Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!looking!uunet!visix!news
From: jim@visix.com (Jim Edwards-Hewitt)
Newsgroups: trial.talk.politics.peace
Subject: Re: Peace?  Yes, fight for peace, among other things.
Message-ID: <1991Feb28.201052.3648@visix.com>
Date: 28 Feb 91 20:10:52 GMT
References: <58120@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <2247@njitgw.njit.edu> <1991Feb19.060633.11270@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <10913@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> <10358@ncar.ucar.edu> <1991Feb25.170244.2091@visix.com> <10383@ncar.ucar.edu>
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gary@ncar.ucar.EDU (Gary Strand) writes:
>   So, the whole war between the Shiites and the Sunnis was due to
>   colonialism?  Colonialism played a part, of course, but the similarities
>   between the peoples of the Middle East are greater than the differences.
>   For example, the strongest hatred is between Arabs and Jews, when in fact
>   both speak very similar languages, have similar religions (same roots) and
>   so on. 
Do you really think that "Me and my group versus the Other and Its
group" explains the wars between the Arabs and Jews better than the
fact that Israel is essentially a colony of European Jews?  I agree
that Jews and the Arabs have much in common, but just because the
Israelis are descended from a tribe native to the area doesn't make
them the *same* as a tribe native to the area. 

>           They choose to fight, because of tribalism (which *doesn't* mean
>   "primitive", it means "Me and my group versus the Other and Its group"),
>   which explains better the long history of war in that area, which predates
>   colonialism by many centuries.

I didn't say tribalism *meant* "primitive", I said it has a
connotation of "primitive".  Which it does.  Would you say the cause
of the long history of war in Europe is "tribalism"?  "Me and my group
versus the Other and Its group" *describes* the history of war in the
Middle East because it describes war anywhere.  It doesn't *explain*
anything, because all it says is "There are different groups that
don't get along, so they fight."

--
Jim Edwards-Hewitt                                       jim@visix.com
Visix Software Inc.                                ...!uunet!visix!jim
__
And remember -- your guess is *never* as good as mine.
                                                          -- Dr. Science