Charlie Rose

Andi  01/04/2008 03:39 AM Report

A great show - except one thing. With the historic circumstance of the first viable women presidential candidates, you featured no women reporters or politicians to comment on the Iowa contents. Nor did the guests speak to the fact that having a woman is every bit at historically significant as the first male candidate of color.

ted  11/27/2007 07:01 PM Report

Just Guessing, it seems to me that Jim has a point. The poverty and political turmoil in, for example, Pakistan and Afghanistan could be contributing to the appeal of Islamic extremism there. Don't you think that is at least possible?

just guessing  11/27/2007 05:22 PM Report

this board may be the place for intelligent discussion - but this thread doesnt represent one. Only hungry people can be nuts and bomb other countries and start wars driven by ideology? Clearly you havet seen the obsesity rates in the ole US of A. :-)

ted  11/27/2007 03:14 PM Report

Thanks for the insight Jim. It is gratifying that intelligent discussion can take place on this board.

I'm sure you are right that people who are well-fed, comfortable, and feel secure are less likely to "fight". But where does that leave us? Quite frankly, it is not within the power of the West to improve the living conditions for people spread from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, to Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lybia and Yemen, and farther. Speaking only for myself, I would like to give these people stable democratic governemnts, decent living standards, and basic human rights. But it is not a realistic goal. Sad to say, for the rest of our lives, this part of the world will remain ruled by authoriatian, repressive governements, and will suffer poor living standards, frequent civil unrest, and a lack of basic human rights. That is the most likely prognosis. Given this, where does that leave us, Jim?

jim  11/27/2007 01:28 AM Report

I spent five years in the Marine Corps as an Arabic linguist, deployed three times to the Middle East - I had my fair share of exposure to form my opinion: American Christian Fundamentalists are just as convinced of their righteousness as were the Islamists we were fighting - but they're too well fed, well paid, and generally appeased / pandered to to have reached the levels of frustration that compels the Islamists to fight.

People fight when they think they haven't got anything left they can do, and a charismatic fanatic tells them they should fight. The movement doesn't have to be religious (see Communism, Nazism, or jingoism), that's just where the behavior happens to be manifesting today.

ted  11/26/2007 11:46 PM Report

Thanks "just guessing". I now know why Jon must employ indirect means when talking on this subject.

just guessing  11/26/2007 08:02 PM Report

Maybe Jon didnt say "Islamic" because he isnt a narrow minded moron.

ted  11/26/2007 07:33 PM Report

"The great question for this generation is going to be how do you confront extremism..." You will find this quote in the above interview with Jon Meacham. Jon is correct.

But this "great question" is made even more difficult because good people, like Jon Meacham, are unable to bring themselves to address it directly. It is Islamic extremism that poses the great challenge. Mr. Meacham knows this. And yet, concerns of political correctness prevent him from actually calling by its name. How can we hope to address this growing challenge if the best and brightest among us are afraid, apparently, to call it by its true name in public? I'd be intersted in Jon's response to this query.