----- Original Message ----- From: "Gautam Mukunda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 11:20 AM Subject: Re: Brin: the new Bush ad : I don't see any morphing...
> --- Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Wouldn't the same teachers agree that it is stating > > that the Americans > > deserve to die? > > > > Dan M. > > There is a little more to the quote than that, > actually. From earlier in the same Michael Moore > statement: > > The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation > are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." > They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their > numbers will grow -- and they will win. > Now, here's the thing. Predicting they will win, > okay, that's tolerable. It's stupid. But whatever. > But when you call a bunch of guerrillas "The > Minutemen" then you're not just saying that they will > win, you're saying that you _want them_ to win. Most > Americans, after all, think it was a good thing that > the minutemen did win. Read in conjunction with his > other statement - in the same post - and I think the > meaning becomes even more clear. He doesn't just > think we shouldn't have invaded Iraq - now that we're > there, he _wants us to lose_. Other than through the > deaths of American soldiers, how are we going to lose, > actually? Lets look at his presupposition. 1) George Bush wants to control Iraq's oil to benefit his friends. 2) Bush invents non-existent ties to 9-11 and non-existent WMD to justify a war of aggression fought for financial gain. 3) Americans support this evil war. 4) Iraqis have a right to form their own government (we all agree with this statement, I think...even Moore can't be wrong on everything. :-) ) 5) Those fighting the US are fighting for Iraqi independence from foreign domination. 6) That is exactly what the Minutemen did. Our founding document, the Declaration of Intemperance, can only be read supporting their right to be independent of US domination for the purposes of stealing their oil. 7) They will win because right is on their side. And, because we supported evil, we will pay the penalty of sinners by watching our children die as the victims of their parent's evil. >From my perspective, only statement #4 is accurate. I don't see much argument from anyone, Republican or Democrat on this. But, let us consider a case where a country did perpetrate an unjust war. The classic example is Germany in WWII. I think we agreed before that a patriotic German could think that the Nazi's winning and dominating the world would be bad for everyone, including the Germans. That he could work to put a spoke in the wheel of the Nazis (as did Bonhoffer) and still be a good German. As far as I can tell, Moore pictures himself in the same mold. IMHO, this is an extreme case of arrogant self righteousness. But, I can see him as someone who deplores the deaths that are the inevitable outcome of the evil that he thinks the US embraced. For, if he were right in his presumptions, this would have been a very shameful war. It would be a war that did untold damage to the moral underpinnings of the US. As it is, the US went in with good intentions but bad preparation for the aftermath of the war. The damage will be diplomatic, not moral. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
