Well, it is so kind of the NYT to begin at last to question the sagacity of
the Bush administration. But the NYT's critique is so limited. I do believe
that as time goes by and the American panic -- as much cognitive as anything
else -- subsides, we will see more and more critical analysis of the Bush
administration. I can suggest a few motifs:
1. "War" vs "criminal action"
2. Lack of evidence
3. "We have to do something" so that we don't appear weak
4. Bin Laden = Taliban = ?Saddam Hussein
5. 'Now that we have bombed them, they'll respect us'
Actually, this whole situation disgusts me so much I have been deliberately
avoiding my normal daily devourings of the news. Blood lust and macho
display are still at large, and it seems must run their course.
I do like your thinking, Brad, especially the Library idea. Maybe some good
can come out of this.
Brad reported:
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.
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/
