Protest against the Bombing

NM nillo at tao.agoron.com
Fri Mar 26 03:06:14 PST 1999



>Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>) wrote:
>>Margaret, there is no such thing as a "right target" for U.S. military
>>power. Is the U.S. attacking a fascist state? Hurrah for the fascists!
>>Is the U.S. attacking a bunch of barbarians? Hurrah for the
>>barbarians! Is the U.S. attacking a cadre of unreconstructed
>>Stalinists? Hurrah for unreconstructed Stalinists! Is the U.S.
>>attacking fascists disguised as Stalinists? Hurrah for fascists
>>disguised as Stalinists.
>
>Sorry, Carrol, i must disagree. Actions are distinct
>from actors and from motives. The rescue of a cat
>from a group of psychopathic children does not become a
>bad act because performed by the neighborhood bully for
>all the wrong reasons. It just doesn't.

Wow, I already spent my three posts a day before 2PM and all replying the wrong person. It strikes me Margaret that the problem you have with the Kosovo situation is that you, simply put, don't know anything about it. Kosovo is not analogous to a cat and the US is not a bully who feels an ounce of compassion for the cat. It reminds me of the Gulf War when the Republicans compared Kuwait to a woman being raped, Iraq to a motorcycle gang and the US to the police. Clearly, all three were motorcycle ganes with the US Angels goading the Iraqi bikers into attacking another set of bikers so the US could ride in and away with everything. Why Kosovo is suddenly a defenseless kitten is beyond me. You're dreaming.

Additionally, your continued reframing of people's points into the positions held by the ruling class before World War II (i.e., worrying about Russian fallout is suddenly "peace in our time" appeasement, people against US imperialism are suddenly "uncritical supporters" of Milosevic) is frankly put, disingenuous, intellectually dishonest and disgusting and I for one, demand that it to stop immediately, unless you would like some turnabout. I don't know whether you are simply using this cudgel out of ignorance or if you are trolling, but if you expect to be taken seriously, I'd suggest a line of argument other than balling up your fists, rolling your eyes back, throwing your head back and shrieking "HIIIIIIIIITLEEEEER!" every time someone mentions the huge number of political problems with supporting the US in this bombing raid. It just makes you sound and look stupid.

Finally, embedded in your comments is the implied point that our political actions have some sort of responsibility attached to them, even if we cannot effect the real world of the bombing. if this is the case, then I expect you to take responsibility, as a cheerleader, for every bomb dropped by NATO and all subsequent events in Kosovo. I wonder how many ethnic Albanians you'll end up being guilty of killing? Far more than I, that's for sure.



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