Tsk, tsk... that's the best you got for a flame, Frege? You want to give it a second shot? I am told its difficult to wipe the archives, but it can be done if you know the right people!
> I'm just saying that when you say "They are not the same" you probably
> shouldn't give as your reasons that a) who died in Europe were "innocent
> and helpless" (begs the question: today's Israel's population not so
> innocent and helpless?) and b) the history of how Israel was formed and
> how the government has treated it's neighbors is "complex" (with, I'll
> be generous, a tilt toward "wrong") -- because it really really sounds
> like you're saying "if they got nuked, they'd deserve it."
So, let me ask you this: a) the US attacked Nicaragua and killed a bunch of people. b) Atta and Co attacked the US and killed a bunch of people. Are (a) and (b) the same? If they are different (as I recall Noam Chomsky suggests -- and he is like a language dude too, not sure if that means he is a tech writer or someone who knows logic and stuff) then does that mean that the people who died on 9/11 deserved it? Or are they the same?
>
> Besides: the title of his essay is THIS HOLOCAUST WILL BE DIFFERENT.
>
> So, how are you being contrary by saying "not the same" ...?
>
Because he means "different" in terms of how it will occur: the first involved human contact while the second will arrive on missiles. But the very use of the word Holocaust is the point: that is what is common. That is the sleight of hand. However, the two events (should Morris' masochistic wet dream come true) are "not the same" in that they will have different roots: the first entirely rooted in the twisted ideology of Nazism and European attitudes of anti-semitism. The second not so. Which is Chomsky's point in analysing the issues behind 9/11: which is not to talk about deserving (to borrow a favourite line from The Unforgiven) but to figure out how best to understand these things (and avoid them). Of course Morris is not interested in any of this -- the whole point is to drop the meme bomb "the second Holocaust" (like D'Souza's "The End of Racism", or the dude that Doug forwarded who wrote "No Alternative"), and let it do its work. Fuck him. As Ali may have said, Iran can simply say: You don't scare me. I ain't participated in no Holocaust.
Also, Benny got his numbers wrong: his fantasy would be the third (or higher) Holocaust, not the second.
--ravi