>U.S. history is not at long as you think, nor as one-sided as you might think Well, I'm pretty sure it's about as long as I think. But, admittedly, it may not

>U.S. history is not at long as you think, nor as one-sided as you might think Well, I'm pretty sure it's about as long as I think. But, admittedly, it may not be as long as you think I think. :) The salient point is that there is a history, it is complex, and it is reasonable to consider that it is significantly responsible for disdainful sentiments toward the West. I'm not sure that's in dispute anywhere. Also, note that I frequently reference the West and not just the U.S. But, really, I think the history lesson itself doesn't really address my point, which is precisely that such historical discussions are not a part of our (the public's) reckoning with regard to the symptomatic issues with which we are dealing. I know you've expressed bewilderment at that statement, but your reasoning for that bewilderment is, effectively, that the history is known and has been discussed somewhere by someone (even Obama). We agree there, though the degree of causality for everything that we are seeing is arguable. In any case, where we really differ is simply that my view is that such discussions should not just be somewhere between someone, but should absolutely dominate the public discourse. Instead, it is largely absent from the public arena, which really provides cover for policymakers to push through agendas that are orthogonal to solving the real problem, and instead serve other interests. Here, they have moved the goalposts from solving the problem to providing the public with a set of false choices based on the foregone assumption that the problem is well-defined somewhere and otherwise unsolvable. So, the question is allowed to become not "why do they want to kill us?", but "how much power should the government have in invading our privacy?" At some point, the causal element is so far divorced from the symptomolagy, that any real relationship between the choices we're making and the actual problem is only illusory. You say I shouldn't look to cable, HN, etc., but should instead presumably be pulling from Foreign Affairs, history books, etc. I say that's the problem I'm describing. I mean, an NDU speech? Should we really be content with confining the discussion to channels such as these? If so, then why is it reasonable to have a discussion about our liberties (e.g. Snowden, etc.) via the various public media, but not one about why such a discussion is neccessary in the first place? Because, that's the problem that I'm identifying and, by suggesting that I turn to more esoteric channels, you're basically acknowledging the problem and responding that such public discussion is not only missing, but should be missing. So, I suppose the obvious question is why--in your view--is it OK that it's missing from the wider public arena?