Dear Susan Sarandon:

[JHan]

174. Since you want to lecture me, I'll respond in kind...

My comments weren't about Obama specifically but the responsibilities of leaders working collectively which is why I said "international community" repeatedly. International law means nothing unless everyone gets on board.

You want to attribute a war mongering position to me which I do not hold, in fact far from it. The War Industry disgusts me but I'm a realist and strive to not to be hypocritical in my views. Conflict is part of the human condition, avoiding it and not directly engaging in it for selfish reasons because it doesn't immediately concern us is to be callous. Finding solutions doesn't mean launching a missile necessarily. And while you know the history of Hama, seem to acknowledge that there is suffering, your outrage isn't about human rights violations, you're all about putting people of this country "first" and your concern is "money". We should be as upset over human rights violations as we are upset about a missile being fired. It's the disproportionality in outrage that has leftists of all people, supporting the Assad regime. We've become so numb to suffering we can talk academically about the history of Hama and never engage deeply in decision making that aims to ease conflict world wide, whether in the middle east or elsewhere but we sure love to talk about "peace".

And yeah the U.S., in fact, most countries are stunningly hypocritical about the battles they choose to right - but the question isn't whether intervention is bad, it is why we intervene, for what reasons, and what outcomes. War is always about choices, knowing which wars are necessary and which are not. War fought for profit and nationalistic fervor are wars to be avoided, but to suggest that intervention is never necessary is to say that there are things not worth fighting for.

And the hypocrisy is also stunning for us since we have benefited from War - how much we pay for gas, the vehicles we drive, our investments, all influenced by War. But we don't wanna dig deeper into it and assess our own culpability - because America first right?

Edit: typos