President Obama: Do you really love America?

[Cato]

So the bombing of largely civilian targets in germany, Japan, and north Vietnam would make land of the free and the home of strangely fearful brave the most prolific practitioner of technological terrorism in history.

If you had kept your argument to North Vietnam I would have disagreed but been somewhat sympathetic to your argument; however, invoking our activities in Germany and Japan during WWII is simply moronic. I have a hard time believing anyone is so fucking stupid as to equivocate the total war environment of WWII with what goes on today relative to understanding the meaning of 'terrorism'. Pathetic.

[Anomalocaris]

Why? Terrorism by most devastating means available to us becomes acceptable total war when we wage it, but total war waged by most devastating means available to them becomes unacceptable terrorism when they wage it upon us?

Terrorism is total war waged by most effective means available to the conventionally much weaker side. There is no point to pretend it is more reprehensible than total war waged by near peer powers using most effective means available to these.

I don't say what we did in wwii is indefensible. I say terrorism waged against us is defensible by the same standard.

[Cato]

Why? Total war is only okay if we chose to wage it, but not if someone else chooses to wage it upon us?

Are you conceding my point? Or are you going to stick to your guns and suggest that we turned parts of Germany and Japan into rubble for no reason at all? If you have a version of history where the U.S. picked that fight, I'm all ears.

[Anomalocaris]

you have no point, but a red herring. There was nothing said about "no reason" at all.

---

US picked the fight in Texas, in Cuba, in north Vietnam, in Granada, and in Iraq in 2002.

[Cato]

your point was a red herring. There was nothing said about "no reason" at all.

Deflecting. Admit you're wrong about your comparison to WWII and let's be done with this.

[Anomalocaris]

your point was a red herring. There was nothing said about "no reason" at all.

Deflecting. Admit you're wrong about your comparison to WWII and let's be done with this.

No. US waged terrorism in WWII, terrorism is being waged upon US now. The comparison is apt in the sense that both episode involved terrorism in the sense of waging part of a struggle by attempting primarily beating civilians down with lethal violence.

[Cato]

Deflecting. Admit you're wrong about your comparison to WWII and let's be done with this.

No. US waged terrorism in WWII, terrorism is being waged upon US now. The comparison is apt in the sense that both episode involved terrorism in the sense of waging part of a struggle by attempting primarily beating civilians down with lethal violence.

Chuck,
You are so broadly defining terrorism that any geologist that bends down to pick up a stone for study deserves to be shot simply because there's a slight chance he/she might aggressively toss it in someone's direction. If you are incapable of understanding the moral distinction, and the distinction's importance to the definition of terrorism, between the actions ending WWII and the beach side throat slitting of non-combatants by ISIS then there's really not much we can discuss on the matter.

[Losty]

Ah, the stupids are legion here.

I think my policy is now the polar opposite of Obama's i.e.

"I will stand with them [Christians] should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Christians are a hell of a lot smarter than atheists when it comes to the existential threat of Islam.

isn't there some 'I hate Obama and want to stop him from allowing shariah law in America' type website you can go post your junk mail to?
Then you could all high five and celebrate how much smarter you are than those dumb atheists at AF and we can all go one not giving any fucks.

[remagination]

Sorry to go off topic, but the intermittent nature of conservative Christian family values really, really, really confuses me.

Fundamentalist values are a really simple thing. Make sure your whole family toes the fundamentalist line. If your kid is LGBT, kick the kid which the Flying Spaghetti Monster entrusted to you to the curb ---- unless the kid agrees to go to a "de-gaying camp" that will cause zim to be traumatized for life.

And if your brother or sister disagrees with you about what Moses's shoe-size is --- shun zim.

[Mudhammam]

I don't think there's any doubt that the US is the biggest contributor to terrorism, whether its our history of engaging in bloody conflicts when and where we shouldn't and that result in mass "collateral damage" (that sounds so much nicer, doesn't it?) or providing the material means for others to do so for us.

The WWII analogy seems appropriate so long as we're discussing some of our targets and tactics, but the ends and the justification to fight in that war shares little similarity to ISIS' stated fascist desire to erect a global caliphate.