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Re: war...



Michael Cade wrote:


> Sorry, if you took my very poor school record and tried to correlate it 
> with my IQ rating (the I in IQ meaning intelligence) you would find a 
> great disparity.  I also grew up in a very poor urban area and 
> consequently used much slang and incorrect grammar to which I was 
> constantly exposed.  One of the most intelligent women I have ever known 
> was my grandmother.  She used the word "fixing"  meaning getting ready 
> to do something till the day she died.  So it would follow from your 
> "lack of mastery of the English language" poor urban people (often 
> black) who use street slang and poor grammar are stupid.  Man, who's the 
> racist now?


Now now, Michael, that's an unfair argument technique. There are a lot 
of variables you're relying on to make it sound like Don is bashing 
everyone who didn't do well in school. But you have to remember that 
context is important here. GWB grew up as one of the darlings of both 
white privellege and as the heir to a robber baron fortune. While both 
your grandmother and the random minority person you refer to both have 
economic and cultural factors that affect which version of English they 
speak, they probably are fluent in it. Don is saying that GWB has not 
mastered his own native tongue, which is far cry from demanding that Joe 
African American from the ghetto do so, or even that your grandmother do so.
And recall that we're talking about why or why not one has confidence in 
the executive leader of our nation, which, I think, requires a bit more 
intelligence and education than that which the average person has had.





  Muhammad called on his
>  >followers to treat
>  >the "peoples of the book" (Christians and Jews) with respect,
>  >because they
>  >worshipped the same god.
> 
> I guess that means take a plane and ram it into a building.


Again, an unfair argument tactic. Would you have me judge all Christians 
by the behavior of Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, James Dobson, Jerry 
Falwell, Tim McVeigh?





>  >
> Interesting monologue but what does it have to do with the fact (much 
> less refute it) that two people have a similar hatred of one 
> ethnic/religious group.
> 


What it has to do with it is that Don is pointing out that the 
Arab-Jewish conflict is not the child of racism or built-in religious 
intolerance; it is the child of Western imperialist policies in the 
Middle East. The Jews came and stole land from the Palestinians with our 
help, land they'd been living on for 1300 years. The Arabs, especially 
the Palestinians, are understandably pissed off, while the Nazis (and 
the Christians in general, up until the 20th century) *fabricated* 
greivances against the Jews in order to scapegoat them.
The difference between the Arabs and the Nazis is the difference between 
the motives of the people who executed the thieves on either side of 
Christ, and the motives of the people who executed Christ.




>  >
>  >> Since you won't go for profiling, what (if any) solution can
>  >you give?
>  >
>  >Investigation and evidence.  Innocent until proven guilty.
> 
> Interesting concept, but if someone in your family was in the WTC that 
> day, my guess is you would feel differently.


I know people who had loved ones in the WTC who havent' resorted to 
racism yet.


  Innocent till proven 
> guilty theories I don't believe took into account terrorism.


Acting on a policy of "guilty until proven innocent" *is* terrorism.

 If you are 
> accused of committing murder (again only accused) what do you think your 
> chances are of getting out on bail?


Depends largely on your race and amount of money you have.


> 
>  >What so many people
>  >don't seem to realize is that if you give that up, the wheels
>  >of beurocracy can
>  >grind you up as well.  The people who support this are so sure
>  >that only "them"
>  >are going to get profiled that they don't care.  After all,
>  >"we" are never
>  >going to do anything worthy of profiling for.  Haven't you
>  >ever had a false
>  >charge on a bill? 
> 
> What does a false charge on a bill have to do with anything?



Don is making a analogy. He's saying that your frustration and anger at 
geting a flase charge on your bill is like, in a smaller way, the 
frustration and anger of a victim of profiling.



> 
>  >
> Another interesting monologue, but it doesn't refute my stance that 
> there are more than 1 vile terrorist out there.  Actually it supports it.


Huh?







-John



-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the electoral campaign, President Bush named as the most important 
person in his life Jesus Christ. Now he has a unique chance to prove 
that he meant it seriously: for him, as for all Americans today, "Love 
thy neighbor!" means "Love the Muslims!" OR IT MEANS NOTHING AT ALL.

  -  Slavoj Zizek, "Welcome To The Desert Of The Real II: Reflections on 
WTC"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.johnpauldavis.org

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