Oh, For Fuck's Sake

Three fucking years ago I wrote this:

We won't really understand how the rest of the world works until we shed this notion that we are automatically the GOOD GUYS and anyone else that doesn't think so is automatically the BAD GUYS. That's a simple enough point that I would assume was not debuted just now. But it's also important for us to recognize that the "bad guys" don't see themselves as the bad guys, like some old Spy vs. Spy "oh, you got me, good guy!" comic strip. They think they ARE the good guys, which we as a country seem to always miss. They're not thinking "the USA is so great, we should play the parts of evil just to be evil and antagonize them as much as possible."

Now, either side thinking they're the good guy doesn't make it so. But until we really start asking ourselves what different peoples from different parts of the world really want and why, we'll always be stuck in our childish "We're Luke Skywalker and they're Darth Vader" nonsense which doesn't seem to really be accomplishing much of anything.

And today we see the rest of the world catching up as to how terrorists see the world:

Ballen interviewed 43 Saudi jihadist militants at [a Saudi deprogramming] facility, which offers psychological counseling and vocational training. Over time, Ballen says, he came to have a better understanding of how extremists see the world. "Within their belief system, what they're doing makes sense," he says. "They really believe ... they're doing good in the world. They're fighting for good. They're doing the right thing. They see themselves as saintly. ... And I think that's what we're missing in this entire war on terror.

I mean, for fuck's sake; I don't even know why I bother with you people anymore.  I'm reminded of Brothatime!! when we were kids and he'd admonish me, saying that if I'd only accept he was always right, I'd save a massive amount of time in my life.  Why I'm not in charge of running shit in this world is a mystery to me. (getting my Utz party mix chips pony keg)

On a related note, THIS GUY HERE writes about the danger of meeting "the enemy" as a writer:

The only thing that might take him away from me is meeting him, something I was threatened with a few years ago in Chicago, but something I avoided like the plague.  

Why? Because were I ever to meet him, the odds are that I would like him (the public record suggests that he is an admirable fellow) and if I liked him it would be hard for me to continue beating up on him. (Despite the proverb, familiarity does not breed contempt.) In fact I would immediately regret, and want to take back, all the nasty things I had said with such zest.

This is inane to me.  I have plenty of friends who read Xmastime and vociferously disagree with me; two of the biggest voices of opposition on Xmastime are The Gnat and Marley, both close, personal friends of mine.  And while of course I read what they write while shaking my head and thinking "are they out of their goddam minds?", I'm also smart enough to know that as they're reading me, they're doing the exact same thing - at no point do I picture them cackling in their underground labs saying "Xmastime is right, but I need to be the evil dichotomy in this case and dispute him!"  Assuming one person's thinking to be crazy is a guarantee that they think the same of yours.  In the meantime, you should be very comfortable to meet them and scratch your balls throughout Rudy, for chrissake.  Yes, unfortunately, they're human, and not some phantasmic cloud of evil.