Obama orders Guantanamo closure

[Thorin]

"them", "their", "these people"...  Just to be clear, what group of people are you referring to?  The group of 200+ men detained at the Guantanamo Bay detainment center, or a vague group of millions of people living on the other side of the globe?

Also, in regards to your comments about "human nature" and projecting our values onto others, watch the clip where Stewart interviews an actual interrogator, and see what the interrogator has to say about it: http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/interviews-a-z/interviews-a/#clip120488.

[Darren Dirt]

And 'twere Jon Stewart, not Stephen Colbert!  I even found the video!

Matthew Alexander (not his real name) is a fourteen year Air Force vet who served as an interrogator in Iraq, and he's written a book called How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. Last night, Alexander made an appearance on The Daily Show...

...which is why Colbert didn't do as many wisecracks as usual.

"them", "their", "these people"...  Just to be clear, what group of people are you referring to?  The group of 200+ men detained at the Guantanamo Bay detainment center, or a vague group of millions of people living on the other side of the globe?

On that point, keep in mind that 99.44% of "the world" is simply Average Jo trying to put food on the table, spend time with the kids, and laugh at familiar characters on weekly sitcoms (or whatever other form of entertainment acts as an outlet to release their suibjective stress response from day to day life)... most of the folks living "over there" do not hold to all of the beliefs of their government leadership, let alone the fanatics who act out extremist beliefs (whether via violence, terrorism, or appearances on talk shows). Same goes for "us", otherwise Europeans and Asians would think all North Americans are France-hating beer-drinking angry folks who aren't smarter than a 4th grader and naively want to -- but lack the talent to -- be a famous singer.

Listen to the lyrics of Bad Religion's "Sorrow" (also that fantastic Muse song, "And how can we win? When fools can be Kings" ). Certain parts of it really hit it home, most of the sorrow in this world comes not from the individual men and women, but those who order around those men and women (at gunpoint, or at least with an implied gun). Most of us just want to do our own thing, not bother anyone, and certainly not wipe out any other folks that we've never met (whether the reason is religion, politics, skin color, or favorite sports team).








PS:

Many of them simply do not think as we do. We are the devil and simply must die. And even if you wipe their ass and kiss it afterwords, they will still hate you simply because you do not believe as they do.

So I think neither a bleeding heart liberal, nor a bone crushing conservative approach will work on some of these people. What will.. God knows.

I presume Mags is talking about "many of them" meaning many of those at Gitmo. If not, well Mags, at the recent Henry Rollins show he shared his experiences that confirm that, even in those most dangerous (so-called "evil") countries most of the average folks in the streets and marketplace are friendly, fun-loving, and willing to share stories with a stranger, even one who identifies themself as an American. They aren't interested in being violent outlets for their government leaders' fanatical hate.