Afghanistan

Big article in the Sun this week on the war in Afghanistan. Reporters in several Canadian cities,including Ottawa, alternately wore pro- and anti-war-in-Afghanistan signs to gauge public reaction. Most of the "experiments" were done in the downtown cores of these cities, which in itself is usually NOT indicative of the general population. Picture left-wing types in their hemp decorated communal housing projects, and you will get the idea. From that, you should be able to determine the reactions these experiments received.

However, the issue is many Canadians have no clue what Afghanistan is all about. These people would have protested Canadian action in Rwanda had we the foresight to prevent the near genocide that occurred there. Women in Afghanistan were treated more like chattel then human beings...they were essentially "owned" by men. Of course, the Canadian women (and men too, but women should have a certain concern for the plight of these victims, you would think) who are against our continued presence in the region think little beyond what fair trade coffee shop they will patronize that afternoon.

Frankly, I have gotten to the point that I believe democracy is a bust and a la Starship Troopers (the book, by Robert A. Heinlein, not the movie) only people who have sacrificed for their country can hold political office and/or vote. Quoting Wikipedia:

The overall theme of the book is that social responsibility requires individual sacrifice. Heinlein's Terran Federation is a limited democracy with aspects of a meritocracy based on willingness to sacrifice in the common interest. Suffrage belongs only to those willing to serve their society by two years of volunteer Federal Service (there is no draft before the Bug War) -- "the franchise is today limited to discharged veterans," (ch. XII), instead of anyone ("...who is 18 years old and has a body temperature near 37 °C.". There is an explicitly made contrast to the democracies of the 20th century, which according to the novel were flawed (and collapsed) because "people had been led to believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted . . . and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears." Indeed, Dubois, one of Rico's teachers, criticizes as unrealistic the famous passage of the U.S. Declaration of Independence about "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

There is a brilliant quote from the main character in the book, Rico:

Correct morals arise from knowing what man is—not what do-gooders and well-meaning old Aunt Nellies would like him to be.

That, in a nutshell, describes the anti-war protesters. Do-gooders who have no clue about the realities of the world...whether that is the world at large, or their own personal bubble of stupidity that encases them.