tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post5733598775867340785..comments2024-03-26T07:51:43.186+00:00Comments on Mabinogogiblog: Sri Lanka - a separatist war ignored by the worldDocRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08903964792092284406noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post-44481441567472688302009-05-22T09:43:24.160+01:002009-05-22T09:43:24.160+01:00Hi Doug,
Thanks for raising these questions. I do ...Hi Doug,<br />Thanks for raising these questions. I do not think it is accurate to say that it is simplistic to aim to get rid of militarism. I have given a long answer, so it is up as today's offering, so that it is not buried down here in the comments.<br />Cheers<br />RichardDocRichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08903964792092284406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post-57016044086158903312009-05-21T20:51:23.513+01:002009-05-21T20:51:23.513+01:00You seem to have a strangely simplistic view of hu...You seem to have a strangely simplistic view of human aggression and human will to power.<br /><br />For a start, you won't get rid of the root causes of "militarism" because they are intrinsic parts of human nature, to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the individual, culture, and a variety of factors. I hate to tangle with you on psychology, but social identity theory seems pertinent here. It has also been noted, I believe, that aggression towards out-groups correlates with solidarity and close bonding within the in-group.<br /><br />You also won't get rid of "militarism" without taking out "militarists" - power-mongers, and political idealists like Prabhakaran and his commanders. <br /><br />I'm sure your neighbours are lovely. I've enjoyed many happy months living in Tamil Nadu in India myself, and Tamils are just like any other people: there's good and bad everywhere.<br /><br />Unfortunately it's the bad who so often climb into positions of power and then make the rest of us suffer in carrying out their warped ideas.<br /><br />Every generation has such people and they need to be dealt with appropriately by each generation, preferably before they go too far and ruin too many people's lives as the LTTE have been doing for decades.Dougnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post-14177826480251874082009-05-21T08:21:05.258+01:002009-05-21T08:21:05.258+01:00Hi Doug
Thanks for the information and the links....Hi Doug<br /><br />Thanks for the information and the links. As I said, I am ashamed at my ignorance of the facts of the case.<br /><br />I must reiterate that my Tamil neighbours were genuinely lovely people. I am sure both sides have killed civilians either deliberately or as "collateral damage". That is what happens in war. Which should lead us to the conclusion that militarism should be terminated with extreme prejudice, to coin a phrase. Not militarists, but militarism. The idea that political disagreements can be settled by seeing who can sacrifice the most humans on the altar of belief is totally absurd. Mankind gave up human sacrifice to fictional gods about 3000 years ago. Now it is time for us to give up sacrifice of people on the altar of state sovereignty.DocRichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08903964792092284406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9192922.post-61951234099388295812009-05-20T16:33:53.096+01:002009-05-20T16:33:53.096+01:00If you want evidence of the terrorism perpetrated ...If you want evidence of the terrorism perpetrated by LTTE there's plenty of it Doctor. <br /><br />In Sri Lanka the Tamil Tigers have followed a long programme of assassinating all the moderate politicians who were willing to have dialogue with the other side. They did this so that the extremists could then have a monopoly in politics, leaving nobody to contradict whatever they say, and terrorising the Tamil people. That allowed the LTTE to control "their" population in the way they want.<br /><br />See these two web-pages for starters.<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/prseo2<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/5gtgno<br /><br />One of the big problems for the future now, is that over the years many Tamils have been sent overseas by LTTE leaders, to propagandise, to keep an eye on other expat Sri Lankans and to collect from them and from host populations (by a variety of legal and illegal means, including racketeering and robbery) sums of money for weapons and other war supplies.<br /><br />Questions have been asked in the British house of commons by MPs trying to stop such depredations in the UK, but the shameful thing is that the Labour government here has never done anything to effectively halt such support for terrorism.Dougnoreply@blogger.com