Benign/Nefarious (Re: [lbo-talk] Re: Law Student . . . .)

Luke Benjamin Weiger lweiger at umich.edu
Tue Jul 22 09:34:23 PDT 2003


Justin wrote:


> No, they are unintended victims of Progress,
> regrettable, but Omlettes, Eggs, all that sort of
> thing. Same as the victims of Brad's ideal air war and
> comprador subfascist client armies in Vietnam and
> Korea would have been.

I'm sure the current residents of South Korea are happy that their fates don't mirror those of their neighbors to the North.

-- Luke

These are what Chomsky calls
> Benign Massacres. The Ukraine, 1930-32, like the
> Democratic Kampuchea disaster, was a Nefarious
> Massacre. Therefore Brad can be puzzled by (and ignore
> the former sort, because it doesn't fit into his
> framework of outrage), i.e, the deaths due to Benign
> events, while feeling angry about Nefarious ones, and
> morally superior to those who point out the double
> standard, whom his equipment does not permit him to
> read as other than as apologetics for mass murder
> (Nefarious). Free markersa nd Western policies are
> NEVER systematically responsible for Nefarious events.
> That is an axiom. jks



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