----- Original Message ----- From: "Gautam Mukunda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2002 12:48 PM Subject: RE: An Interview in Pakistan
> > This sounds to me like contempt for vast numbers of your fellow citizens. > > > Once you engage in polemics, you show (apparent) contempt for large numbers > of people. > One thing that is seldom achieved here (and in many of the links posted > here) is any semblence of an objective overview. So there ends up a tendency > to defend polar arguments without a clear exploration of the issues being > discussed. > I've often seen people being dismissive of alternate views. This is where > much of the (apparent) comtempt for others originates. > > xponent > Smokey The Bear Maru > rob > > There were specific things that happened during that period for which I _do_ > feel contempt, Rob. And I should, and I worry about people who don't. I've > talked to soldiers who were jeered and cursed when they returned home from > Vietnam. Carl Vuono once told me that the worst experience of his life was > walking through JFK Airport wearing an Army uniform in the early 1970s. I > feel _great_ contempt for the people who did that to them. I've talked to > people who watched their fellow Americans - people who don't deserve that > appellation - burn American flags. I feel contempt for the people who did > that, and I'm not in the least ashamed to admit it. Why should I be? > During the 1970s the American government was involved in Cambodia, and it > was involved in supporting the side that was _fighting_ the Khmer Rouge. We > were forced out - not because we lost, but because our own population made > it untenable for the American government to continue that support. I > understand and sympathize with the belief that we should not have been > involved - I don't agree, but I can understand why someone would feel that > way. Again, a difference in perspective. But I don't, at all, have > sympathy for the attitude, expressed 25 years later, that the people who > advocated supporting those fighting the Khmer Rouge were immoral because > they chose to do that, or because the people with whom they were working > were insufficiently good. You can argue about the wisdom of that or not - > but saying that it was immoral is largely, to my mind, a way of making > yourself feel better - most often it's a way of avoiding the guilt > associated with forcing us out fo Cambodia. Guilt that is, well, earned, in > my opinion. > > Gautam > Hold on big guy! I wasnt pointing a finger at you. I was responding to Nicks one sentence. One that stood out, for me, among all the others. I should point out that no one involved in these discussions is very objective and most are polemic. This isnt neccessarily a bad thing, but if one is not careful, it can be divisive. xponent Not Getting Involved With This Maru rob
