Comments on: War for Votes http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/ A graduate student in mathematics and a modern languages major take on politics and culture with the following aspirational motto: ‘Deregulate your mind.’ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:54:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: John T. Kennedy http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/#comment-671 John T. Kennedy Thu, 14 Jul 2005 16:45:00 +0000 http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/#comment-671 <p>I'm not cynical.</p> I’m not cynical.

]]> By: shonk http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/#comment-576 shonk Tue, 05 Jul 2005 13:57:57 +0000 http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/#comment-576 <p><i>I’m not sure that “an international crisis in which the United States is involved in direct military activity that results in violence” is a very good definition of war in the first place, starting with the ambiguity surrounding the term “United States” and the expression “military activity that results in violence.”</i></p> <p>I would tend to agree...which is another reason I don't think the argument really stands up very well.</p> I’m not sure that “an international crisis in which the United States is involved in direct military activity that results in violence” is a very good definition of war in the first place, starting with the ambiguity surrounding the term “United States” and the expression “military activity that results in violence.”

I would tend to agree…which is another reason I don’t think the argument really stands up very well.

]]> By: Curt http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/#comment-569 Curt Tue, 05 Jul 2005 06:06:45 +0000 http://www.sellingwaves.com/2005/07/05/war-for-votes/#comment-569 <p>I'm not sure that “an international crisis in which the United States is involved in direct military activity that results in violence” is a very good definition of war in the first place, starting with the ambiguity surrounding the term "United States" and the expression "military activity that results in violence." Launching a few cruise missiles into Afghanistan or incinerating a large portion of Mogadishu while trying to evacuate a helicopter full of Marines might constitute acts of war, but one would have to stretch mightily to consider them by themselves wars. Hell, by the standard of the above definition the U.S. could be said to have been at war with China when those two spy planes went down. It seems to me at the very least that there has to be a certain massiveness of scale, and taking an all-embracing definition of war is bound to simply normalize it. </p> I’m not sure that “an international crisis in which the United States is involved in direct military activity that results in violence” is a very good definition of war in the first place, starting with the ambiguity surrounding the term “United States” and the expression “military activity that results in violence.” Launching a few cruise missiles into Afghanistan or incinerating a large portion of Mogadishu while trying to evacuate a helicopter full of Marines might constitute acts of war, but one would have to stretch mightily to consider them by themselves wars. Hell, by the standard of the above definition the U.S. could be said to have been at war with China when those two spy planes went down. It seems to me at the very least that there has to be a certain massiveness of scale, and taking an all-embracing definition of war is bound to simply normalize it.

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