I think that is more the message LW wanted you to take away.
Pretty much, thanks for that well-done post
If that doesnt happen, welp, I'll just have to hope we'll still be here when the next power transition comes into being, so people can have another shot.
Fingers crossed no WWIII. At most, 8 years, no WWIII.
@LW: I agree, but it seems nobody knows (or agrees on) a way to fight said enemy. The west is still a bunch of idiots with multiple solutions that are ineffectualy thrown at multiple things, while also taking time to take stabs at each other. The question is, will the huge orangutan in the room (carefuly nudged by the few clever people with power and influence) break the stalemate?
I have no idea, so until then, I will take refuge in the hue.
Probably the first and easiest would be to stop treating Muslims like they're all one people and instead start treating them like equals. In the West you take a look at Christians and you begin categorizing them down to the individual atom, taking into all considerations from sects to schisms, regions to nationality and locality, but when dealing with Islam all Muslims get treated as just "Muslims." This has had disastrous effects where Muslims from various schools of interpretation or from around the world have been allowed to fall under one sole authority, the West has not really noticed that Bangladeshi Muslims started adopting Arab customs and interpretations because it can't tell the difference between the two. This has been disastrous owing to the sheer volume of extremist clerics coming from Arabia, I kekled when the Germans didn't find it suspicious that Saudi Arabia was building mosques in their country for the refugees, but spent no money on churches, schools or hospitals, or gave any aid, or indeed, housed refugees in their own nation.
Who could've guessed what their intentions were what a shocking surprise. In typical stupid fashion Merkel responded by banning fashion, so I concur with you, the West really seems determined to kill itself with style
Which enemy are we talking about?
ISIS? They're not something you can actually respect. Sure, one might respect an enemy for their prowess or <insert some character trait that would fit a warrior>, but it's not something that is politically palatable. Whether we are being ineffective towards ISIS is up for debate though.
Political concerns are valid, especially when dealing with a group that is seeking legitimacy in order to become a state-entity. That is where I think it is worth separating "respecting an enemy" from "paying respects to an enemy". A bay12 example would be in the ol' Yurop threads of yore, I remember giving all the evidence that ISIS were infiltrating Europe amongst the mass human flow, everyone just joked about how they were stupid goatfuckers who couldn't achieve anything.
Worth emphasizing, I had emphasis that infiltrating Europe was their own stated goal, that their fighters had been caught infiltrating Europe, and that ISIS fighters had already infiltrated Europe - people still laughed it off, because they were a disrespected enemy. The impression was that they were an army of hobo virgins who slept with goats and had no skills.
Heck, I remember making this in 2015:
P.s. if ISIS is not as uneducated and idiotic as you believe, you will not find them - especially with no border checks, you will never know.
People responded to this with top bants about a grand conspiracy of Mohammedan assassins with sexy beards. Whilst hilarious, I think it underscores what happens when you don't respect your enemy. They are stupid goatfuckers, ergo we are safe,
ignore the warning signs,
nothing will go wrong.
Then you've got to respect who ISIS fighters are. Thousands of men and women leaving safety, good jobs, well-educated, good lives leaving with their family or embarking on suicide attacks to kill the people whom they belong to, or kill innocent people thousands of miles away they've never met before or had quarrel with.
Stuff like this is hilarious but Westerners don't ask serious questions as to why so many Muslims are violently rejecting liberal society whereas their forefathers were content. Why does someone reject Higher Education, good pay, tolerant multicultural society and sexual liberalism, seeking instead to eradicate it by swordtip? There's gonna be those that just want to have adventure, sex slaves and warfare but they aren't more than a significant minority and brush over all of the jihadi brides, or the doctors, scientists, media, IT and other support staff ISIS managed to recruit from the West. Especially since ISIS itself isn't all that important, there won't be much use in destroying the entity if it is simply replaced by numerous successor entities founded by all its former veterans who have returned home to recruit in the West's ever-growing populations, one in which the vacuum of any greater unity or fraternity leaves open to strong movements. I was most amused reading the story of one girl who felt like she was being an edgy rebel by wearing the burqa, it wasn't so funny after she flew to Syria for example.
Then there are the similarities, whilst Western liberals have spent their time checking privileges and warning of muh toxic masculinities, convinced that ISIS fighters are the penultimate evil - it doesn't help at all when it comes to formulating a plan of action in destroying the appeal of ISIS. The appeal of being a hero, a rebel, warrior, a ghazi, of fighting - without providing an alternative to this, ISIS will continue to be a powerful beacon for young, very bored Muslim men, who are not given into the material distractions of the West. Which is an issue since the same people who cannot comprehend this are the same people in the West who push for millions of young Muslim men to arrive but then find they have no idea how to deal with them; with all valid concerns of this policy being disregarded as the realm of another "stupid, ignorant enemy": the right wing.
We need friendship and love in this day and age. Not the hippy crap, the toxic kind
Russia? Sure, we could respect them on some level, and they are trying to seek respect as a global power, but at the same time, they're being rather belligerent. As far as being ineffective, yeah, the West has been pretty reluctant to respond heavily to Russia and we could definetly have done better.
Like I said before, there may come a point where the West will have to kill many Russians; that does not mean one cannot respect them. They want to defend their world as much as we want to defend ours
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