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Friend or Foe?


Anyone think this looks like me? I wish my hair was that spikey! I made this wii character in my own image, not sure how close i got.

Anyhow, I got in an argument yesterday with, we'll call him "Rick" (his last name is "Diculous"). Anyhow, Rick and I got into it over the middle east.

Rick is going to vote for John McCain. For the simple reason that he will keep the fighting over there, not here. That is a bunch of BS.

Our security is horrible, our ports are open, our transit systems is a giant hole that shuttles trains into our biggest cities unguarded. Bad people could strike at any moment. The thinking that us being in Iraq is stopping them is just foolishness to me.

And beyond that, it has the problem of fostering the anti-US sentiment in a whole new generation. You don't make friends with bees by stomping on their nest.

And that is the crux of the argument between Rick and I. He believes we'll never be friends, while I believe we have to hope we will. If we plan on being foes, they'll never be anything but. If we offer friendship, there is a chance we will get it. I realize perhaps I am being naive, but making them foes does so forever with no chance of anything but. That seems stupid.

Is our dealings in the middle east as easily defined as those of us that want to be friends (or at least not haters) against those that see these people as evil foes? I hadn't ever framed the debate like this and I really don't know. I hope it doesn't. I'd hate to think Rick has a bunch of supporters and like minded cohorts.

What do you think?

Oh, and "Rick" is my Dad.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I lived and worked in Morocco in the early nineties. It was a safe, friendly place where they had some misconceptions about the US but basically were simply curious. Now, it's not the safe place it was just that recently. There are groups of outspoken fundamentalists and much anti-US sentiment. It's still a beautiful country, but it's been changed. And it's all our government's fault. But if we leave Iraq suddenly, without making some amends for the mess we've made there, we won't make friends anywhere. I don't have an answer to the problem, but I do know that it's been complicated by the current administration.
Oh, and I do feel so much safer now that people's shoes are bomb-free.
8:13 PM
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