On The Third Hand
A Proud member of the Brigade of Bellicose WomenThe liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. — Samuel Adams
| On The Third HandA Proud member of the Brigade of Bellicose WomenThe liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. — Samuel Adams |
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04 January, 2002: "Good point"By Kathy Kinsley Bjoern Staerk takes issue with a part of Jonah Goldberg's latest article (page down to "It's the Little Things"). Jonah (extreme simplification--read the article) says that understanding does not bring peace. Bjoern replies that familiarity and understanding are not the same thing (read his piece too). I agree with Bjoern (mostly), when he says: "When you understand your potential enemy, you know how to deal with him. When you don't understand, you do either too much or too little." I'd also add; when you understand a potential friend, you know how to deal with him. When you don't understand, you may end up as enemies. On a purely personal level, I have had some serious anger and hurt feelings simply because of misunderstandings (and my being misunderstood) between cultures that are only mildly different (US and UK -- US and Australia). We all need to listen first, and create bloody noses only when we know we really have been attacked. If we truly understand the attackers, as Bjoern implies, we can bloody the noses much more effectively. (Yep, I'm still feeling bellicose... and I studied the Russian language and Soviet culture during the Cold War... I'll leave it to you to figure out why.)
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