Several new posts and many links

Please visit my blog, On Prisons. I am shocked and saddened by what I have been learning the last few weeks about prisons and the millions of prisoners we have abandoned to them.

On Prisons

Since we addressed the Nazis, here is color footage of Hitler's Lair

Is there a moral difference between Nazis and Communists?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100026946/is-there-a-moral-difference-between-nazis-and-communists/

I would say that Stalin and Hitler were equally evil. The Holocaust was hardly better or worse than the countless millions of landowners, Ukrainians, ordinary citizens, military officers and others who were starved to death, murdered or sent to gulags.

However, can we compare, instead, the ordinary Nazi versus the ordinary communist? Both were (or are) often motivated by misplaced ideals. Nazis were largely aware, and sometimes supportive, of the worst crimes of Hitler. Ordinary Wehrmacht members were often involved in gross murders in occupied lands. Many such soldiers were tasked with murderous activities and they wrote home about them. On the other hand, communists frequently distance themselves from the monster, Stalin, and repudiate his methods as not true communism.

As much as I disapprove of communism, I think that the ordinary Nazi in some ways was more evil than today's ordinary communist, but note that there were probably Nazis who themselves opposed (though probably quietly) Hitler's worst actions.

By the way, there were as many as 40 attempts on Hitler's life, but the most likely explanation for why they failed is that the would-be assassins usually tried to save their own lives. Thus, they would set bombs to explode after they had left, or chose to not simply walk up to Hitler and pull out a gun (if they had such access). I owe this insight to Count Miklos Banffy, d.1950, former foreign minister of Hungary and author of The Phoenix Land, published by Arcadia Books (I intend to review this excellent book on Charles Saline Books).

General Thoughts you might find useful

My first degree was in physics and my second was in law. I tended to believe that we should be rigorous in our logic when analyzing every issue, even moral and cultural ones. I also thought that we should, when making a point, sound very professional and balanced, give all of our reasons and address all counterarguments. A good example of this approach can be found in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica.

Now, however, I believe that many areas of life do not lend themselves easily to rigorous analysis, and we probably have far too little understanding and data to do that analysis even when we try. Also, I see benefits in succinctness, even to the point of leaving out one's reasoning.

Succinctness can have some tremendous benefits. If you make a profound statement that is easy to remember, then others will hear it, remember it, and test it for themselves. If they come to agree that it is true, they may well remember the statement and even remember where they found it - and come back for more!

I don't claim to use these short statements much. I tend to the other extreme.

Comments on several major world problems

Israel

Give the Palestinians and Israelis more protection from each other. Let some foreign countries put peacekeepers in Palestinian areas to stop rocket attacks or the like against Israel, but also to stop Israel from knocking over private homes or blowing up police stations whenever they feel like it.

The Iranian Bomb

Iran is the Great Persia, with 70,000,000 people and a significant civilization. When negotiating with them, realize that their ancestors ruled most of the known world (notice their names in the Bible) and were among the wealthiest and most advanced of nations. When speaking about Iran or negotiating with them, be respectful! They believe they have as much right to things as anyone else, so we should be ASKING them to refrain from going nuclear.

Islamic Extremism

Islam is big and is here to stay. A percentage of its followers are dangerous, as one would expect (this could be true of almost any human organization or religion). Obviously, we need to protect ourselves from the dangerous ones! But we also have to consider their greviances. Colonial mistreatment, support for evil dictators during the cold war, verbal offences, cultural offences and so forth. Consider this cultural offence: during the war in Iraq, when homes had to be entered, men were often bound with plastic ties. This was done IN FRONT OF their family, which, I think, was a mortal offence. Do things like this if you want to create children willing to blow themselves up!

The Population Implosion

People = prosperity, production, power. All of these things can be misused, but a lack of any of them can cause hardship or worse. Japan and many countries are going through bad economic times due to a dearth of people, particularly in the ratio of young to old. People are a most incredible and valuable resource. Some of the most prosperous and civilized places on earth were so BECAUSE they had the highest populations and population densities (such as Europe in 1700 to 1900, the USA from 1850 or so onwards, Japan, China in recent years, India in the future, and so on). High population can be a burden if the economy or other circumstances are adverse. Countries in Africa that are run by strong men dictators who ravage their own economy and are unable or unwilling to stop corruption are going to have high suffering along with their high populations. Countries with little food or water may suffer greatly due to high populations.

Climate Change

Get them to prove that man is changing the environment globably and how. Meanwhile, it makes sense to me to try to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the meantime, but not severely.

Gross Imprisonment

People are being locked away in massive numbers, but the locking away does not "fix" the perpetrators and the punishment is often excessive. Imprisonment as a punishment is often too harsh because of its extreme consequences. Flog a man for 5 minutes and he can be back to work within weeks. Imprison him for a year and he comes out a professional criminal with criminal contacts, possible no other support network, possibly not employable, possibly resourceless and homeless, and so on. People ruined by prison often don't mind prison anymore, since they are so ruined for the real world, so they no longer feel deterred. Prison tortures the mind and soul by convincing people, correctly, that no one loves them or cares about their welfare. Try spending ONE NIGHT in a cell and see how unloved you feel. People who feel rejected find it easier to abuse others. Also, prison as currectly designed ignores the need of the victim and perpetrator for restitution. Helping a perpetrator to work and make restitution would do more to deter crime and improve the mindset of criminals than any amount of imprisonment.

Observations about successful countries - this is not meant to be a thorough examination and I focused mostly on major countries.

Successful countries in recent times? This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, and reflects my limited knowledge as an American.

JAPAN

Strong points: starting around 1900, high population, high social order, educated and industrious people, sufficiently entreprenurial, isolated from potential enemies by sea.

Some accomplishments: They were able to industrialize quickly and recover from the defeat of World War II, accumulated capital rather than debt.

Negatives: They were overly aggressive, and made the mistake of imitating the evil strategies followed by the European colonial powers for centuries. Secondly, their population reached a plateau, causing them to steadily decline in relative importance and strength.

THE UNITED STATES

Strong points: starting around 1850, high population, high social order, educated and industrious people, sufficiently entreprenurial, extremely endowed with natural resources, isolated from potential enemies by sea.

Some accomplishments: strong economic growth, population growth, resisted Stalinist totalitarianism, and, for a time, accumulated capital rather than debt.

Negatives: Were cruel to native Americans, adopted cruel standards of punishment (particularly lengthy prison sentences), tend to practice being the world's policeman without bothering to understand the world, or bothering to appear empathetic, and while allaying themselves with cruel regimes and organizations (for example, the Shaw of Iran), have spent themselves into bankruptcy or near bankruptcy.

CHINA

Strong points: starting around 1980, high population, high social order, educated and industrious people, sufficiently entreprenurial, isolated from potential enemies by sea.

Some accomplishments: superb economic growth, accumulate capital rather than accumulate debt.

Negatives: have repressed their people religiously and politically.

GREAT BRITAIN

Strong points: starting around 1770, high population, high social order, educated and industrious people, sufficiently entreprenurial, isolated from potential enemies by sea.

Some accomplishments: high economic growth, numerous scientific accomplishments, martial persistence (defeating Napolean and Hitler).

Negatives: population levelled off, questionable economic policies at times.

ISRAEL

Strong points: starting around 1950, dense and growing population, high social order, educated and industrious, sufficiently entreprenurial, support from a major power (the United States),

Some accomplishments: staying in existence when surrounded by enemies, martial persistence.

Negatives: demonizing enemies and failing to have good relations with the Palestinians.

RUSSIA (nearly successful?)

Strong points: starting around 1900, large population, massive natural resources.

Some accomplishments: defeated Hitler (which was partly due to Hitler's decision to be a violent and malevolent invader rather than simply liberate the people from Stalinist rule), mostly overcame Stalinism.

Negatives: Marxist-Leninist Communism, corruption.