Brad,
My proposal as to what to rebuild on the NYC World Trade
Center site would be a branch of a new Universal Library
(a new "Alexandrian Library"), and not a new Temple to Mammon
or a "monument" of any sort (all "monuments" ultimately
just contribute to making ordinatry persons be even
smaller than they have to be:
Bravo!! to Brad.
arthur
-----Original Message-----
From: Brad McCormick, Ed.D. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 9:09 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Major war?
Keith Hudson wrote:
>
> Hi Ray,
>
> It sounds from the morning news that the tension between India and
Pakistan
> has declined somewhat. I strongly suspect that Bush's public appeals for
> restraint have been accompanied in private by threats of various sorts.
Last Sunday's New York Times Week in Review had an article about
how Bush's very broadly defined "war against terrorists" may lead
to an escalation of violence because governments often define
dissident groups as "terrorists". The article recommended that
Bush should have more clearly defined what
kind of terrorists he was talking about.
>
> It seems to me that the quarrel over the fate of Kashmir is a pure case of
> culture versus the amour propre of nation-state politicians.
[snip]
> This decision by ordinary people knocked some sense into the politicians
at
> the time and it was decided to separate the two cultures constitutionally.
> Unfortunately, when the boundaries were drawn up between India and
Pakistan
> a fairly large and culturally distinct region of the Punjab was
> artificially divided between Kashmir and Pakistan. This has became the
> pivot of further Muslim-Hindu clashes with most Kashmiris (predominantly
> Muslims) now wanting independence from India.
>
> Rationally, the problem could be resolved by the obvious solution of
> tidying up the boundaries furthur, giving independence to Kashmir and
> giving assistance to Hindus and Muslims to relocate if they wish.
[snip]
Isn't this a frequent problem? "We" want independence, and when
"we" get it, we suppress all "them" among us who want independence?
As somebody said, "one man's terrorist is another man's freedeom
fighter".
Can we so blithely say that the 9-11 terrorists were not attacking
very real sources of oppression? They would surely have agreed with
Nathan Hale that that they regretted that they had only one life to
give for their cause. At least, so far, unlike the Japanese
patriots who struck out against the economic strangulation of their
country by attacking Pearl Harbor, there seems to be less indication
that the highest levels of the United States government
were, at best, relieved that what they were hoping for
finally happened.
I fear that 2001 was the year in which the chickens finally
came home to roost, or whatever the cliche is. Osama bin Laden
has said that his aim is to destroy the United States economy
so that the United States will have to occupy itself with
itself instead of doing mischief in other places.
My proposal as to what to rebuild on the NYC World Trade
Center site would be a branch of a new Universal Library
(a new "Alexandrian Library"), and not a new Temple to Mammon
or a "monument" of any sort (all "monuments" ultimately
just contribute to making ordinatry persons be even
smaller than they have to be:
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/monumentality.html
).
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
