|
Huns Valen
Don't PM me here.
Join date: 3 May 2003
Posts: 2,749
|
08-21-2005 04:35
This is truly a fascinating read. Sam Cohen, inventor of the neutron bomb, explains first why it's "the most moral weapon" (in very convincing terms) and then goes on to explain some of the incredibly nasty behavioral patterns that can be found in politics. http://boingboing.net/profits_of_fear.htmlFrom: someone It seems to me axiomatic that most primary actors on the global stage are disturbed people, because an obsessive lust for power is itself a pathology, and in a competition among thousands or millions of power seekers, only the most pathological are likely to win. The difference between them and Sam Cohen is that Cohen fell into the world of government almost by accident, and admits his neuroses no matter how bizarre they sound. From: someone Cohen explained in some detail that he developed his "most moral weapon" because on some visceral level he liked the idea of inflicting the same nightmare of vomit and diarrhea that had been inflicted upon him by his mother. From: someone At the time when I visited Sam Cohen, in late 2000, I didn't realize how much further the backlash would go. I certainly did not imagine a faith-driven initiative in which primitive zealots would pervert foreign policy, cripple scientific research, curtail social freedoms, and revive international adventurism to entrap the nation in a new state of perpetual Orwellian war. |
|
Jeffrey Gomez
Cubed™
Join date: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 3,522
|
08-21-2005 09:42
Great read, Huns. I crossposted this article on my blog in the Second Life Writing Wiki. Excellent find.
_____________________
---
|
|
Euterpe Roo
The millionth monkey
Join date: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 1,395
|
08-21-2005 10:20
"To anyone who wondered how horror stories about an elevated communist (terrorist)threat could possibly be popular, the answer was that they served the needs of hundreds of thousands of people who worked for the Federal Government or enjoyed its largesse. Bad news justified bigger military budgets, which enriched defense contractors, boosted employment in key congressional districts, and increased the influence of cold warriors in the Pentagon. Bad news united the nation and weakened opposition to legislation which rode in on the coat tails of anticommunist (terrorist) hysteria. Most of all, bad news enhanced nuclear drama, which inflated the importance of government in general and the Executive Branch in particular." (emphasis and parentheticals mine)
Chilling in the extreme. Thank you, Huns.
_____________________
"Of course, you'd also have to mention . . . furries, Sith Lords, cyberpunks, glowing balls of gaseous neon fumes, and walking foodstuffs" --Cory Edo “One man developed a romantic attachment to a tractor, even giving it a name and writing poetry in its honor." MSN "  next week: the .5m torus of "I ate a yummy sandwich and I'm sleepy now"  " Desmond Shang
|
|
Sean Gorham
Stopped making sense
Join date: 5 Mar 2005
Posts: 229
|
08-21-2005 11:19
Wow.  This is a very scary and fascinating read. I encourage everyone to check it out. |
|
Schwanson Schlegel
SL's Tokin' Villain
Join date: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 2,721
|
08-22-2005 09:23
Fascinating read, thanks Huns.
Let's not forget the reasons that many people are against the use of the neutron bomb though, it is an atomic weapon. One that most countries do not have the technology or money to make. If we were to use a neutron bomb, the retaliation would most likely be with it's fission counterpart. The escalation would potentially be a full out nuclear war, that we initiated.
|
