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?If you have ever lived in halls or a shared house, you would know how opposite of altruistic most students really are.?

My girlfriend shared a house with some students many, many, moons ago. They were always at pains to stress how working class and ?street? they were ? in the plumiest accents this side of Her Majesty! I think that was the point I began to realize what a set of utter dicks many of them were.


?You bring class and what you perceive as status into everything which means you are an inverted snob,?

Er, hold on a minute. If I were an inverted snob, wouldn?t I also be pouring scorn on the aristocracy? I don?t do that because I admire them. They mind their own business, get on with enjoying life, and don?t seek to impose their poncy class values and tastes on those in the social group beneath them. So, am I an inverted snob because I simply baulk at middleclass delusions of altruism and pretensions of solidarity with the oppressed? Am I an inverted snob because I object to being patronized and told how I should live my life and how I should treat other people by those who (unconsciously) consider themselves superior? I?m not a snob, Keith. If folks are all right with me and don?t screw with my life, and my aspirations, then I don?t screw with them.


?It certainly isn't pretentious or fake to wish that large numbers of ordinary people shouldn't lose their lives, nothing bogus about it.?

Oh, really? Then why is it that the vast majority of ordinary people don?t give the slightest dam about it? Did Bill the bus driver grab you by the arm and entreat you to take the issue up with your local MP this morning? Did Cheryl Chaver pour her heart out at Tesco?s checkout this lunchtime? Did Gavin the gasman mention he might go on hunger strike over it? No, they didn?t, did they? Because, unless it's their own family and loved ones, they don?t really give a fuck. They're not bad people, just honest, ordinary, people. This is the human condition. But, to stand out from the hoi polloi and validate yourself you have to say how concerned you are for these supposedly oppressed people, and say how awful and selfish everyone else is. This gives you a buzz, a feeling of moral superiority. You can justly stick your nose in the air and look down on the ignorant masses that don?t share (or who aren?t capable of sharing) your elevated moral principles. Because you?re better than them, aren?t you, Keith? Yes, it feels good, doesn?t it? Lording it over the lower orders while posing as their savior.



Officer Dibble

Flat_Eric wrote:

> With respect, strictlybb, you're being far too generous in your
> praise of the Iranian regime.
>
> You're right in saying that the Iranian (Persian) culture is an
> ancient and diverse one, but dead wrong if you think that the
> current regime is a true "democracy".

I never said it's a true democracy. It's a semi-democracy. Its human rights record is very poor. Then again, the US is a semi-democracy with a poor human rights record. I wouldn't support declaring war on either country.

Firstly -and most importantly- I've not read The Sun(or any other tabloid) for 6 years. Ok I may have read the sports section while visiting my sister or something but don't assume so much about my views being based around shitty UK tabloids!

Secondly, you say Iran is a pretty tolerant place. Some Iranians may well be tolerant, but when a government publicly states they are in the process of developing nuclear weapons and also say they're going to wipe another country off the map then we a have a problem.

Of course not all Iranians are fanatical, wife beating killers, but neither are all Americans weird, power hungry, evangelical capitalists. You didn't seem to point out this obvious fact.

Ok, Iran is -kind of- a democracy, but if you think they hold power over the mad Mullahs then I'd be very sceptical of this.

The Persian empire, along with the Christians, having been making war around Israel for over 2000 years, so to say this is a one sided issue, with only one side to blame, is pretty outrageous.

I'm trying to be objective while all you've done is talk up the Iranians and condemn everything America.

With the way they're talkin' here you'd think it is the last thing on their mind. George Bush says they have no intention of waring with Iran but I'm not so sure. Let's see!

In the Thirties 'ordinary people' did not give a damn about what Hitler was doing either. In the Netherlands they only started hating him from the moment the Germans took the country by surprise. In Britain when the bombs began to fall.
This does not mean Hitler was right. Neither does the fact that 'ordinary people' are not interested in the Bush & Blair war mean that Bush & Blair are right.

Personally I think the US invasion of Afghanistan was inevitable. Afghanistan had become a pirate's nest that put the whole world in danger. Bush should have left it there. The invasion of Iraq was a stupid mistake. A war with Iran would be even more stupid. Every islamite would turn against the Western world. In fact, getting on friendly terms with Iran is Bush's only way of escape from the mess he made of Iraq. This does not mean we have to like the Iranian regime, of course. (I get the shivers when I see young Iranians demonstrating for nuclear energy. When I was their age I was demonstrating against it.) It is just a matter of realism. Unfortunately Bush & Blair are living in a fancy world. I, for one, don?t feel comfortable with these men at the steering wheel.

I have never thought much about my middle-class background. But Dibble made me class conscious. I am proud to be middle-class!

Nuttin' wrong with being middle class. Over here across the big pond the middle class is getting beat up for the rich as I here might be the case there. As far as your comments on war and past wars I agree.