Letters to the Editor
rightly
Published Letters: 38 Editor's Choice: 2
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What Kind of War was that?
[Read the article: The blind giant of the Middle East]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Lebanon disaster (LWII) was the result of the democritization of Israel at a time of imminent danger. Israel began to believe its own propaganda. Israel forgot that it will lose any war of attrition. It began to believe that Middle East politics had come out of the sixth century into a new socialistic prosperity. It was not only blind, it was deaf. It did not hear the sounds of ancient tribes who cared nothing for the lives of Palestinians.
Israel was civilized. It was a democracy. It forgot that no nation is self sufficient. Its security required equality in international relations, something it would never gain without military supremacy and the willingness to use it.
Western dependency left the leadership weak and ineffectual. They committed the nation to a war of contrition, an extention of the guilt felt by the humiliation of the holocaust. This was a sense of remorse for the position of Palestinian refugees, a fatal error following the war for existence. The Arab League and its later constituancies had only one goal, the elimination of a Jewish State at any cost.
It would be realistic to begin removing land from the control of hostile forces. If one hectare of land had been taken for each injured and ten hectares for each dead Israeli there would not be a problem in Gaza. If a trench was dug through the northern and southern borders of Gaza to the sea, there would be no problem with Gaza. If negotiations were between Jordan and Israel for the division of Transjordan, there would be no Palestinian refugee problem.
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The Certainty Epidemic
[Read the article: The certainty epidemic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Recent findings: (Science Daily, Feb.22, 2008), Weill Cornell Medical College, indicate that long-distance signaling in developing neurons may be the 'hidden layer' of conceptualization the author is seeking. There is additional evidence that genetic tags inside neurons involved in specific memory are activated when that memory is retrieved. Memories are associated with the emotional centers of the brain and this network associates memories with pain or pleasure, fear or comfort before they are associated with specific recall.
The problem is that all memories are "real" even when they are based on our limited perceptions of reality. Conviction is not truth. It is the security of successful behavior within a limited cultural learning process. Reality becomes the acceptable standard. It is no more than an appropriate opinion within a social environment. Fact is no more than a predominance of evidence. Reality is not a democratic process that requires a majority decision.
Belief is an attitude promoted by repeated successful learned behavioral responses within a culture. It is an emotionally sustained memory. That the reaction to any belief is an overwhelming emotional defense of that belief is proof of the source of belief.
The reactions to this article exhibit the emotional defense expected in rejecting the statements. Personality, the sum of beliefs, becomes the center of discussion rather than the objective consideration of the ideas represented.
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Brand Aid
[Read the article: Brand-aid]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Leave it to the marketing expert to fall back on focus groups and polls. The presidency has become a popularity contest without substance. Our confused primary - caucus, everyone - no one representation is a feel good response to a revulsion by the electorate, an anti-establishment vote.
We would do better to take advantage of modern scientific advances and vote for the body parts, the personality, the race, gender, of the candidate, then add experience to the list.
Should this biotech piggy go to market? It would do better than the hit or miss choices we have made.
We are able to match genetic sequencing to physical traits. We can select from among these the subjects with intelligence, education, training and experienc those best suited to serve. Then the political parties can choose a number of candidates that best represent their views.
These candidates must pass review by an electoral collage to determine the honesty, the beliefs and convictions of each candidate. A lie dector and an MRI can indicate the kind of thinking and the areas of the brain involved,
Of course, as the butcher asked the customer who wanted to smell every chicken to see if it was fresh, "Could you pass this test".
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How photos support your own reality
[Read the article: How photos support your own "reality"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The title should be 'polling for facts". Most people are convinced that there is a God, more who believe that there is a God conspiracy and some who believe that the unprovable does not exist. Perception reveals miracles, statues in tears, signs, omens, images on toasted cheese, and other out of mind expeiences.
It is time to stop giving credence to hallucinations or irrational unsupported statements promoted for the best of reasons, that the participant has found a community of deviants who accept the madness, and a group in which a very nice living can be made by making ridiculous statements in public.