Morality plays, was Re: (no subject)

Stephen E Philion philion at hawaii.edu
Fri Sep 14 09:47:05 PDT 2001


Leo wrote: that he (Chomsky) has become so fixated on the American state that he is prepared to minimize the deaths of these untold innocents, so long as their lives are taken in opposition to "American imperialism,"

--I don't see where Chomsky has 'minimized' the deaths in the WTC/Pentagon/Penn. terrorism. It seems more like it's the media and gov't leaders that have been trying to downplay the number of dead and injured. What I find unusual about your position , from a purely utilitarian perspective, forget all the hystrionics about morality forr the moment, is that support for Bush's war mongering rhetoric will certainly bring on the greater likelihood of WTC/Pent. attacks and the deaths of innocent civilians. From a moral perspective I would think welcoming that likelihood is far more tenuous than anything that Chomsky has written. Robert Fisk is right, calls for retaliation will only bring on more deaths of civilans, now within the borders of the US.

Steve

Oh, these calls will also only add to the likelihood that arab-americans or look alikes will be subject of physical and verbal attacks by their fellow American citizens....

Steve

Stephen Philion Lecturer/PhD Candidate Department of Sociology 2424 Maile Way Social Sciences Bldg. # 247 Honolulu, HI 96822



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