On Wed, 3 Oct 2001, Nick Arnett wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > > Behalf Of Marvin Long, Jr. > > [snip} > > > And all of this has exactly *what* to do with anything I've said, or with > > what Friedman said? > > It had do with your suggestion that my criticism of Friedman meant that I > would "deny that in certain areas, we are a hell of a lot better than al > Qaeda and the Taliban, and those things are worth fighting to preserve." > That was unfair. I'm annoyed that my criticism of *Friedman* has been > characterized as criticism of the values he espouses and our nation... and > that I therefore must think our nation is inferior to the terrorists and we > shouldn't fight for it. Sheesh, saying it that plainly makes it sound > ridiculous. > > You tossed me into a box with those words, undeservedly.
Ok, I went back and re-read my post, and I can see how you could read what I wrote that way. It wasn't my intent, so again I'll apologize. > I was fighting > back against the very notion of putting people into such boxes. And I took > the opportunity to expand into criticism of Gautam's righteous-wing American > fundamentalism, an extreme example of tossing people into boxes, which you > should, indeed, not take personally... ;-) Hmm, despite being lumped by implication into that very box? Careful, Nick, you might start fighting fire with fire. <vbg> All of which is entirely tangential, btw, to my defense of Friedman's essay, which I still assert does not partake of that kind of fundamentalism, although I'll happily admit that it indulges in some rather saccharine flag-waving...but then, he is talking about a PTA meeting after all. Marvin Long Austin, Texas Allah is great, but Miss February ain't half bad, either.
