At 12:53 PM 9/14/01 +1000 Russell Chapman wrote:
>"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
>
>> Its not another "point of view." The notion that the US is evil and must
>> be destroyed is simply wrong. Its as wrong as believing that the grass is
>> red, that the Earth is flat, or that 2 + 2 = 5.
>>
>> There is nothing to "understand", as the US has done nothing wrong.
>And, of course, the flat statement that the US has done nothing wrong is:
>1. not an objective statement - it's accuracy depends on the personal
beliefs of
>the recipient.
>2. nothing more than a point of view - lot's of people in the world
(including
>the USA) disagree...
Right you are on this one..... As Dan has subsequently pointed out, what
I was looking for was "nothing wrong that even remotely justifies a
counterattack of this nature."
Additionally, what I was hinting at is that the United States is a net
force of good in the world. When we do make mistakes, we are almost always
doing them because we are genuinely trying to do the best thing for the
world. Occasionally, we do screw up - say in the case of My Lai - but we
almost always own up to our mistakes and try and ensure that they never
happen again.
Moreover, the first point of my sentence still stands. The notion that
"the US is evil" is simply wrong. Its as wrong as saying that the moon is
made of green cheese or that 1 + 1 = 3. Now, not even I say that the US
is purely good, you may even think that the US is far closer to "neutral"
than "purely good" - but there is no way of escaping the conclusion that
the US is not evil.
Make no mistake, however, this *is* a war between good and evil - with the
United States being good and the States that sponsored and support this
gruesome act being objectively "evil." And no amount of appealing to
"differences of opinion" will change the essential right and wrong of this
situation.
That is what I was getting at above.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Freedom itself was attacked today, and Freedom will be Defended."
-U.S. President George W. Bush, 09/11/01
