Quote:
|
But, the distinction I'm focusing on is between those who do and those who think/talk -- between an attitude of action and one of passivity and procrastination. Think Treebeard and the Ent's council. While I think every action should be well-conceived, I think that taking action is important...And the attitude of action is certainly an American attitude
|
Well I rather think of Sauraman the White, leader of the Council and the free (and good) peoples who, upon acting impetuously and unilaterally, is seduced by the power and thus sucumbs to the Evil Eye. Later he finds himself besieged by the Ents, his stronghold torn down by them and left to repent at leisure. Eventually he is cast down as head of the White Council and finally he dies a treacherous death at the hands of the 'faithful' servant that he bullied for so long...
Quote:
|
I sincerely believe, without seeing evidence to the contrary, that the issue was to get them trained, not to get them trained in any evil way.
|
I have no doubt that this is true - yet who actually does the training really does matter. A 'bad' police force creates resentment and leads to riots - I'm sure you havn't forgotten the LA riots anymore than us Brits have forgotten similar scenes in Brixton and Toxteth. In other words a bad police force creates more problems that it solves. Without trust, a police force is nothing - who will come forward to the police if they do not trust their integrity?
Up till now, the training that has been done has been performed by US and British policeman - I have no problem with that. Let it continue or recruit more officers from police forces with an equally sound reputation.
"Act in Haste - Repent at leisure" - Lloyd George admitted in his memoirs that he was too eager to solve the Irish problem, and agreed to the terms of the 1920
Government of Ireland Act, that partitioned Ireland too quickly. His own feelings at the time though was that Ireland should not have been partitioned and that the whole country should have been given 'dependent territories status' but allowed himself to be pressured into a quick decision.
He regretted that hasty decision to cave in to the Unionists for the rest of his life. Britain has regretted it for 80 years. There is no substitute for measured consideration.
Quick-fix solutions always require more fixing and always cost more in the long run.
[ 08-26-2003, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Skunk ]