Bret Devereaux

I wish every time someone declared we "weren't doing enough" about X or "needed to do more" there was a general social expectation with at least some real pressure for them to explain exactly what more we could do and exactly how that would ameliorate the problem.

The sad lesson of most of human affairs, but especially foreign policy issues, is that the existence of a problem does not always imply the existence of a solution - especially if you aren't one of the principles to the problem.

It is possible, and perfectly valid to say "this is bad and it should stop" and yet conclude in the same breath that there are few or no actions 'we' can take which wouldn't just make things worse.

(And before the tu quoque, no, I do not think the existence of this particular rhetorical problem I am highlighting implies the existence of a solution either. Functional interventions in culture are very rare.)