Reddit reviews Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

http://www.amazon.de/Ghost-Wars-Secret-History-Afghanistan/dp/0141020806/ref=pd_cp_eb_0

Hang on, if we're talking history here then Afghanistan was already a training ground for jihaddists by the time the Taliban came to power. The Taliban were one faction to have been trained and battle hardened in the mujahideen resistance to the Soviet invasion.

As far as the law and order thing goes, they were welcomed at first by poorer Afghans who thought that because they were imposing theocratic rule that this would result in less corruption in public life. Of course this gradually turned to dissatisfaction once they were consolidated in government and started outlawing haircuts and the like.

The human rights abuses were horrible but to put it in perspective those practices were the same under the Northern Alliance, Karzai and whichever warlords are locally in power. I would venture so far as to say that if you want to improve people's human rights then government by warlord is not the way to go.

As unpalatable as just standing by is the alternative strategies of intervention firstly covert during the 70's and 80's and secondly by invasion in the 2000's have done little or nothing to improve Afghan's human rights.

There is a book called Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden by an American journalist called Steve Coll which traces the whole mess back to the time of the Soviet Invasion.

you started well with things that can be proven to help. exercise, nature, psychotherapy if you're really lost. But the reason why you pay a psychotherapist to listen is that they're a professional and most people don't know how to help you with your complaints. So all you're doing is straining relationships by treating them like therapy sessions where you vent about the inequities of the world. Also, check the link I posted in the previous post showing that venting to relieve stress only hardwires your brain for more stress and more venting.

And feminism is jealousy. Its the belief that you don't have what men have and you want it. That's plain and simple jealousy. Nobody has it the same as anyone else. But feminism is the fight to prioritize your life unfairness above everyone else by suggesting you're selflessly doing it for other women and acting the most distressed. If you ever worked retail when you were a teen, customers often would try to receive priority or get special treatment by being the most visibly upset. It's not that different. There are lots of movements like feminism and they all end up fighting each other, as well as fracturing and fighting within because it's not only about which group gets priority, within each group its about which person gets priority too.


There's also no evidence activism changes things for the better. Counter culturalism, which feminism sprouted from in the 60's altered our culture and gave rise to activism.(no I don't care about 1st wave since there are 300 years between 1st and 2nd with no physical connection between them except with books and in the name that the second wave gave the first. the people involved from 2nd-4th are the same people using the same methods and are within the same hippie culture), Previously, civil rights were handled by lawyers an lawmakers. The end result did not only be civil rights lawyers shirked of getting any mention of the efforts they were making in court but the men and women leading mobs, clashing with police and society and getting people killed were hailed as heroes because they garnered media attention and headlines that boring courtrooms do not. Harvey Milk drove his friend to suicide to push his not-so-selfless agenda All for a pointless cause since there were many lawyers sleeplessly working for gay rights already. The system was already working, but no activist wants to believe that because it makes their control of the media spotlight look tyrannical.


In the 60's Students on campus at UC Berkeley fought for the right to talk about politics and take control of the university. they rescinded the power from the faculty and gave it to the students through mob rule, a format that's been adopted by almost every university in the world. feminism was a breakoff protest of that 60's Berkeley student movement because some women didn't feel they had enough power and a voice in the protests and protested the men. (documentary: Berkeley in the sixties) The movement also empowered psychedelic drug use, funded gun purchases for the black panthers, and irrevocably changed youth culture around the world to what it is today: jaded and believe the system is rigged against them even though they took control of it almost sixty years ago.

now we're seeing a rollback of free speech. we're seeing students actually believing fascism is better than liberty because its the best way to force society to prioritize their needs above everyone else. Evergreen college in Oregon is the most recent example of that where the student actually tried to racially segregate the campus in the name of equality. Or elsewhere in the world. People forget that Afghanistan by the 50's was progressive with many women, not in burkas, attending university. Men wore blue jeans and listened to rock and roll. Until the early 70's groups of students using the Berkeley model rallied students against western culture raided a US embassy, killed several Americans inside and lead their country to the disaster it became less than a decade later. (first chapter of the book "ghost wars" by Steve Coll)

rules and laws are only fair if they apply to everyone equally. If you're not a lawyer, learn the law. If you are a lawyer you don't go to protests, you make your arguments in court and guess what, if you're angry you get kicked out of the courtroom.

Be proactive. Be sensitive to your friend's feelings, including men (which you responded to pathologically with 'haha' earlier). Realize what your guy friend was saying is exactly what he would've said to his guy friends too so there's no possibility is trying to silence you or treating you differently for being a girl. In fact, he probably said it nicer than he normally does because sometimes dudes just need to hear "stfu."

Hope this helps. If it doesn't do some soul searching and try to figure it out on your own. But if you come at me or your friend like we're being an asshole when we're giving you the same advice we'd give anyone we're trying to help, guess who might be the real asshole.