is that Mao had a kick-ass army and 
Chiang did not.

>  We thought we were doing what was best. We had evidence that to
>do otherwise would be catastrophic. Unfortunately, like elsewhere,
>here the fruits of expidency have come back to haunt us.

Bull.  First, who's this WE you speak of.  Are you part of NSA, CIA
or high ranking military officer at the Pentagon? Let me guarantee you
one thing -- doing what is best is NEVER a policy consideration.

>Get real. It isn't our duty as a nation to save Somalia, it's
>our duty as human beings. 

Nope.

>There is no difference between watching
>a Somali starve to death and watching it happen to your next door
>neighbor.

 .... knee-jerk, patronizing, crap about Canadians omitted. ...

>  As for Bosnia, well, tell me, who's right there? Those people
>have been murdering each other for 2000 years and they take turns
>being on top. I wish the fighting could be stopped, but that will
>never happen, in Bosnia or anywhere, until people stop being close-
>minded.

And my friend, I wish the starving would stop in Somalia, but they've
been starving for OVER 2,000 years there and they will continue to
starve unless they quit having so many children.   If you feed them,
they'll just get strong enough to start breeding again. The cycle will
not end.  So sorry pal, but there's nothing you can do.

>  The United States has acted on its conscience to save the people
>dying in Somalia. If you can condemn them for acting out of conscience
>then you should resign your membership in the human race. Even if we
>do the wrong thing, at least we're doing it for the right reason.

Back during the days of the Viet Nam war the slogan was: "My Country.
Right or Wrong."  Maybe you could work to bring it back.  Hint: Start 
with bumper stickers. 


>tell you why I'm not a twit 
No problem.   Most likely you are a twit because you are young. In 
some cases people have been known to outgrow it.  But, I'm afraid the 
are rare. The perscription is: 
	1) Study very hard. 
	2) Read a lot of books.  
	3) Don't believe anything you hear from the news media
	4) Don't trust anyone in authority.

Good Luck.

-- 
He who would trade his liberty for  |  Karl Klingman
short-term security deserves        |  American Research Group, Inc.
neither...   Ben Franklin           |  emory!slammer!arg!karl
Newsgroups: alt.activism