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Re: Miami Herald

On Wed, 19 Sep 2001, Liesel tarquini wrote:
> --- Don Smith <dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu>

> > People just don't get up in the morning and decide to be terrorists.
> > If we insist on pretending that they are irrational, inhuman, and
> > beyond the pale . . .
>
> how else should we view such cowardly acts, don?

What, you think it's "cowardly" to train for months and capture a plane
and fly it into certain death, all in the service of a higher cause?

I can't imagine ever having the guts to do that, myself.  Frankly, I'm in
awe of people who *do* have the guts to do that, and it boggles my mind to
think that anyone could *really* believe that the terrorists were
"cowards".  It sounds to me like the people who say this are speaking out
of wounded pride -- to assert their own bravery, they must put down their
enemy and try to shame their enemy -- but it just rings hollow to me.

   http://abc.go.com/primetime/politicallyincorrect/transcripts/transcript_20010917.html

   [ snip ]

   Dinesh: Bill, there's another piece of political correctness I want to
   mention. And, although I think Bush has been doing a great job, one of
   the themes we hear constantly is that the people who did this are
   cowards.

   Bill: Not true.

   Dinesh: Not true. Look at what they did. First of all, you have a whole
   bunch of guys who are willing to give their life. None of 'em backed
   out. All of them slammed themselves into pieces of concrete.

   Bill: Exactly.

   Dinesh: These are warriors. And we have to realize that the principles
   of our way of life are in conflict with people in the world. And so --
   I mean, I'm all for understanding the sociological causes of this, but
   we should not blame the victim. Americans shouldn't blame themselves
   because other people want to bomb them.

   Bill: But also, we should -- we have been the cowards lobbing cruise
   missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the
   airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's
   not cowardly. You're right.

   [ snip ]

> okay, i agree here, we as americans have not perfected the act of
> perfection, but there is a standard.  a standard of diplomacy, of war,
> of disagreeing, you got a beef, you state it for the record and fight
> for it . . .

Perhaps, but whenever people find that the other side's rules put them at
a disadvantage, they tend to make their own rules.  Doesn't the very fact
of warfare challenge the assumption that one side's rules apply to the
other side?  Americans didn't necessarily fight by British rules during
their Revolutionary War, and the Irish certainly haven't been fighting by
British rules since the Easter Rebellion, and there's no reason to assume
any of America's opponents today would want to fight by America's rules.

> . . . you don't incinerate thousands of people as they sit in their
> cubicles.

Just wondering, what do you do with America's use of the atom bomb in
World War II?

> > Especially since Jesus trumped those cards in his teachings, anyway.
> > I don't hear much along the lines of "love those who hate you" and
> > "turn the other cheek" coming from my national leaders right now.
>
> do you really think christ was talking about something of this mammoth
> proportion here?

<Yoda> Size matters not. </Yoda>  Christ *was* talking about politics and
revolution and occupying forces and imminent warfare between nations.

> and are we forgetting that forgiving someone does not mean they
> necessarily get off scot free?

True, but at the same time, mere punishment isn't the answer.  There has
been a movement afoot in the last few years called "restorative justice",
which aims to bring some manner of reconciliation between victim and
criminal, where possible.  That's a model worth following, though I
haven't a clue how it could be applied to our present situation.

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
 "I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
      Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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