[thechat] Justice, was Chomsky, was Michael Moore's message

[Erika Meyer]

>  > There are many other less visceral, less flashy, more creative, more
>>  effective, and certainly more peaceful responses to last week's
>>  tragedy.

Scott wrote:

>I've been waiting for you to identify some. Will you please?

Of course, many pundits with different types of expertise have done 
this.  Unfortunately, I've seen none of it on the corporate media 
outlets.

So it's up to little ol' me?

There was a period of time last week, when the whole world spoke out 
in our support.  Sure, there were dissenters, and there always will 
be.

We could have used that momentum to build a world effort to stop terrorism.

But in order to do that, the pot could not call the kettle black.

How can a terrorists defeat terrorism?  Why did we give millions to 
the Taliban?  Why are we selling weapons to the Israelis?  Why did we 
trade arms for hostages?

In order to defeat terrorism, we would have to look at it roots, what 
drives intelligent, educated people (these guys were neither insane 
nor stupid) to complete such a hideous task.  And with an 
understanding of that, we could move ahead and eliminate whatever it 
is that feeds its.

If we did that, we would have to admit to complexity, maybe even some 
of our own culpability.  And we would have to address that. 
Apparently, that cannot happen.  It couldn't happen before, and if it 
happened now, it might give their acts legitimacy.  So we are 
cornered.  We're right where they want us.

Certain pundits have suggested that the best way to defeat terrorism 
in places like Afghanistan would be to help rebuild that broken-down 
country, so that the support for terrorists is weakened.

I think many many paths could be explored.  But this would take time, 
strategy, a refocusing.  Instead of being a world cop, the US could 
be a model of global consciousness, of ethical behavior.  We could 
quit being so damn greedy.

But the fact is that the US is not willing to be honest with itself.

The fact is, the US did not become a superpower by behaving ethically.

We are a horribly indoctrinated nation, where corporate interests 
define both domestic and foreign policy.  Human life and dignity are 
secondary to the pursuit of wealth.

The history of the Middle East is a mess, largely due to Western 
imperialism in the area.  The Brits were the first to use chemical 
weapons in Iraq, around WWI.

And so it goes.

What goes around comes around.

To respond to violence with violence increases the chance that the 
Middle East populace will increasingly view the US as an aggressor, 
causing more converts to the underground anti-US groups.

War is easy.

Paradigm shift is difficult.

Erika
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