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News :: Miscellaneous |
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A LETTER TO AN AMERICAN FRIEND |
Current rating: 0 |
by NOT-IN-MY-NAME
(No verified email address) |
08 Nov 2001
Modified: 09 Nov 2001 |
I sent a photo to a friend in San Francisco -it's a man and his grand-child crying because of the kidnapping of his wife by slave dealers in the Iranian border.Here is his reply...
an example of Manufactured Consent?. |
I sent a photograph to an american friend ... It's a man and his grand-child crying because of the kidnapping of his wife by slave dealers in the Iranian border... I thought my american friend would understand.. My friend works with minority groups in the west-coast of the US, my friend is a psychologist deeply moved by people's pains... This is his reply...All I could think of, was that his opinion had been shaped, distorted, deformed, conformed by the American Media. How many people in the US share his thoughts, I wonder.
______________________________________________________________________
..please don't send me pictures like that, have u seen any of people
crying at the world trade center? i totally support the us effort to end
terrorism. whatever casualties are happening are the fault of the taliban
for not handing bin ladin over. the entire world is involved in this.
it is unfortunate and horrific that innocent people are being killed, but
this is a really big thing, and the freedom of the world depends on it.
whether others like it or not, the u.s. takes a role in monitoring freedom
the world over, and they may exploit others in order to ensure freedom,
nothing and no regime is perfect, but this is the best one in the world, and
i have traveled extensively and know this to be true. whatever is behind
this war, oil, money whatever, nothing changes the fact that over 5000 people
were killed by a psychotic islamic fundamentalist. this is not ok, and i
really think we must defend against this sort of thing. |
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What's "Freedom"? |
by We Who Are Free
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Nov 2001
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The people who claim that U.S. military action supports, defends, or propagates "freedom" will need to define freedom for me.
When my children starve because my village is destroyed, I am not free.
When I oppose military violence and yet have no choice but to pay taxes which fund this violence worldwide, I am not free.
When I, along with majority of others, elect one candidate, and another takes office by fraud and subterfuge, we are not free.
A thousand other examples could follow. |
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Crossed Wires/Public Sentiment |
by Charles Bee
c-bee1 (nospam) uiuc.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
09 Nov 2001
|
It sounds like he missed the "kidnapping by slave traders" part, and assumed that the picture was related to military action.
But to answer your question, I and many Americans don't fully support the current US actions - I'd rather have seen something through the international systems in place, with the possible addition of assassination for the sake of expediency.
Because, like it or not, one line of questions immediately occurs - how long would it take? Would it damage terrorist infrastructure, or would the next to step up be able to use the same tools? How many of all nations would die in terrorist reprisals through this infrastructure while proceedings dragged on?
I'm betting that that hypothetical civilian death toll and the current one would be remarkably similar - particularly if military hardware previously used to "cleanse" some afghani tribes is being destroyed in greater numbers. We have had numerous reports here, from Afgani womens' organizations and others, of entire villages scoured by gunships.
In any case, sure, this person's response is filled with keywords popularized by the corporate media, but his basic premises are very popular - that the Taliban had plenty of chances and warnings, that they are willing to suffer casualties to protect the suspects from capture, and that thus they share complicity in further actions by the suspects.
There is also a widespread perception that if the US does not respond effectively, nothing will change - and there is ample precedent to go by.
Almost everyone here can agree that this action will not "end terrorism", as our leaders so deceptively claim. However, your writer is essentially correct in that 4000+ deaths carry a sort of deadly momentum in themselves, regardless of the appropriateness of the response - this is an unpleasant side effect of being human. I must admit I haven't settled on any solution that would make me or anyone else happy - but it's clear that "business as usual" over there had to be massively disrupted, and quickly.
In short, if indeed there are answers to be had, then no, I don't think many people over here believe we really have them.
-------
P.S. To "We Who Are Free" - Freedom is relative. This addition to your current definition may help somewhat. I don't pay taxes anymore, because I'm disabled. But even though I do pretty well, I think I'd prefer your freedom to mine.
And I wonder - do folks add to the fraud and subterfuge of our president-select the statement by Ralph Nader that he would drop out if the election was close..? I believe it's only really helpful to analyse how we got here if we're going to consider all the variables. |
