[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]afx: Which does beg the obvious question: Which is the best type of diplomacy?[/quote]
I don’t think there is a right/wrong or best/worst. It’s not so black and white. The whole point of diplomacy is that it’s a nuanced dance between two parties. One situation may call for military action, one situation may call for silence, one situation may call for talking.
Consider this analogy: Say you have a child who does something horribly bad. Maybe crashes your car on a drunken binge on prom night, who knows. What’s the best way to handle the situation? Send Dad in with a belt in one hand and a paddle in the other to back the kid into a corner and teach him a tough lesson? That might work. Or maybe sit the kid down with Dad, Mom, the siblings, Grandma, Grandpa and have an intervention? That might work too. But you have to ask: would you rather have the kid hate you for the beating, or respect you for sitting him down and having a chat?
You don’t back a snake into a corner and not expect it to strike.
Bottom line is, we’ve taken the silence/shun/beating route these past 8 years and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere. Maybe it’s time to try the talking/intervention route.
