Peace Peace Peace!!!!!!

Again with the judging! Jimi Hendrix is cool yeah, but I wouldn't call him my role model.

No, I'm not saying they're wrong because with the philosophy we have now, using war to solve problems, what they did brought temporary peace. Truman's actions ended WWII, yes. But, it didn't ultimately bring peace to the world. Under those circumstances, what those people did solved the problem. But, what I'm saying is to ultimately bring about peace, we have to lose the "war solves problems" philosophy.

P.S. - I don't think it's completely correct to say "Harry Truman dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, and it brought instant peace." It's more like it killed a whole lot of people, so Japan surrendered.

 

Wild Flower--First, I hope you understand that world peace is never going to happen. Haven't you figured that out? Do you think the Islamofascists want peace? First, they declared war on the United States in 1998, in which the Clinton Administration did nothing in response; second, they already said they want to kill as many Americans as they can. How do you reconcile your philosophy in order to protect the American people when it comes to Islamofascists wanting to blow up our cities? Please explain. Thanks.

 

Wild Flower--This is an interesting op-ed in today's "Wall Street Journal." What's your opinion?

BY MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 12:00 a.m.

America is at war. In every corner of the globe the threat to freedom is on the march. The U.S. president terms it "evil," rejects advice from allies to avoid provoking conflict and makes victory his mission. America is accused of arrogance.

The year is 1983 and the battle has been joined: Ronald Reagan is squaring off against Soviet domination.

Thanks to the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the coloring of American life by orange alerts, 20th-century totalitarianism can seem like ancient history. Yet with America under assault from a new freedom-loathing force, we can ill afford to forget the commitment and courage it took to defeat the Soviet Union.

"In the Face of Evil," director Stephen K. Bannon's documentary based on Peter Schweizer's book "Reagan's War," bids us to remember not only the courage and insight of Ronald Reagan but, as important, the cost of appeasement. Reagan ended Soviet repression, but not before the "beast"--as the film terms it--claimed millions of lives and enslaved millions more. Détente never freed anyone. Reagan freed a billion people.

From the grainy footage of Bolshevism, Stalinism and Nazism right up to the late 1980s, when hard-line Soviet generals were pressing for a "first strike," the film reminds us that evil is part of the human condition. Reagan pursued his mission believing at his core that "evil is powerless if the good are unafraid."
Were it not for Lenin's view that "of all the arts, the cinema is the most important" and Reagan's startling good looks, communism might never have had to tangle with the unyielding president. During a 1946 labor strike heavily infiltrated by communists, Reagan felt Marxism's heavy boot, an experience that would permanently set him against tyranny. This was among the earliest displays of the plain-spoken Reagan's unwavering public manner. Others cowered, but he never did.

From this Hollywood experience Reagan understood that the Soviets were strongest when they smelled fear. Later history, the film reminds us, bears this out. When Kennedy "sought dialogue," Khrushchev "saw weakness." Castro and the Soviets chased Kennedy out of the Bay of Pigs and, during the Cuban missile crisis, extracted a U.S. pledge never to try to help free Cuba again. To Reagan, accommodation of Soviet domination was deal-making with slave masters. In 1964, he warned that a showdown was inevitable. "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth." Yet two decades more would pass before he would get his chance to stand up to Soviet tyranny.

"Détente," Reagan famously quipped, "is what a farmer has with his turkey until Thanksgiving Day." And no leader better personified the West's policy of appeasement than Jimmy Carter. He sought to "bring down tensions" and reduce the "arrogance" of American power. The Soviets walked all over him--in Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Africa, Afghanistan and Poland.

Two months after he took office, Reagan survived an assassination attempt. He became convinced that God had spared him for a divine mission: to put an end to the Soviet Union. Again, the film graphically fills in what pop culture easily forgets: "The gloves came off" and a small dedicated inner circle of trusted Reaganites put in play a four-part strategy of intelligence, materiel, ideas and money designed to bring the Soviets to their knees.

Among the milestones along Reagan's path to victory: a spiritual bond with Polish Pope John Paul II, also badly wounded by a would-be assassin. Solidarity was a promising crack in Soviet power and Reagan was "determined to see it succeed."

Derision of the 40th president was a pastime of the American elite. But the Russians weren't laughing. Then came the closer: the strategic defense initiative. A clip of Carl Sagan mocking the president makes the point about Reagan's status in establishment circles. But when the cameras switch to former Soviets, we hear a far different view. Reagan's resolve and SDI set off a crisis in the Kremlin. When Reagan met Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, the Soviet leader read off a litany of concessions he would offer in exchange for the termination of Star Wars. Reagan refused, Mr. Gorbachev threatened and Reagan famously stood up and ended the meeting.

The film frames that final showdown with the perfect biblical analogy: The devil had taken Reagan to the mountaintop and offered a world of spoils, from peace prizes to popular acclaim and a glamorous place in history. To reject it took more than guts. It took a man who put freedom ahead of his own glory.

This is not a biography but the story of a man who faced off against the 20th century's "heart of darkness" and won. As former KGB officer Oleg Kalugin explains, "He overcame the culture of fear because he refused to live by it."

Ms. O'Grady edits The Wall Street Journal's Americas column.

 

that song rocks .
peace love tranquility dudes

 

Peace is possible. No matter what you say to me, I'll still believe that world peace is possible. It might take many generations of people to achieve it, but it is possible.

As Gandhi once said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

Yes, there are always going to be people who are going to stand in the way of world peace. But if everyone comes together and we break down all the barriers keeping us from loving eachother, we will achieve world peace.

I can understand where the "Islamofascists" are coming from. They feel that we are a threat to their culture. I don't particularly agree with their philosophy, but I understand where they are coming from.

I may sound like a pansy, but I don't think we should fight violence with violence. I think we should fight violence with understanding and compromise.

I believe that everyone, it may be very deep down, but I believe everyone has a beautiful, compassionate soul within them. And if we can touch their souls somehow we can fix this whole mess.

The time for that might not be now, but I believe someday that will be possible. Right now, there is so much violence and hatred in the world, I don't think anyone knows where to begin fixing it.

It's kind of hard to explain my view on this. It's more of a feeling that you have in your soul, than a belief.

But violence has been our refuge for so long that it might take hundreds of years to get rid of it. As I said earlier, the time for peace might not be now. We are in the midst of terrorism and the so-called "war on terror" and we might have to resort violence to solve it.

 

WildFlower~
I agree with what you are saying in rebuttle to that FS...whatever guy. Violence is never an answer to solving a problem. Peace can resolve many things and what ever president says that war is the only answer is not thinking about other alteratives. THere were people who were against WW2. Peaceniks back then and even farther! If we, those who are pro-peace, work together we can help get the message across. If you get into a fight with a spouse or sibling would you hit them or wish war upon them? No...you peacefully resolve the solution. Peace to WildFlower and keep on truckin.
~Laurel

 

FSU along your lines of peace will get us no where, where the fuck is violence getting us. more fucking violence, each war more "terrorists / freedom fighters" are getting more and more pissed off ready to plan another attack. and in each war this will carry on happening, the more the oppresed are oppresses the sooner it is that they will rise up and fight with violence because acording to you, peace will get them no where they must fight if they want justice.

2 sides fighting for "Justice" each causing more injustice for the other to then need to fight out against, it doesn't have an end. you can carry on fighting till every one is dead if you like in which case sign back up get your self on the front line and join in for it is the only way you will ever see justice.

 

There is no justice. The world is headed for a big bad time. Sorry to say it, but some asshole will probably push the button and........

 

That is if we look at this time in a negative light. If we realize there is no hope for peace or at least steps toward this then there will be only death and destruction. However if we hold stead fast and together as one and keep doing good karma then it shall not go unnoticed. When its dark we do not cry in hope of no light...we light a match and let the sunshine in...have faith, lean on one another and all is not lost.

 

The power of a voice of the people will bring peace in this crazy world. Keep on
speaking little Bro we can do it .

 

Amen Brother!

 

"If you want peace, prepare for war." Winston Churchill

 

PEACE...LOVE...Peace...Love...pEACE...lOVE

 

We need more hippies in the world to promote peace and not war!!!

 

147 posts for eating brownies and only 151 for peace.Is eating brownies as important as peace?One wonders.