back street boy backs off

Chris Kromm ckromm at mindspring.com
Mon Sep 24 20:42:50 PDT 2001


There is, of course, a lot of territory between saying the attacks had a "cause," and saying they were "justified" -- a middle position which I have seen many left commentators put forward expertly (for example, Fisk). To try and muddle the distinction seems like an attempt to score political points, nothing more. CK

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 17:27:57 -0400 From: "Nathan Newman" <nathan at newman.org

The media has been pretty bi-partisan is slamming down anyone who has tried to "explain" or blame anyone for the Sept 11 attack. Falwell got trashed for blaming it on gays and liberals, Schundler running for governor in New Jersey blamed military cutbacks for the failure to stop the attacks and was slammed by everyone, including the sitting GOP governor.

I actually think this is healthy, since there is very little that "caused" or could have prevented folks willing to prepare for years to use boxcutters to take over airplanes, then kill themselves in using them as airborne weapons. Oh sure, folks will find some way to close this particular barn now that the horse has gotten out, but there is no way to create a security system with no holes that can never be exploited by those willing to kill themselves using them.

If people would deal with this basic reality of vulnerability, we might be able to back people off their kneejerk support for cutting back civil liberties in the vain hope of absolute security.

- -- Nathan Newman



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list