Are you sure?
I went to see Richard Dawkins talk at the Douglas Adams Memorial Lectures a couple of weeks back. Dawkins was introduced by Stephen Fry, who quoted Niels Bohr in saying, "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics hasn't understood it".
I'm not going to be talking about the war much for the foreseeable future, but you'll probably notice a dramatic increase in the blackness of my humour. I should think the cynicism index will probably peak in fairly short order too. In fact, my only piece of advice to people on both sides of this issue is an analogue to Bohr's comments - anyone who is 100% sure of the morality of their position with regard to the war in Iraq probably hasn't understood the issues involved. Be prepared to have your mind changed. Remain open to new ideas. Protest / Advocate only what you really believe to be true... In the meantime, here are a couple of war-related links that are barely about the war at all...
Comments
Please stay on-topic, informative and polite. I reserve the right to remove comments for whatever vague capricious reasons seem reasonable at the time.
Douglas Adams - the last true genius to inhabit this Earth. Now, where did I leave my digital watch?
→ Posted by: Tom Morris at March 22, 2003 10:51 AM
Indeed it can be troublesome to argue about this war and it can be even more troublesome to justify your own position, which is why I stick to what I really belive in: that dealing with your problems in a violent, military way is backward.
→ Posted by: Marc Bohlmann at March 22, 2003 1:02 PM
Tom, you are very right. I was given a moderately strong upbraiding in the "Making Light" comment box for underestimating the potential for damage to the Kurdish people of a Turkish invasion when the war began. I said I was not convinced (though I felt worried). I must now admit that I was wrong. I did not give the issue nearly sufficient credence or weight. To admit error, or change with self-examination and thought is, I hope, some evidence of open mindedness. I have seen you do it, Tom. But there is also an awful ignorance of fact, and from his article in today's Guardian that ignorance is something Prof Dawkins wishes to entrench. He is a disgrace to his own brilliance. ((Oh, and well honoured in the breach, Marc!)
→ Posted by: charlie b. at March 22, 2003 11:59 PM
given your interest for stats and so on, i thought this might interest you, it's a questionnaire on Iraq which shows you how everybody 'voted,' it's better than i make it sound, ho hum.
hello from manchester ;)
→ Posted by: tristan at March 23, 2003 5:47 PM
I've been trying to get my head around all of this war-in-Iraq thing and I've come to the conclusion that I can't come to a conclusion about it. Points being:
1. War is wrong.
2. Saddam is wrong.
3. Killing is wrong.
4. War and Saddam kill people.
5. Blair has a brain.
6. Bush doesn't have a brain.
7. The media overwhelm us with conflicting information.
8. We can't possibly understand this situation as well as the government.
9. And that's scary - we have to rely on Bush and Blair.
10. We don't trust the media, Bush or Blair.
So what do we do now? Good question. Sit on our hands or take to the streets...
→ Posted by: Neave at March 24, 2003 4:09 PM
Sure it's easy to sit back and say war is wrong, but what happens to the inocent people who are suffering under a tyrant. Will talking to him help? Maybe he needs to be given a time out. Maybe a week in Las Vegas will help. Only a fool would belive that talking to someone like Saddam, Hitler or Stalin would accomplish anything. The only thing the understand is force. Evil men rule when good men sit on their "morales" and do nothing! I will be suprised if you post this since it appears you only post those in line with your view.
→ Posted by: David Coulter at March 24, 2003 10:19 PM
Sure it's easy to sit back and say war is wrong, but what happens to the inocent people who are suffering under a tyrant. Will talking to him help? Maybe he needs to be given a time out. Maybe a week in Las Vegas will help. Only a fool would belive that talking to someone like Saddam, Hitler or Stalin would accomplish anything. The only thing the understand is force. Evil men rule when good men sit on their "morales" and do nothing! I will be suprised if you post this since it appears you only post those in line with your view.
→ Posted by: David Coulter at March 24, 2003 10:19 PM
Well then I'm delighted to prove you wrong. Your argument is facile and ridiculous and exactly the kind of thing I've been talking about. I don't have any doubt whatsoever that Saddam Hussein should not be in charge of Iraq, but you'd have to be facile to think that's the only issue involved here. I repeat - if you think you have it pegged to 100%, then you don't understand anything - from our desire to have Hussein removed and the world's anxiety about action without international sanction, to our fears about international terrorism and our anxieties about post-Hussein reconstruction. I won't be part of anyone's cult - pro or anti. I have no interest in walking in step with a group, so please feel free to take your rhetoric elsewhere...
→ Posted by: Tom Coates at March 24, 2003 11:02 PM
Major word. You are one dude who knows where his towel is, ne? ;)
Seriously, I don't think anyone I've talked to seriously about this war hasn't expressed misgivings no matter what side they fall on. Personally, I am pro-war at this point, but as you said, that doesn't mean I have no qualms about it at all. In fact the only thing I am 100% sure about is that I wish there was no need for a war at all.
→ Posted by: Christina at March 27, 2003 8:09 PM