McTag wrote:cicerone imposter wrote:Well, let's just say Bush brought us to a new low point in the world. Will that suffice?
Seen in my newspaper today, sent in by a reader:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts' desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by an outright moron."
-H L Mencken, 1920
While C.I.'s erroneous assessment of World Opinion was easily debunked; that in no way proves World Opinion correct. :wink:
Transcending all political and cultural distinctions; separating good and bad can best be summed up by genocidal and democidal tendency. While in local theatres Religion, Education, Ethnic Diversity, Political distinctions and even relative measures of prosperity appear to be strong indicators; the single best measure is consolidation of power. Put short; Totalitarian Governments kill innocent people in numbers that dwarf Democratic Government's like the shining beacon that is the United States. It is the very right to object and resist a regime's lust for power that separates the good from the bad. The polar opposite of the United States was the former Soviet Union. Examine the deeds of each to see, with horrific clarity, the actual willingness of a regime to kill innocents. The less tolerant of dissention a regime becomes; the more likely it will commit horrific acts.
Insert the regime of your choice; and see if the scale between democratic and totalitarian doesn't trump every other measure in terms of deadliness to civilians. While this may sound like propaganda, the admittedly empirical evidence used, when consolidated comprehensively, appears to offer no other solid explanations. R.J. Rummel published the best study I've ever seen to explain this simple truth. He presents his findings after painstakingly compiling the deeds of some 420 different regimes, separating the various distinctions and then looking for predictors of democide and genocide. Many of the results surprised even him (and me), but the unshakable truth in the aforementioned conclusion is tough to deny. It's not the ideology that's dangerous; it's the degree of totality in which a regime is structured to enforce it that is the greatest threat.
Examples of argument laid to waste:
Education and economic prosperity: See Hitler's Germany.
Ethnic diversity: Quite obvious in Genocides like the Hutu and Tutsi, but almost irrelevant when compared to the myriad of ethnically diverse peoples who don't resort to genocide. While it is paramount to dehumanize your enemy in some fashion; the actual distinction whether it be skin color or religion is largely irrelevant statistically.
Religion itself: While it appears on the surface that Muslim is more prone to mass murder than Christianity in recent times; a more comprehensive look reveals no such correlation. The true test in virtually every example can be traced back to the degree of totalitarian-ness in the regimes committing the atrocity.
Once you understand the inherent evil in totalitarian regimes, and accept that the United States is the finest example of the polar opposite; you can fairly assert that the United States truly is a fair and ethical beacon of hope, World Opinion notwithstanding. :wink:
I urge everyone to read R.J. Rummel's study
here. It is incredibly comprehensive.
A relatively shorter summary can be viewed
here.
Really? Where were we known to be that? And by whom? Not to mention when? Does that mean nobody noticed the countless millions of tons of munitions we dropped on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia? They just plain forgot about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? I guess it wasn't just Polk who thought Mexico owed us half their country? And what made those Native Americans think they could trespass on the land we were stealing from them anyway? Seems we weren't exactly first to abolish slavery and I can't recall when world opinion came back around on the Death Penalty. I sure never realized how much the global community appreciated the activities of the CIA prior to Bush's Presidency either. 
