I have had too much overpriced red wine. Although, the Melka vineyard produces Mettise in the Napa valley, a rather fine Cabernet blend, be sure to get the 2001 vintage.
Can we, as a race (human that is) determine a moral pinnacle on the planet? There is much discussion over moral relativism of late and it is significant to the events which plague us now.
Can someone truly claim the high ground in this conflict of ideals? I would be interested to hear from the seven (okay, maybe six - if I discount Marock) readers of this blog if such a thing can exist.
I am interested because I think that may form the foundation for a discussion of topics of interest to all of us. Of note, Sonic has conceded that Iraq was an error, a position which I disagree with vehemently.
Citizen Une posits that there can be no absolutes. I am troubled by this stance. So to you I pose the question, does it exist? Or is there a point of debarkation from debate and agreement on what is and is not right.
By the way, I must ask that you set aside faith. For it is subjective and not impervious to logic.
UPDATE - Never drink and blog.
4 comments:
Yes, red wine and computers do not mix. However, I found your comment from the Advocate strangely supportive of my thesis.
The thesis being - is moral relativism a valid construct for discussion, or is there a moral absolute? By absolute I mean "at the present time" not in any sort of final manner.
I imagine the church in Rome would quickly have claimed the moral high ground in the 13th century, but were there actually any significant differences?
Your observations in both comments seem to belie a belief in a moral absolute, one in which religion is not placed as the arbiter of society.
Although many of our beliefs may have roots in ancient times (I would submit that they are even older - referencing deeper primal instincts), they are in no way represented in the same shape today.
HEY! Stop drinking wine without me!!!
CD, I wasn't trying to say the invation was an error. More over, I think the coalition has done a poor job planning for possible outcomes of a post Saddam Iraq. I think they hoped for the best and planned for the best. I believe they should have hoped for the best but planned for the worst. I just hope the Iraqi Army is good enough to cope with our pending withdrawal in the next two years, as the next president, whether Democrat or Republican, will not become trapped by the war as LBJ and Nixon were.
There are probably multiple thousands of instances where our soldiers have saved and helped the lives of Iraqi citizens, who will forever be greatful to our soldiers. But the positive effect of these good acts are neutralized as long as the violence rages on.
PS. It is my understanding that only a select group of cities, read Sunni enclaves, were the only cities that ever got a reliable supply of "power, clean water, etc.".
No fair! Why am I not drunk?
Frog, the DoD did plan for the worst. The worst was a ground campaign lasting months, possibly a year, not weeks. The diversion of the 4th ID around Turkey was seen as a possible disaster, but the fighting was over before they even put down.
In fact, a few of my aviator friends bear patches from the Enterprise battle group sporting the words "Is it over, did we miss it?".
The post combat operations went downhill as the forces on the ground uncovered systemic failures of infrastructure and corruption beyond even our wildest imaginings.
Incorrectly we purged all Baathists, not realizing we needed many to run the operation of the country. In Basra, for example, the port stillhad remains of sunken freighters from the Iranian conflict.
PS - I'll send you a drink.
PPS - We need to host a "drunken blogathon" a few hours of heated rhetoric and invective enhanced by consumption of quality spirits. The only difference will be our ability to read and reread our misguided postings in perpetuity.
PPPS - On second thought...
You know, hosting it could be kind of interesting, a WiFi network in a quality bar, drinks and a rotating topic generator.
We could start with a rousing round of arguments and then bolt to the computers for a few minutes of posting.
Hmmm...
I think it could be called "flash-blogging" or maybe "speed-blogging"
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