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The Forum > Article Comments > The dark face of absolute liberty > Comments

The dark face of absolute liberty : Comments

By Bill Calcutt, published 24/4/2013

Many more deaths occur in the US due to gun ownership than terrorism, but all the resources are directed at terrorists.

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if making comparisons about danger the mothers womb is by far ahead of all others.
Posted by runner, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 2:25:11 PM
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This is an interesting article. In many respects the key paragraph is the third to last one. In understanding postwar American foreign policy one has to have regards to important cultural aspects of moon America. One of these is the notion of "exceptional ism" by which the Americans proceed on the basis that ordinary principles governing international relations do not apply to them. Thus, they advance arguments that they are entitled to attack other nations per-emptively, outside the constraints of international law. They see no irony in regularly issuing threats to the enemy du jour yet reacting badly when a nation such as North Korea issues outlandish threats against the US. There are many other examples such as threats against Iran, or Syria or Venezuela.

Not surprisingly this conduct at the international level is reflected in local behaviour.

Another important point in the history of recent public outrages such as the assassination of the two Kennedy brothers, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 etc etc is that they are immediately followed by increases in the budgets of military and quasi military authorities, and a further erosion of what little remains of civil liberties and constitutional rights in the US. The US is now, by most objective measures, close to being a Police State. The removal of Habeas Corpus protections in the NDAA last year is a clear illustration of that point.

Yet despite this, despite the well documented examples of the US as the world's leading terrorist nation, despite the recent report (barely referred to in the Oz media) of the US as a leading practitioner of torture around the world, Americans still cling to the absurd belief that they are a beacon of liberty and justice for all, and entitled to impose their version of democracy on the world, by force if necessary.
Posted by James O'Neill, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 2:59:03 PM
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Many more deaths occur in the US due to gun ownership than terrorism, but all the resources are directed at terrorists.
Bill Calcutt,
So ? Is this supposed to throw us in some form or another ? The right way to make such a statement is because of so many resources being allocated to to the fight against terrorism there are more deaths due to gun ownership. Give it a moments thought if those resources weren't allocated against terrorism.
Posted by individual, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 3:56:09 PM
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Absolute liberty might have a dark face but the darkest face of an eternal night resides with the goal of all control freak Nirvanaists. That of the crushing heel of do-good statist control freaks as it Progessively morphs into Stalinism, Maoism and any of the the other experiments (catastrophes) from the 2 centuries before.
Posted by McCackie, Saturday, 27 April 2013 8:38:41 AM
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I think it is a bit of a stretch to compare deaths from terrorism to deaths by suicide. People who without a moment’s notice, are, against their will, taken from their loved ones and the joy of life itself, compared to those who, after deliberation and time to put their affairs in order, decide that the miseries of their current existence no longer exceeds that happiness they used to get from life.

“when we try to comprehend why American citizens regularly resort to indiscriminate large-scale violence against innocent civilians…”
It’s not that regular when we remember there are 300 million Americans. Also the implication is that the perpetrators of these atrocities are somewhat normal Americans influenced by their constitution and the approaches to foreign affairs taken by their government. These guys are true fringe dwelling, unbalanced, odd balls vehemently castigated by 99.5% of Americans.
To use the author’s words, what is truly “remarkable” is that here in Australia ours laws deny even the principle of self defence. A person, even without a criminal record, cannot carry otherwise legal instruments with him/her if the reason is for self defence. Try carrying a baseball bat in the boot of your car or mace in your handbag and see what happens to you. Yet policies like these, as well as our recent loss of political free speech, are supported by millions of Australians, albeit not a majority. Perhaps the author might better spend his time on researching Australia’s political and cultural history.
Posted by Edward Carson, Saturday, 27 April 2013 3:00:40 PM
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