I thought I might start...
This whole act of write write write by letting a real writer voice out his thoughts. This is of course, a link to an opinion piece by good 'ole Kurt Vonnegut.
Cold Turkey
Just as a side, I have yet to come up with anything quite meaty enough for the inaugural blog bit about my side of politicking.
p.s.
I just did a spell check using blogger based spell check and it did not recognize the word "blog". What a hoot...
7 Comments:
I'm too sick to properly respond, but I'll say this much: I love Vonnagut, but this article is woefully deficient of information. His opinion is funny, but not accurate.
To compare Iraq, for instance, with the native americans is just crazy. We are not exterminating Iraqis wholesale - even in the most crazy liberal minds we're not doing that. The native americans also had their own functioning culture, that would have been fine with them to leave alone, but the same cannot be said of Iraqis under Saddam Hussein.
Anyways, moral equivalence is always easier to suss out from the comfort of your USA home - and much harder to figure out from the perspective of Daniel Pearl or Nick Berg.
i thought it was chock full of information. it's just that the information is used in elliptical ways, which is to my mind a more complex argument than outright statement. to say "we're spreading democracy, are we? same way european explorers brought christianity to the indians, what we now call native americans. how ungrateul they were! how ungrateful are the people of baghdad today" at first glance is annoyingly simplistic. however, in the context of the beatitudes' "blessed are the meek," it takes on a different cast. the point he's trying to make is not so much the degree of destruction, the relative states of the cultures (also--the conception of native american cultures as "functioning" was not held by most colonizers), but the lack of humility. the potentially misguided hubris which can result in drastic consequences, the extent of the drasticness sometimes not revealed until centuries later, when a shift in cultural awareness has occurred regarding the historical event. i mean, some people thought that reservations were a good idea for the indians. and now we know.
vonnegut is pointing to very elemental ironies in human motivations stemming from being in a position of power--that power corrupts. that sometimes behind magnanimous acts really lies something else that isn't aligned with the core values of your own dogma. i don't think these basic points are really contestable.
he is asking: is our story straight?
as for moral equivalence, it is also always easier to suss it out from the comfort of our own time period.
I'm still too sick to properly respond, and even if I wasn't reebs always writes to make my brain work hard (and it's not working well with this fever...) but anyways.
Iraq was #2 on a list of middle eastern touchpoints that our administration feels needs reform. We tapped on Afghanistan, and the next low-hanging fruit was Iraq. Though both countries were subject to brutal, violent tyrannies, our aim was not to free them but rather to stamp out their efficiency in helping transnational terrorism. It's a side-effect that the people of those countries are/will get a chance to make their own futures. The primary goal is to -respond- to Islamists (militant islamic transnational terrorists) by salting the ground they grow from.
The argument about whether or not power is bad and we have power so we're bad or whatever is something we have the luxury of sitting around and moralizing about while our avowed enemies plot our destruction.
They are nothing like any of the the native american tribes. The analogy makes no sense at all.
As for "the lack of humility", I believe the thousands that died in the WTC were sufficiently humble for the rest of us. They died largely in ignorance of whom their enemy was - we have no such option. If wanting to live, in freedom and equality, is being too proud and not humble enough, so be it.
repost
Fucking bitch. I wrote a long ass reply and a serious one at that, then the bitch ass blogger crap deleted my post. Anyhow Nick Berg was executed by AMERICANS!
The goatse man did it, I saw the gold ring.
Conspiracy theories aside, JOSH...
The commentary has a different feel than usual, made only the better by Mme. Rebecca. And I truly love it when Matt gets into the rut he now is in. Here's why:
"Iraq was #2 on a list of middle eastern touchpoints that our administration feels needs reform. "
Reform is a word that makes my stomach turn when used by the current administration, and yes I know that our involvement in Iraq has been an equanimous and bi-partisan affair over the last sixteen years but honestly, the present usage and meaning is dubious at best when spoken aloud. We are not reforming anything in the Middle East, not Afghanistan, not Iraq, never Libya, never Palastine, not even remotely Iran. It is purely a matter of economics and supply and demand. It is fairly well known that in addition to the dubious position that we hold with the Saud's, their reserves are drying up, period. We have to find it else where, and in a cheaper and more reliable way. In comes a two fold strategy, revenge and restitution. We fuck Saddam for the about face he pulled after Reagan left town(thanks for helping us with the the Communist's though...) and we get their reserves, mm mm goood...
"As for "the lack of humility", I believe the thousands that died in the WTC were sufficiently humble for the rest of us. They died largely in ignorance of whom their enemy was."
We are rightly humbled by their unknowing contribution, yes we are. However, is our position being served? I think not, mainly because the method by our being there in the first place is as loose and full of well documented holes as the craters we are leaving all over the country. I mean do you really think that the subversiveness the present administration is using to levy decisions is really doing us any good what so ever in the home court much less the world court? Anyways...
I don't think I should post when I'm sick. Just a little retrospective, there. I'm still not 100% but I thought of something so here I go breaking my own rules...
I take it as given that oil is a bullet-point on everyones list of "national interests" and don't hold it up that high on my significant-meter (boy I'm going to pay for that later) but I'm curious about facts-n-figures about this saudi oil diministing thing... whatcha got Ing? Make it a post, so we're not trapped in this comment thing forever.
Post a Comment
<< Home