----- Original Message ----- From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 6:22 PM Subject: Re: Violence, was Re: Allies and opponents of US fall silent
> >"Kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out" is an example of the
> >dehumanization that takes place prior to enjoining others to engage
in
> >violence, whether by the State or a group of non-State actors.
> >
> >Ian
>
> Encouragement to war may have been once as clear and simple as you
> suggest. Our job would be easy if they still put it like that.
> Today, power elite propaganda is most often cloaked in the language
> of compassion, especially toward women and ethnic minorities:
>
> Liberate Afghan women from the Taliban!
> Protect Albanians from Serbs!
> Rescue East Timorese from Indonesia!
> Save Somalis from hunger!
> Etc.
> --
> Yoshie
>
==============
I don't doubt that for a second any more than I doubt that they'll state that it's the other side doing the dehumanizing in order to justify aggression and call it defense. That's the problem with language and the / between undecidability/deception/sincerity when trying to get at 'truth' regarding very complex motives; then one gets into a statistical muddle of who to believe. No one has solved that one yet.
What if Australia or South Korea had taken it upon itself to stop Milosevic?
What if Japan had armed the East Timorese?
These are simply counterfactuals for exploring motives. I offer them in order to get a view of what conflict might still be like in the absence of US hegemony since we can't assume that if the US 'collapses' or takes a Ghandian stance towards the rest of the world that violence between groups and nations will disappear. What of non-hegemonic 'military humanism' then?
Ian