Truth & What People Think Re: Churchill

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Thu Oct 18 14:16:24 PDT 2001



>Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>>Doug, don't you _ever_ give a passing thought to what the truth may be
>>as opposed to what people may think.
>>
>>Consider the need to inform a French speaking person that the capsule
>>she is holding is poison. True, you have to think of how you can express
>>your point in French -- BUT FIRST, DAMMIT, YOU HAVE TO DECIDE WHAT THE
>>TRUTH IS.
>>
>>You are doing your damndest lately to justify the lies being passed on
>>concerning you on some other lists.
>
>Even when you're being an asshole, which is much of the time, you're
>usually coherent. What your point is here completely eludes me,
>though. What truth are you talking about? And why shouldn't I care
>what people think? Maybe you don't care much what people think -
>evidence is that you don't - but I do. It's part of being a
>journalist, no?
>
>Doug

One of the truths is that you don't like the U.S. government bombing Afghanistan, but you are afraid of "what people will think" of you if you simply say, "I do not support this fucking barbarism," unless you add a call for the use of "considerable force" to appease the anger, & assuage the fear, felt by the majority of Americans. Without such a call for the use of force, you think, "No one will take me seriously!" Another truth is that you know that neither the current American war on the people of Afghanistan nor "bringing Osama bin Laden & a few of his associates to justice" will prevent future terrorism, unless & until capitalism & U.S. imperialism get consigned to the dustbin of history; however, you also know that it is impossible to abolish capitalism & U.S. imperialism within the next couple of years or perhaps even decades, so you figure this truth is hardly worth mentioning today, as you think, "It ain't practical."

What's not practical _at this moment_, however, is worth saying again and again, as (a very slowly increasing number of) people saying so alters, bit by bit, the ground on which we may build a future for us. Patience & hard work -- even though there is no guarantee that they will "pay off." For nothing else will.

-- Yoshie

* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Anti-War Organizing in Columbus Covered by the Media: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/media.html>



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