Normal 0
Normal 0 Barry:
The French were the second nation on the
planet to have to live with and deal with
terrorism. (The first was Britain, inter-
estingly enough. The modern definition of
terrorism was invented in the press to
describe the actions of the Jewish groups
in Palestine who were planting bombs to
drive the English out and have it become
Israel.) But "next in line" was France,
having to deal with terrorist wars in
their colonies of Morocco and Algeria
and Vietnam.
Emptybill:
The French have a huge Army that is now a professional one like in the US. In
some ways we are fortunate that they provide a second anchor for
Western civilization - along with the nuclear arms to back it up. However,
who could believe they might ever use them? After their flight from the Germans
in '39-40 they dived into post-empire irrelevance.
Their defeat in Vietnam merely proved that they were weak post-Colonials.
That is not the same as the American anti-communist fight in Vietnam nor the
same as our rather unnecessary war in Iraq. We should have left that puffed up
little dictator in place to oppose the Persian - this has now become obvious.
As far as your statement about terrorism, I advance a different claim -
Colonial Americans were the first terrorists of the modern age and the Brits
were our chosen targets.
I say this not just to restate history but as a physical being born in a
specific family lineage. The fact is that I come from a long line of
independence seekers - from dream-seekers straight off of the original
mayflower to Virginians fighting against the British redcoats. To this day, my
kinfolk still believe that the only thing standing between us and the bayonets
of the ruling government is a loaded firearm. Such a view puts "terrorism" in a
different light.
Just in case your are wondering, I am quite aware that the French were our
backers in the revolutionary war. We owed them a debt from the revolution which
we finally repaid - from the Marne River in 1918 to the beaches of Normandy in
1943. However we need to redefine most of this history as the mere "past" since
all those former Frenchmen from that time are gone. They vanished from Europe
because they lost faith in the old values during the slaughter of the trenches.
They are here and them is us. They/We have taken rebirth upon the North
American continent and in Australia.
Think this is absurd? Mere bullshit or opinion? Then you obviously must think
your own intellect is equal to assay "reality-as-such"? Find it comforting
having such a lofty view to assert that everything is merely a matter of
opinion? I say fuck such arrogantly endemic doubt parading as certainty. I know
the Frogs went to North America and Australia because god told me so. She also
told me that the devil has always loved Her more than you do. She pointed out
that this is why she rewards him every day with supreme recognition and why you
get only shit. Such is life. Live with it. Thus it is so. (Doesn't that sound
o'-so-Buddhist?)
By the way, no wonder you have nothing to claim other than your own opinion.
You were probably that poor SOB that Plato referred to when he said that
opinion (doxa) was the lowest form of knowledge - one bordering on mere
superstition. Wouldn't you like to stop hanging on to your old sanskaras from
that 340 B.C. lifetime?
Emptybill said:
> Yeah, why don't we become more like the French? We could stick our asses up
into the wind and shout "Please come here and fuck me!!!" All the nations would
praise us and we would finally be liked by the rest of the world.
Barry:
Uh, billy jim...I cannot help but wonder
where this came from. Can you provide a
cite of the Buddhist sutra on compassion
you base it on? :-)
I do Tantric sadhanas and Dzogchen Trekcho along with TM-Sahaj. Even the
Medicine Buddha Sadhanas that I do are Tantric. Mahayana Sutras are for the
pious. Do I sound pious?
Barry, if you are actually such a high-flying Buddhist then why don't you
stand up like a real universal-vehicle practitioner that is if you really
give a shit about someone else with all your weeping compassion? What your
posts seem to demonstrate is that you dearly believe in yourself. Which Sutra,
Tantra or Upadesh do you use as a support for that display? None. You doubt
everything but you don't doubt yourself. What chutzpah.
And by the way, don't give me some Tantric bullshit like Vaj. If the
Yidam-Devas really cared about us, they would sweep us up and throw us into the
next lifetime with terrifying abandon - one where we could no longer hide like
rats here in the outhouse of samsara.
