How to Win Friends and Influence People

People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt. -Otto von Bismarck, statesman (1815-1898)

The Bush Administration sure knows how to make foreigners hate us. That way they can say we are in danger and you need a strong war president.

The latest pugnacious and hubris behavior is the stationing of missiles near Russia, called a missile defense system. This has Russian President Putin very angry. What would we think if Russia was to do the same in Cuba? Oh yeah, they tried that under JFK and we almost went to war over that. Cooler heads prevailed.

The following actions seem designed to make Muslims keep attacking us. The Christian USS Vincennes shoots down an unarmed Iranian airliner killing Iranian women and children. The Christian soldiers invade and occupy a small Muslim nation. Christian soldiers kill thousands of Muslims. Muslim men are humiliated by Christian women soldiers at Abu Grhaib. Christian missionaries are spreading all over the world and into the Muslim countries. It is easy to see why the Muslims would think Christians are trying to take over the world. By giving the Muslims reasons to attack us, we continue to empower the state. "War is the health of the state". Randolph Bourne

The Bush Administration seems to want war. I don't know if they are closet sadists are simply wrong in their strategic thinking. They seem to think that foreign relations are run like other government programs, by force only. They show little interest in getting into the minds and the motivations of human behavior, especially foreigners.

An example in this country of failing to understand the problem is when an estranged husband goes berserk and kills his family over the loss of all he planned for. The government does not look at the causes, it only demonizes men, and asks for more force and funding to control men. They imprison men for longer sentences than women.

Contrast this to how the government and society acts when a woman kills her family. They analyze her and try to find ways to understand what made her do the horrible act. They offer programs to help women cope. They do not use force on women and they do not demonize them. They give women shorter prison terms than men for the same crimes.

The same analogy could be used in describing our government's attitude towards those foreigners who are not submissive and compliant. Our government does not want to understand what motivates hatred towards America. The Bush Administration simply wants to use force on other nations. This reckless policy is a sure way to lose friends. It will only make more enemies for America. The administration should be required to read Dale Carnegie's 1935 book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People."



Charles Tolleson