Rorty reviewed

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Mon Jun 1 10:19:18 PDT 1998


Brad De Long wrote:


>>The harsh response to Rorty may have something to do with his
>>penchant for gratuitous, con-baiting asides, such as the one in which he
>>absurdly states that "we caused the death of a million Vietnamese out of
>>sheer macho arrogance." In the course of the book, Rorty sets even
>>liberal teeth on edge with such outlandish statements
>
>But we did cause the death of a million Vietnamese out of sheer macho
>arrogance...

And it was done by "liberals." It was Johnson who pulled out his johnson at a cabinet meeting to answer the question "why were we in Vietnam?"

I don't think imperial slaughter is just a matter of macho arrogance, though, which is what makes Rorty a liberal. You can't be a flagwaver and admit to your country's penchant for violence.

Doug



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