re: #1 ralphieboy

We are supposed to be *better* than these guys, remember, Andrew?

This is, as I see it, and as I’ve argued before, one of the deep, core, misunderstandings that many wingnuts bring to the idea of war against Islamist terror.

They see the strength of the enemy as lying in fanatic belief, uniformity of thought, ruthlessness, dividing the world into us and them, and a willingness to commit atrocities.

They believe, quite seriously, that our weakness lies in NOT BEING LIKE THAT.

So the idea of conventions of warfare, purity of arms, being angry with soldiers for desecrating corpses, this they just see as weakness. And the only way to combat weakness is with what they’ve identified as strength—so they’ll actually speak up for torture, for pissing on bodies, for whatever it takes, not to get whatever the job is done, but also to demonstrate to the world and mostly to ourselves, that we are just as fanatical, violent and badass as anyone.

We’re talking here about people who have secretly already put themselves up in a dick-measuring contest against al-Qaeda, and secretly fear that they have lost.

People who believe sincerely in a clash of civilizations, except they think theirs is kind of dorky and has too many dumb rules.

It’s pathological.