[Kurashima]

Apologies to those expecting a well thought out and highly humorous thread this evening , but as Nod points out, ive not been funny in years.

Anyway. Some points which came up for debate during a dinner party last night, and which ive been discussing at length all day in work.

[1]. Northern Ireland.

The conflict in the province. Is it really about religion anymore, or about control? As most people will acknowledge, Religion is, at its core, simply a very organised method of controlling the hearts and minds of individuals. Its politics without the shackles of answering to an electorate. Has the conflict itself now reached the point where a Northern Irishman is no longer defined by who he is , but who he is not. When a generation is brought up being told to hate a group because theyre different, if that group was removed, would that generation still have an identity of their own?

Do Protestants & Catholics in Northern Ireland now have a symbiotic relationship to the point where the troubles can never be resolved because they rely on each other so much to maintain their own identities?

[2] The Asian Earthquake.

For centruries Pakistan and India have fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir. For the moment theres an uneasy peace, but billions upon billions of local currency has been invested by both nations in building up a truly HUGE amount of military force in a small area (in comparison to the landmass of both countries) considering that Kashmir's natural resources are not actually all that spectacular (possibly one of the few worldwide conflicts where a war over territory is not fought due to natural resources).

Will both these nations now spend the same amount of money rebuilding the shattered region after this disaster, or will they spend a fraction of it, rely on international support, but continue to fund their military to the same , if not greater levels, than they do helping the people of Kashmir.

Why is it that Mankind spends many times more on killing one another than it does on saving the lives of others?


(Discuss both points, in as much, or as little depth as you like, and preferably without the usual level of extreme sarcasm that GD is famed for .... or be sarcastic as you like because you know very little/ have very little interest in either of the subject matters.)