He Said, She Said

Actually, it's really "Iran said", "the UK said" but that doesn't sound as smooth.

What does sound smooth is the way that both Iran and and the UK are confident that the British soldiers who were taken prisoner by Iran in defense of an infringement on their borders were either in Iraqi waters or not, depending on whose side you're on.

But let's be realistic. This is not about 15 sailors - much as they are human souls and deserve the respect, dignity and freedom of other humans (not that anyone's really concerned about their humanity...just saying) - this is about political maneuvering, and it's fucking obvious.

In fact, let's give this the latest Totally Fucking Obvious Award.

But, I digress. The real issue here is Iran's continuing efforts to assert its sovereignty, especially with respect to the West and all those attempting to control them through the UN Security Council.

And even this nonsense from the UN, preventing Iran from enriching uranium, is just an excuse for the culture war that is happening with increased tension and intensity every day. I have been hammering this point since my first post on a related topic, and I will continue to do so until I see some glimmer of hope in our foreign policy.

I've been accused of being a relativist. That is completely incorrect. I am an absolutist just as much as the Neo-Con hawks are, I just believe in a different set of absolutes. But I'm also willing to tolerate this planet with people that I view as insane, because I'm sure I appear that way to plenty of others - especially those that know me fairly well.

My point is this: we have to all live on this planet, whether we get along or not, and the best way to coexist is to respect the similarity in the fundamental values across all cultures, religions, nationalities, etc. I'd bet my life on the fact that Iran's ideological propaganda sounds a lot like ours, once you replace all the Allahs with Gods, and all the Irans with Americas (and don't get me started on that!).

And I really don't see the point of sending one person to kill another person on the grounds of morality, or ideological differences, or, in the case of Islam v Judeo-Christianity, a vast separation in language (and that's all!).

For the sake of argument, let's compare the basic structure of both of these religions:

1. Absolutist = a single divine power determines the path of all things.
2. Hierarchical = the doctrine is organized by levels of power and status.
3. Male Dominant = self-explanatory.
4. Death-Centered = the rewards of a good life come after death.
5. Glorified Martyrdom = one blessed human communicated with the divine, and died.

I'm not anti-Christian, anti-Judaism, or anti-Islam. I'm in favor of all means for humans to connect with a sense of the divine. If this is what works, more power to you!

But the idea that the values that come out of these belief systems are vastly different...

Let's just say I haven't seen evidence of this, and the imposition of cultural racism on foreign policy is juvenile and intolerant at best; destructive to the human race and all that is beautiful, at worst.