--- Russell Chapman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Deborah Harrell wrote: > > >It is good that these cases are coming to light now; > >I hope our collective response to these excesses > proves > >to the rest of the world that Americans, as a > people, > >are not 'parochial and obsessed with power.' How we > >handle such flouting of our own laws may be key to > >the eventual 'tipping of the scale' by the > >mostly-still-silent non-Western moderates.
Aside: I ought to have said "demonstrates" rather than "proves." > I doubt it - you're looking at it through US > culture. These things > coming to light just gives the enemies of US values > more fodder. They > don't understand "airing dirty laundry", and they > don't see it as a > healthy step towards cleansing a problem. (Perhaps > because public > reaction means nothing in their country?) > All they see is more injustices coming to light, and > more stories of how > evil the US is, with no feel for the general > disquiet these stories > bring out in the average American. I see your point, yet hope that some moderate voice might use this as a teaching opportunity -- "This is how a free people govern the governors." Put another way, we need 'translators of culture;' I think that idea was discussed a little bit last year. What examples from Islamic or Arab cultures would support the theme of 'community representatives' rather than 'trade one despot for another?' Aren't there storied individuals or groups who exemplify that? Certainly there _used_ to be tolerance of cultural differences, as in Moorish Spain's mix of Muslim, Christian and Jew. Debbi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
