re: #255 Naso Tang

Talking of Change, did anyone catch Glenn Beck’s show on the end of the world today?

I only got a part of it, and while I don’t disagree with playing “war games” of different scenarios, he manages to convey, along with liberal interspersion of religion, that he DOES believe one of these worst case scenarios is going to happen.

Given what I believe to imagine is the state of mind of many of his fans, I think that kind of program format is irresponsible in this climate of uncertainty.

Anyone thinking I’m now in favor of censorship?

No opinion on that, but I personally get a bit tired of everyone on both sides becoming entranced by TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) scenarios.

They are mainly used to frighten people into supporting whatever “actions” those predicting them are demanding be Done Right Now To Save The World From (insert name of threat here) For The Sake of The Children (or whatever). One environmentalist, quoted by P. J. O’Rourke in his book All The Trouble In The World, stated that “We (the enviros) have to offer up scary scenarios to get people to pay attention.”

I prefer to leave the “scare tactics” to the people whose contact with reality I find questionable. Conservatives and rational moderates should be above this sort of thing.

Also, there re two specific points about this sort of thing which really get my goat;

1. Too often, conservatives who engage in this sort of game-playing get sucked in to buying the “doomsday” scenarios of some of the more bizarre types in the religious arena, and it damages their credibility and, by association, that of other moderates or conservatives. It’s very difficult to be taken seriously when you begin to sound like you’re quoting the plot outline of a novel by Tim LaHaye.

2. I have no problem with “doomsday scenarios” being “gamed” by the people who should be concerned with such, in or out of government. Economists do it all the time, for example, to predict what might happen if, say, China suddenly decided not to buy U.S. Treasuries, or Japan ceased making loan payments on their borrowing after the bubble collapsed. To say nothing of purely military “wargame” scenarios. But I far prefer that those who do this sort of speculation keep their mouths shut about it. Openly saying that these types of scenarios are the ones being planned for is, to me, a bit too much like flashing your hole card in a game of poker.

I prefer that the people who wish us ill not know exactly what sort of major Charlie Fox we already have plans for. It might encourage them to try to set off one we haven’t already worked out a response to.

And unlike some people in Washington these days, I am pretty sure there are people in this world who do not like us, and never will, no matter what we do or do not do, here or abroad. It is our existence they have a problem with. I prefer to make it as difficult as possible for them to be a problem for us, and our allies. Keeping them in the dark as to how we will cope with what is a cheap, easy, and simple way to accomplish this, at least in part.

Or as the old saying goes, “Loose Lips Sink Ships”.

cheers

eon