[Rhodes22-list] Transformation of the left

[Bill Berner]

Rid -

I took the day pass to Salon, but couldn't find the rest of the article.
The first page was, as you said, quite interesting.

FWIW, or not, My personal take on Lempinens' thesis, taken from personal
experience (i.e. my arguments with my pacifist wife after 9/11), are the
following.

The lefts position goes all the way to pacifism wit hthe theory that
violence only begets violence.  One mans liberation, is another mans
repression, and the one he is newly repressed probably has the power and
will to see krevenge, and also the smarts to foment even more violence.
Maybe, at its most extreme,this becomes a justification for appeasement.

The whole thing becomes further complicated in this country by our arguably
lousy job at picking our allies among a number of repressive regimes, and
seems to many like a huge self serving hypocrisy when we get all righteous
about turning yesterdays ally into todays enemy.  Both hare true with the
Taliban and Hussein.  In Husseins case, we were more than happy to turn a
blind eye to his atrocities when we wanted him to let Bechtel (sp?) build an
oil pipeline through Iraq to Jordan (he ultimately didn't let the project
happen), or when he was fighting Iran.

It gets even more complicated by our having no clear plan on what we may
replace Saddam with, and if the reality of the outcome will be a stable
society that promotes democracy in the Middle East (apologies to Thomas
Friedman, but very pie in the sky), or a plunge into chaos and factional
fighting among ethnic groups and tribes, not to mention Turkey.

I don't think any liberal or lefty would say that Saddam shouldn't go, but
their issue is the manner in which we are making it happen, and the likely
result of our actions.

But, as Dennis Miller says, blah, blah, blah.



Bill Berner
191 South Broadway
Hastings on Hudson, NY  10706
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces@rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces@rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Rik Sandberg
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 8:18 PM
To: Rhodes 22 List
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Transformation of the left

All the group,

Being Bill wants to throw out a cheap shot or two, perhaps I'll counter with

something a little more meaningful.


Here's something, I found quite interesting, that I sent  to Alex last
night.


Alex,

I read an article last night that I thought was very well written, about the

recent transformations of the "left" Here's a link. You don't have to 
subscribe to this thing. Just scroll down and you'll see how you can get a 
free day pass. You'll have to page through a commercial for the free visit. 
It's short and easy though. I think you'll find it worth while. I know I
did.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/03/19/left

If this doesn't get you to thinking, you've already been dead awhile.

Rik
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