...problem is I've not supported a number of wars in the past, and
they didn't turn out nearly as badly in practical terms -- they
sorta worked from .uk's point of view, we didn't actually
officially lose any of them (I wasn't around for vietnam, and
anyway .uk didn't take part in that one) -- as my doom laden
apocalyptic imaginings led me to expect. At judging the likely
outcome of wars, I frankly suck, and you'll likely be glad to know
I've anticipated five of the last zero Great Depressions as
well.
That this war is living up (down?) to my nightmares is actually
rather a surprise given that track record. So I can see at least
one place where 'liberal hawks' might have been come from, at least
the ones who hadn't been hawks on previous wars.
If the evidence shows that your past judgement about the success or
failure of some course of action is generally faulty -- with your
errors consistantly falling on this side of expecting failure --
you might well decide the next time that course of action is
proposed that you're going lean over backwards to think up reasons
why the course of action will succeed. Trying to correct for your
obvious proven bias you see. I think that is the sort of thing that
people who think of themselves as or aspire to being rationalists,
thinking rational thoughts, are likely to do.
Of course that's an argument about practicality and judgement of
practicality. None of it speaks to the issue of whether a
particular war is moral. This one looked and felt to me to be the
most utterly unjust war it was seriously proposed .uk should take
part in my life thus far.
Given that it seemed to me a success would be an even greater
disaster _morally_ than a failure I was able squelch any concerns
about my judgement of the practicalities. If however I *hadn't*
made that moral judgement and had to convince myself to be against
the war for purely practical reasons -- even given the proven
bugfuck insanity and dishonesty of Bush and co -- then the 'lean
over backwards, because I'm consistently wrong on this' position
would have been very very tempting.
Whether I would have managed to hold to the same moral conviction
if I had been exposed to the full might of the US news networks'
propaganda, and had I been an American, making 9/11 a lot closer
and more shocking, and having the weird cultural baggage of
genuflection to the judgement US Presidents, and been subject a
hell of a lot more peer pressure...
...well I'm not so sure *my* moral fibre would have been up to it.
Tho' granted many Americans moral fibre was.
Hopefully I would value my irrationality enough that I wouldn't
have felt the need override my gut, but frankly I just don't konw.
*despairing shrug*
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