What's the worst that could happen?
Here's an honest question: What is the worst thing that could happen?
Iran is not Nazi Germany. It won't be invading anyone, except, perhaps, it's neighbors. And if the region wants to spend the next 500 years deciding what kind of Islam it wants to live with, it's no skin off my nose, as long as they are not deciding what kind of Islam I have to live with here in Melbourne.
I suppose that is the real issue though. How serious is the religious/political rhetoric about all the infidels submitting? Well, probably pretty serious if you're Israel. For the rest of us? Hmmn.
The oil, the religion, the politics…they are all tied up. But for all these people who are comparing now to the late 1930s…I guess I wonder…is the fate of the free world really at stake? The fate of the secular world maybe? Or what?
Dan
p.s. To answer my own question, the worst thing that could happen is that somewhere, someday, maybe soon we'll have to get used to the reality that murder on a huge scale has been utterly democratized…one man, one bomb kind of terrorism. Every city a Tel Aviv pizza parlor. That's so dystopian that it seems unreal, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.
p.p.s. It'll be like watching a faceplant in slow motion to see how we try and use technology to keep our cities and structures safer. One day, no liquids on the plane. The next day, no one in the plane who doesn't have a good reason for going there. That's my prediction…national id cards, heavy restrictions on travel…visas required for cities like London and New York…visas with RFID tags that expire and notify authorities when you've overstayed your welcome.
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