Why I Don’t Care About Iranian Nuclear Plants
Here’s a piece I published in 2010, but the facts and the principles are the same today.
It may surprise people that I would take a position contrary to the perceived interests of my tribes, my tribes being America, Judaism, and Maleness. After all, American politicians practically fall over trying to outdo one another on toughness toward Iran. And, aren’t Jews supposed to support Israel, a country that sees Iran an an existential threat? Plus, men, in general, seem to be the people who promote war.
It bothers me that a person’s perceived self-interest so often determines their opinion. Thus, whenever there’s a vote to increase the local school budget, the townsfolk can be pretty much counted to vote according to whether they happen to have children in the local school at the time. People who’s children have already graduated often vote no; they will tell you that their taxes are already too high and that the school wastes money. People with children in the school, and employees of the school, generally vote yes, wanting to support the school and education in general. It would be nice to think that it is is possible to step outside of your personal self-interest and look at a problem a bit more objectively.
As for Iran and nuclear weapons, let’s have some moral clarity:
