[kyp275]

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

Now, that's something more appeasing to read unlike kyp's approach.

Can you try harder to make this personal? Also, I fail to see a reason why people need to write stuff to appease you, but I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant to use "appealing" instead. Although even there I don't see why it should matter, don't participate in an online forum if you're gonna get your feelings hurt when people disagrees with you and calls you out on it.

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

Whenever there's something involving rioters, I always expect everyone with judgement to start preparing a counter-movement in the name of some form of common sense. This counter-movement may come from a few politicians, the more moderate parts of the population, or even workers trying to save their jobs when it's a Japanese company hiring them. Still, as long as no one reacts against the rioters, the rest of the population (+ the government) is guilty by association and that is something I have a hard time with (i.e. people sitting there without reacting).

I'm not sure if you noticed, but PRC isn't exactly a place where open dissent that goes against what the government wants is looked upon very favorably. Put yourself in their shoe, you don't care for the disputes, you don't agree with the riots, but are you gonna stick your neck out and risk landing yourself as a political prisoner for the next couple decades or simply disappear?

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

OOT: I was raised with Catholic teachings, but like many people in Canada, I've grown beyond the need to put my religious beliefs above everything else. I've read my share of reading history to see what was good and what was bad when putting religion above all. By doing so, it allowed me to avoid repeating mistakes of Christians who preceded me. And in the era of satellite TV and internet, I think everyone ought to be in touch with more than enough material/information to avoid making major mistakes such as what we have seen recently.

I'm curious, have you had much experience traveling to different parts of the world? Maybe it's just me, but I get the impression that you're looking at things through a very specific western mindset. For starters, this may be the era of satellite TV and internet amongst first world countries, it is hardly the same for the undeveloped/developing nations, especially amongst the large segments of the poor in the population. Forget about TVs and internet, many of them barely has a shack to call home.

You're placing expectations on those people based on your expectation as a citizen in a western nation, but it's neither reasonable nor practical. Counter protest? those things will fly in Canada, but over there you're literally risking your life and the lives of your entire family. Hell, forget about counter-protests, the LACK of actively protesting alone can get you in deep trouble. A Pakistani business owner was charged with blasphemy, punishable by death, because he refused to participate in a protest.

It's a different world out there with different sets of rules, you can't simply force yours on everyone else.

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

...would go into such a load of outdated ideas (such as owning nuclear weapons and reintroducing conscription when mostly everyone is going the other way worldwide).

Um, it's definitely the other way around. There are plenty of countries that would go nuclear in a heartbeat if they could, and none of the nuclear nations is going go disarm themselves.