Ellenpoly,

I must admit a certain confusion over your question. In my opinion strength does equal security - but I am not sure about what you mean by some "alpha male" mentality. I think I understand how the pack system works among wolves, but humans are not wolves and so I lose the analogy pretty quick. Among humans strength can be intellectual as well as physical. And I really am at a loss to see the distinction between viewing strength as security vs. the "cerebral" desire to stand up and take responsibility for one's moral choices. To me, admiting personal responsibility requires a huge amount of strength, as well as emotional security, which is why we see so little of it in today's culture.

Your question about the two atomic bombs reveals a presupposition on your part - that the decision to drop one, let alone two, bombs was based on emotion and not intellect. Yet, to make such a claim is to be guilty of the most egregious of historical errors - that of reading one's own social milieu back into the lives and actions of previous generations. Yes, the results of the two bombs was ghastly. But we will never know the untold suffering that was avoided due to the fact that a frontal assault on Japan never had to occur. Just look at the casualty lists from the assault on Iwo Jima, both from Japanese and American losses. And that was one small little island many miles from the homeland. Pres. Truman had an almost unfathomable decision to make. With either decision thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people would die. He chose to spare the lives of his sailors and soldiers and marines, the ones who would have died if he chose not to drop the bombs. I see that as an intellectual decision of a commander in chief who was elected to preserve and defend the constitution of the United States. So you see emotion, I see a studied and calculated decision.

I also am curious of your description of "Saddam as madman" being rhetoric. Have you seen any pictures of what Saddam did to the Kurdish people? Have you not seen or heard accounts of what he did to his enemies - even his own son-in-laws? I don't have to be told by Pres. Bush that Saddam or Osama Bin Laden are madmen. Color photographs and two holes where huge skyscrapers once stood pretty much convinced me. Evil is embodied in various forms, sometimes it is in mass hysteria, sometimes it is in the rantings of a madman like a Hitler, Hussein or Bin Laden.

As I said to start off with, I am confused as to the drift of your question. Maybe some more specifics could enlighten me as to what your conclusion is, or maybe what you think would be a good alternative. As often as not, I have discovered that I am in agreement with the overall gist of an argument, although I may disagree on some minor detail or two.

Thanks for the post,

Freightdawg