Trying to Understand
'Faith-based' psychology - but failing. Let me illustrate:
"...Abu Ghraib redux: the image of the good work of the thousands of soldiers for the people of Fallujah wiped out by one over exhausted soldier- POW: �He�s dead now.�"
A few sentences later:
"...The thing that sets us apart from the terrorists is the rule of law, morality."
Even if we assume the two statements are 'true', they're clearly contradictory. I think even my 11 year-old kid sis would understand this.
But, take a closer look at the first sentence - there are numerous implicit assumptions behind this logic. First that the price of one (brown) human life is less than the total gains to freedom (fair enough). That 'good work' is being done - that the institutions of democratic capitalism are being built (dubious). But, most importantly, that this is a totally isolated incident which can be explained away by exogenous variable (ie, he'd gotten tired). This is an absurd assumption to make; one that's based on faith, not grounded in reality.
This is the reality disconnect we're all so familiar with. I don't pretend to understand the reasons. I think the UA guys have said it best: "we're glad red-state rubes live in areas where guns are more powerful and more plentiful, cars are larger and faster, and people are fatter and slower and dumber".