Thanks scandium. I wish some of this boards foaming at the mouth radicals would read and understand that. It is very easy to point the blaming finger at Islam and ascribe all things evil to that. It is much easier than having to judge people on an individual basis.

My late grandfather, god bless him, was the sort of closet prejudicial suburban semi-racist for many years. Not the nasty type that throws rocks and marches with banners, just the one who thinks that all them there muslims and coloured people are probably just after our money. Well first his left neighbour was a sikh family. And the friendly person my grandfather was, he became good friends with them. Not Friends good friends, but they visited each other, spoke over the hedge, ate dinner now and then. Next, his other neighbour was iranian. Real genuine muslims. But to the amazement of my grandfather they were not jihadists or radicals. Doctors and engineers. With two lovely daughters. And to the day of his death, their youngest daughter Rosa came and visited them everyday. Watched television at their house, ate dinner etc. Never again did my grandfather speak ill of other people when he didnt know them. Not to my recollection.

It might have been an american couple, armenian, chinese, mexican. That would not have mattered if it was friendly people. It merely reinfored my presumption that no matter religion, mankind is equal. We want security. Food on the table. A Family to call our own. And the recognition and admiration from our peers. Those are the pillars of the meaning of life.

As long as there are men, they will faishion gods. As long as there are gods, there will be killing in their name.

Aye, and I still believe that waging war in the name of god is usually a pretext for killing in the name of gain. Be it money, land, power, security, something. Doing in the name of god is a convenient way for a bellum justum, a justified war.

I am forever amazed by the amount of open minded, tolerant and interesting people I meet when posting in forums for games centered on directing the armed forces of Nazi Germany. :up:

...eh, this isn't just a Silent Hunter III club! I think you're going a little narrow here :doh:

And wow, a thread where left-wing people are being said nice things to on this forum and I'm missing? What's wrong with this picture? :p

Well said on the part of the last few posters. What often annoys me is not people's political orientation but how it seems to connect to their personal philosophies and motivations. I'm very, very wary of people who are quick to class others into good and bad on any given principle.

For me it's both impossible and unnatural to look for "The Enemy [state/nation/culture/group]". Perhaps it's because of my education and profession (linguist) where by default I end up working with all cultural and ethnic groups on an equal basis. Perhaps it's the fact that I've spent too long in places where I had to fight to be recognized as an individual. Perhaps it's just where I was born (USSR) and the irony best described by a favorite singer of mine - "In the old cemetery, where the enemies ressurected / I understood something, getting up off the wrong foot". Nope, the notion that when I was born I was most certainly an evil communist Russkie to some people (to whose society I'm now uncomfortably close at times) is just too funny and instructive to me at the same time :hmm:

:stare: Gripe gripe gripe , Moan moan moan, wah wah wah, I hate Bush ,I hate Clinton ,
I want to be given some thing for nothing , I want more rights than you , Freedom should be free , I hate America cause they got more than me , I hate Muslim's cause they wanna kill everyone, stop the nukes , nuke the Baster*s...:stare:

On an on an on an on...

A house divided ... I guess

California wants Austria annexed to the US as the 51st state!!
That way our present governor has a continued political career!!
Arnold for President!! :rock:

I think we all need to calm down just a little bit here. SubSim is no place for forum wars.