Iraq: More transforming questions needed

What does green taste like?

Sometimes you need to change the question. It will give you a different perspective.

I've been reading the comments about a veteran's mother who was ridiculed for speaking out against the war.

A couple of thoughts came to mind:

A. "Other than talk about it, or get annoyed . . . what are you going to do about it?"

B. "OK, so a lady whose son is in the military got chewed out for speaking out against an unlawful war of aggression. OK . . ."

C. "The war mongers have shown that they're jerks. This thread reminds me of this comment: I sense many words, but little dialog or interaction; nor a desire to really see things from "the other view."

D> "The response to the lady reminds me of brownshirts when people dare speak their mind and are ridiculed with derogatory information, and nothing helpful."

But then I thought, you know: Those really aren't all that helpful. So then I got to think about another approach.

Abortion

If you look at the abortion debate, one thing both the pro-life and anti-abortion groups realized that they had in common was the goal of reducing teen pregnancy.

Rather than argue over "pro or against abortion" they asked a new question:

"What can we do to reduce teen pregnancy?"

It's not an adversarial question where one side wins or loses. It's a common approach to a shared challenge. They key is to find the challenge that moves everyone forward.

That common question generates common solutions both groups can work together on. I think what's needed is a similar approach to the war.

Need some more transforming questions

Anyone got any ideas on what to do next about this "non-sense with the outrageous action taken against the mother speaking out against the war"?

Here's an idea . . . Can we agree, whether we are for or against the war, that the "right thing" to do is to protect the troops . . . so let's get them some proper body and vehicle armor. The knights in the middle ages could do better than this!

"How do we ensure that we get enough body armor for our troops?"

"What can we do to better protect our troops?"

"What funding is needed to safeguard those in harms way?"

"What types of technology, production methods, or new acquisition approaches are needed in DoD that will address the shortfalls in body armor and equipment protection?"

What can the RNC and DNC do together, regardless their position on the war to work together? Perhaps some like to argue more than they like to implement solutions. Is that the kind of leadership you want in either the RNC or DNC? If so, do nothing: You've got what you want.

Maybe this will help to generate some solutions going forward: Here is the checklist that might be helpful when generating some questions.

Sample questions

What can be done to end the war and bring the troops home safely?

How will the current situation be transformed into something that is secure?

What can the country do to provide vehicle and body armor?

Other views

If you don't like this approach, you are free to blog about an alternative. It is curious how people will smear based on illusory faults; and assert there has been a wrong; but they provide no evidence to justify their conclusions.

OK, your comments are just that: Comments without anything of contribution. Let's hear something specific by way of some constructive criticism. If you like to criticise, without a constructive comment on what could be done better, people are less likely to care or respond to the criticism.

Thought for the day

A new phrase I cam across: "Paid troller." As in, "Get a real job, besides trolling, you paid troller."

Getting paid to troll. Do you like your job? Someone says they pay people to troll. Have you ever heard of this?