Dennis:
> I never said I trusted Bush and Co. I think the Patriot Act, among other
> authoritarian measures now being undertaken, is very dangerous, has not been
> adequately debated nationwide, was rushed into place by a set of statists
> who desire more and more control of the populace. I also said that while
> al-Qaeda is a real threat, the way Bush went about engaging it left much to
> be desired, as well as leaving possibly thousands of Afghan civilians dead
> with countless more to starve. Many here on this list seem to think al-Qaeda
> is a minor irritant that will fade away with time -- nothing to get too
> nervous about. This is a mistake. It is a very real threat to a good many
> people, from the innocent to the vile, and there are ways to acknowledge
> this without endorsing the self-serving way Bush/Ashcroft/Rumsfeld are
> exploiting it.
"Minor threat" is relative and subjective. The question that occurs to me -- and recall that I have near-victim cred -- is whether Al-Qaeda or the capitalist empire is a bigger threat. I think it is obvious which one is likely to kill, maim, impoverish or imprison a larger number of people in the next ten years, regardless of whether the rhetoric of one is kinder and gentler than the other.
Of course this is treating them as separate entities, whereas I think in fact they complement, reflect and energize one another, as the U.S. and the Soviet system did in the era of the Cold War.
-- Gordon