Do you think society is getting too liberal?

Surely, annexing the Middle East will just lend credence to the arguments of ISIL that they use to recruit young, alienated Muslims: 'The West are attacking the land of the Muslims', 'The West is the enemy of Islam', so ISIL would just get more support?

I'll reply to your latest visitor message in due course.

While I believe that Western values are the best possible set of values, and I do oppose the view of 'cultural relativism' (which could be used to justify pretty much anything) held by some in the left , I also believe that a country can adopt Western values by itself. Take my country of birth (South Korea) for example, which was an authoritarian dictatorship and had little experience of fair elections but became a democracy in a surprisingly smooth transition in the late 1980s.

However, a country is more likely to adopt Western values if they have positive opinions towards the West, e.g. the Kurds. I don't think forcing Western values would make the locals like the West, rather like how forcing children to eat vegetables sometimes make the children hate them when they grow up. However, I'm not an expert on this.

Well this is why I called it imperialism rather than intervention. In the short term things would certainly be bad but this would have to be in place decades (hence the use of the word imperialism). It would be the children and women in particular who would shape the future of this new society based on the kind of liberty that we in the west enjoy and which is flourishing in parts of Asia.

Of course this scenario is not realistic but I support it regardless because I believe its the only long term solution.

The traditional 'White man's burden' argument, I see.

Hope this helps.

Yup. We can't just leave them to choose between the Muslim Brotherhood and a dictator forever.

Then why are liberals the big government advocates? You can claim a word means something due to a dictionary defenition, but it's the practice that matters. As much of an economic liberal Thatcher was, I wouldn't pin her as neoliberal. It's like claiming feminism is about gender equality.

Then you are wrong. Thatcher is literally the definition of neoliberal. You need to do more reading. I suggest you start by googling 'neoliberal'.

I do wonder whether this country would be a better place without all those goddamn filthy liberals blaming society and the government for all their problems #RightisRight




come at me bro

Unfortunately I don't think the Korean model can be repeated.

See also Taiwan, the Philippines, Spain, Portugal, most of Latin America and the bulk of Eastern Europe. All formerly authoritarian dictatorships with little if any tradition of democratic politics (certainly not in recent memory) that transitioned to democracy with surprising ease in the last few decades of the 20th Century.

Remember once upon a time much of Europe was a place where you could get yourself burnt on the stake for disagreeing with religious dogma, or for saying that the Earth orbits the Sun.

Turkey was once the home of a caliphate in the form of the Ottoman Empire, but turned relatively quickly into a secular republic.

I asked you a question. I can't be wrong by asking you a question. Feel free to answer my questions.

One of two things are possible:
1. You are right and socialists are misapplied the term (especially in the US)
2. You're wrong.

Reviewed some links and it seems some people associate it with globalism. In my opinion, which isn't really about rolling back the state... It might be becoming a pointless term if it's so broad. To me, neoliberalism is socialism.

Sigh. Using 'liberal' to mean 'left wing' is misapplication of the word (especially in the US and especially by right wingers)

It isn't even remotely liberal enough.

I don't think you pay much attention to US politics, then... Both sides are comfortable with the terminology. Those interested in free markets are libertarians. Slight difference.

'Liberal' is often used disparagingly by the American right to describe people with left-of-centre economic views.

I disagree, it's used for pretty much anyone who doesn't have clearly right-wing economic views. Most of the Democrats are hardly lefties, and the US politicians that actually are lefties, e.g. Bernie Sanders, Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, etc, describe themselves as "progressive" more often than "liberal" (though they do use the latter on occasion).