Five years ago today
I know today is a day for solemn remembrance and there's plenty of that to go around. But sadly when I think of 9/11 now a lot of what comes to mind is how Bush and his party have exploited 9/11 for their own ends - and continue to do so again and again. Who would have thought five years ago when the country and the world came together how divided and poisonous the atmosphere would be today. As Bill Maher said, Bush acts as if "the worst thing that ever happened to us is the best thing that ever happened to him."
So in another act of remembrance let's not forget what he was actually doing at the time.
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Livin' In Fear - The Bagdads
10 Comments:
Looks like he's trying to guess what happens to the goat.
What does Maher mean by "acts as..." To date, it *is* the best thing that's happened to his legacy, which is a terrible shame.
What happened on 9/11?
Blah, Blah, Blah, sounds like you're just another lost soul that is so full of hate for President Bush, that you are blind to what really happened on 9/11/01. Oh well, at least there are more of us, the people who voted him into office and support his military crusade to Kill Islamic Fascism.
I'm with you Zach, but I don't think those who criticize Bush are "lost souls." I voted for Ralph Nader and was critical of Bush myself until the past year. I've recently come to realize how a basic flawed presupposition such as moral relativism can blanket my intelligence concerning things as varied as art to foreign policy.
I no longer stand against President Bush on issues of foreign policy. I sincerely believe this is a mammoth battle of good against evil and it is important to side ourselves with the goodness we all have in our hearts. I also believe the war in Iraq is a war to sustain our military fuel to fight the real terrorists, as well as a militaristic roach-trap. While some liberals make snide remarks along the lines of "no war for oil!" I can't help but become frustrated like you-- what else will our military run on when the Saudis side with China and we're left in the dark with barely enough oil in our own soil to run a warless society for two years? Surely then a "war for oil" might sound more like a "war for survival." But thinking ahead always bothers people in this century, in this country, right and left.
The enemy is a true evil. These are evil people who are evil by the choices they make and the cause they have sided with (anti-Israel, anti-western doesn't make them the away team, it makes them the evil team guys!)
Bush makes wrong choices (of course there is an absolute right and wrong to every choice.) but he's on the right team. And so are we, whether we support him or not.
Oh my, where do I start? Here are just a few comments.
A fight against evil? How many times are you going to fall for the Bush Administration's lies? You dismiss the "war for oil" criticisms -- but do you have any idea how much companies like Halliburton and Blackwater are profiting, based on bloated no-bid contracts? And by the way, I'm hoping you can explain why exactly we're in Iraq, because Bush sure hasn't.
Finally, I strongly disagree that there is an absolute right and wrong to every choice; in fact, I'd say that the essential trait of the Administration (and, by extension, their fundamentalist and neoconservative masters) is just this kind of reductive, black/white worldview, which has helped create so much of the mess we're in.
Gary
Humans should not rely on administrations to point out evil when it is evident in the evil-doers comments, ideology, and actions.
Secondly, the war for oil isn't dismissed, it is championed. There is no doubt in my mind if we are not going to look at the world's limited oil supply proactively, then a war for the remaining oil is unavoidable. The profits these companies are making are secondary results. The reason we are in Iraq is to secure the Iraqi oil fields. The fact that Hussein was a constant threat to both America's interests and possibly our people, made Iraq the prime location for this distinct military action.
Third, I find it very concerning that the term "fundamentalist" has become pejorative. This "black and white" thinking is necessary in times of war, as is evident through history. Chamberlain was a modernist in the sense that he thought the European situation was too complex to term the third reich as "evil" and move against them. This was not ignorance, this was a sign of post-modern relativist thought.
Once we begin to deconstruct sacred texts and beliefs using modern and post-modern philosophy like it is a new religion in and of itself, we lose a base of liberty that provided us with these post-modern ideas.
It scares me that you find the "black and white worldview" and not the Jihadists to be the cause of this mess.
I am so sick of conservatives droning on about moral relativism as a brush to tar bad, bad liberals.
How about "torture isn't torture when we do it" for moral relativism?
Moral relativism, or relativism at all is a bi-partisan ticket. Liberals and conservatives are guilty of stooping to these levels for self-posturing. It just happened to be someone critical of Bush-policy who stooped to these lows on this particular board.
I disagree with the satirical quote: "torture isn't torture when we do it."
Torture is still torture when we do it, but when we do it, it's a wrong being used to defend a right-- and that's the grey area between the absolute right and absolute wrong.
Just as lying to save a life is still lying, still wrong, there are these grey levels at the human level that only God can know the truth to, and that's when faith is most important.
The choice of where we place our faith has always been crucial, and I think these times are no exceptions.
Lee, I apologize in advance for clogging your blog; this will be my last post on the matter.)
Chase, I'm sorry you're afraid because I believe the "black and white worldview" is the CAUSE of the mess we're in, and I respectfully urge you to read my post more carefully; my point was that the Bush Administration is exacerbating (and profiting from) the crisis, not that they caused it. It's clear that we are, in various ways, under attack. (Though let's set aside my belief that American foreign policy since, let's say, the 19th Century has stoked understandable rage throughout the world; I imagine you disagree.) But, frankly, I find it scary that you justify torture as a means to some supposed greater good, and that you seem to claim some insight into God's judgments in these grey areas. For a non-fundamentalist (of either the Christian or Muslim variety), that's pretty far out. You stated in a previous post that there's an absolute right and wrong to every choice, but now torture is, what, morally relative? As far as I'm concerned, torture is one of those absolute wrongs, plain and simple.
Second, while the world's supply of oil is obviously decreasing, I don't agree that that, in and of itself, justified the invasion of Iraq. Particularly when (1) the Bush Administration itself stated altogether different reasons for the war and (2) oil companies have done so much to undercut efforts to develop alternative sources of energy.
Third, I can't speak for poor Chamberlain, who's inevitably trotted out as an example of weak-willed liberalism (and now, amazingly, as some sort of post-modernist long before the concept had even been invented, and long before the end of modernism). Still, as I understand it, his failure to act largely reflected a political miscalculation (an underestimation of the threat posed by Germany) in light of the political realities in Britain (including the British economic situation), not some abstract philosophical position with respect to whether the Third Reich was evil or not.
Finally, you may accept that (your) religious texts and beliefs are unassailable and sacred. I don't have to. I am free to deconstruct any text or belief I choose. Modernism and post-modernism, to me anyway, are not religions, but each offers valuable analytical tools and methods which I use to think critically, however much I fall short.
Peace (and I mean that sincerely),
Gary
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