This series of posts from you, Marvin, are some of the most thoughtful and well-written I've read on this subject in a long time. Have you considered editing them into a Op-Ed letter, to the NY Times or Washington Post?
On Sun, Sep 22, 2002 at 05:53:32PM -0500, Marvin Long, Jr. wrote: > This being the case, if we citizens shout to the government "Keep us > Safe!" and "Keep us Free!" at the same time, do we not oblige the > government either to reply, "Sorry, no can do" -- which it can't > say if it wants to be re-elected except as an acknowledgment of > transitional logistical difficulties -- or to reply in a manner that > involves fudging the concepts of freedom and safety to make it seem > we're getting all we want of both at the same time? > > Therefore, I'm thinking that the first step towards making resonable > and realistic demands on our institutions is to take realistic amounts > of responsibility for the part each citizen plays in our wild & wacky > globalized culture and economy. Which means recognizing that no > matter what, we in the West all incur some (usually small) degree of > risk as the price of enjoying the benefits of the type of world in > which we live. > > I'm thinking that there's a real sense in which we need to say to > ourselves, "Yes, I'm willing to chance suffering and death so that > young men (and women) from the Mid-East (or wherever) can attend > our universities and take knowledge home with them that can be used > to enrich their societies and ultimately my own." And, "Yes, I'm > willing to chance suffering and death if it means denying the state > a centralized clearinghouse of information used to keep tabs on them > and my fellow citizens, because that's just not quite free enough > for me." And, more broadly, "Yes, I'm willing to understand that > life is suffering and prone to tragedy and when bad things happen I > won't forget all the good things and f*@% them up too as a knee-jerk > reaction to pain." -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
