Re: Michael Berg is a Sick Man Blinded by Ideology

First, my friend Paul writes a reflection (ellipsis in original):

From your weblog entry about Michael Berg:

My son's work still goes on. Where there was one peacemaker before, I now see and have heard from thousands of peacemakers. Nick was a man who acted on his beliefs. We, the people of this world, now need to act on our beliefs. We need to let the evildoers on both sides of the Atlantic know that we are fed up with war. We are fed up with the killing and bombing and maiming of innocent people. We are fed up with the lies. Yes, we are fed up with the suicide bombers, and with the failure of the Israelis and Palestinians to find a way to stop killing each other. We are fed up with negotiations and peace conferences that are entered into on both sides with preset conditions that preclude the outcome of peace. We want world peace now.

I get the impression that people like Michael Berg have never set foot on a grade school playground, where there are a lot of kids just trying to get along, but there is also a bully who goal is to intimidate everybody else and steal their lunch money. On Michael Berg's playground, when the bully walks up and says he wants your money or he and his pals are going to beat the snot out of you, I guess you can just walk away from him, and the simple action of not wanting a confrontation will bring about a peaceful resolution, and the bully will see the error of his ways and will leave you alone.

Well, it never worked for ME in grade school. I tried that once, and sure enough, I got the snot beat out of me, and my lunch money taken away. What I really wish I'd done was to turn and smack the bully right in the nose. Not only would he have run away crying, but the other kids on the playground would have seen that they could stand up to the bully and not be afraid.

On Michael Berg's playground, you can apparently ward off a bully simply by ignoring him. If one kid's goal is just to be left alone and the other's goal is to beat up other kids, then there will always be fights on the playground.

Conflicts between nations are obviously more complex than fights between children, but the principle is no different. If one group's goal is to seek peace, and another group's goal is the destruction of the first group, then there is no common ground upon which peace can be negotiated.

Peace is not achieved by wishing it to be so. It can only occur when peace-loving peoples stand up and destroy those who do not desire to seek peace.

Maybe, Michael Berg never went out for recess when he was a kid. Too bad…he'd have gotten more of an education there than anything his textbooks would have taught.

Second, in case you were wondering what I meant by Michael Berg's "ideology", a fellow blogger kindly referred me to this list of endorsers of an agitprop event sponsored by (the blatantly Communistic & unabashedly America-hating) International A.N.S.W.E.R. organization. There you will find this entry:

Michael S. Berg, Teacher, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, Inc., West Chester, PA

The current list does not contain that entry. But, note the date of the list posted at Free Republic: 03/07/2004 10:02:01 PM EST. That's long before the Berg name became a household word. (IOW, there was no reason to fake his name onto the Freep list.)

Excuse me for being blunt... but, all things considered, it's not hard to imagine why Nick Berg preferred to be on the other side of the world.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 05/27/04 07:46:11 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.