-----Original Message----- From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 1:36 PM To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: Re: Hitchens responds to critics
Nathan Newman wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Seth Ackerman" <sackerman at FAIR.org>
>> On the other hand, the attack killed over a hundred Pentagon
>> employees without touching any nearby neighborhoods. Which is more than
>one
>> can say about certain "pinpoint strikes" on "military targets" carried
out
>> by some of the building's occupants in recent years. And I say that as
>> someone whose parents live only a mile or two from the Pentagon.
>
>Given that this was done as part of the same attack that mass murdered 6000
>people and intended to murder as many as 50,000 +, it is this kind of
>statement that undermines trust or credibility in the left.
>
>And is exactly the kind that Hitchens was highlighting.
So all criticisms of the U.S. are off? For how long? Does imperialism get a free pass now?
When you're in lawyer/propagandist mode, Nathan, you manufacture binaries: vote for Dems or you're promoting reaction. Or false equivalencies: if you criticize unions, you're maligning the work of serious activists. So here it's: if you say a word about U.S. imperial violence, then you're dishonoring the dead. If you try to explain something, you're excusing it. Well, guess what - I hate U.S. imperialism, but the deaths of 6000 of my neighbors has affected me profoundly. I understand why people are driven to extremes, but I want the planners punished.
What's that famous quote from Fitzgerald about intelligence being the ability to hold two thoughts in one's head simultaneously?
Doug