[thechat] READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: Open Letter to America from a Canadian

[Lachlan Cannon]

  Paul Cowan wrote:

>Now I'm no PhD in middle-eastern politics, but you know what it seems to
>me the fundamental problem is? *Both sides are right*. This is a fact
>that seems beyond comprehension to everyone involved in the debate. No,
>the fact that the land was 'Jewish' land long before Christ was a twinkle
>in his father's eye does NOT mean that the Palestinians have no claim to
>it. Correspondingly, no, the fact that it has been 'Arab' land for the
>last thousand years after the Jews moved out doesn't mean that the Jews
>have no claim to it. Modern political thought does not seem to allow
>for both sides being right... it's some sort of error condition which
>people just can't cope with.
>
>How do you solve this dilemma? I don't know. But I DO know that when your
>argument consists of "you're wrong, because..." repeated over and over
>again,
>no-one's getting anywhere. To say 'one side must be right and one wrong'
>is nonsensically infantile in this situation (and patently untrue).
>
>

Merge the two states into one? The idea of a state just for Jews, or a
state just for
Arabs is so badly wrong, anyway, IMO. Anything where you start to
seperate people out
based on qualities like that, you'll see sides where really they don't
exist. The Jews will
get attacked by the Arabs, they'll go and attack other Arabs, because
they're from the
'other side'. Vice-versa. Imagine if you could get rid of all the
prejudiced parents that
existed there right now, and grow all the children up in a combined
state together. I'd
be willing to bet that you wouldn't get the same stuff happening all
over again.

The problem is that since day 1, people have stuck to the same groups.
Our tribe. Our village.
Their nation. Their social class. And there is absolutely no reason what
so ever for these
divides to exist. they're artifical. there is no reason why everyone
can't, for instance, be fed
properly. There is enough food in the world for everyone. I'm not
suggesting everything should
be even in the world. People have tried that with communism, and it just
didn't work. What I
think we need is for there ot be a common baseline. Every single person
should have access to
a) education
b) shelter
c) proper clothing
d) medical care
e) food
not necessarily in that order. If people want more than that, then they
have to earn their luxuries.
But really, is there any good reason why that can't happen? Bare in mind
that the richest people
in the world have a hugely unproportionate amount of goods, and wealth
which quite frankly
they'll never even use. Would it be so hard to spend a billion dollars
sheltering and feeding people, when
you have another 5 lying round? Are you really going to miss it? These
people who acquire all this money
and then do absolutely nothing with it sicken me...

PS Thanks for the link from your site Paul. It's good to know I'm not
crap. ;)
__
Lach
Web:    http://illuminosity.net/
E-mail:  lach @ illuminosity.net
MSN:    luminosity @ members.evolt.org