Keith Hudson replied: > > > Scientists and intellectuals could > > > cripple a nation that became dominated by Fundamentalists. > > > > While I certainly wish Keith was right on this one, I'm afraid he's way > > too optimistic. > > You might be right (at least in the short-to-medium term). One telling > argument against me is why did the strong advice of the CIA and the State > Department not prevail over the Bush-Cheney-Wolfowitz team? From what > we've heard, they were quite certain that what has since happened since the > invasion of Iraq was much on the cards -- in particular, the spread of > terrorism generally. All I can think of is that, in this instance, the > whole matter of oil supplies is so overwhelmingly important for the future > of America, the politics overcame the warnings.
Or it's because they're puppets of a force whose policy has always been deliberate escalation (Ariel Ultra). > > Looking at Israel and USA, which already are "dominated > > by Fundamentalists" (religious and/or economic ones), it seems that > > scientists and intellectuals not only fail to cripple the fundamentalist > > leadership, but even enable and enhance it, providing the technical and > > PR means of oppression. > > I don't know enough about Israel to comment on this. The fundamentalist > (ultra-orthodox) Jews certainly have a lot of extraordinary state > privileges but (from what friends who've been to Israel tell me) they are > despised, even hated, by many thoughtful Jews. You may be right -- they > might have a sort of veto on Israeli politics -- but I'm still doubtful > that they have a predominant effect. The government coalition includes ultra-orthodox parties, but that wasn't my main point. It is that the government's drive for Greater Israel (and the land-grab and HR violations in general) is based on religious claims, although they may be cloaked in secular coatings. > > Case in point: The Reichstag fire, err 9/11, > > and all that followed from it. > > I don't see the point here. The technical (im)plausibilities of the official version of the WTC attacks (e.g. flying abilities of the boardcutter-gang, collapses of the buildings "without" explosives placed in the basements), as well as the far-reaching consequences on public freedoms and foreign military adventures, and the fundamentalist ways of justifying them, would have been a prime occasion for scientists and intellectuals to speak out against their nation becoming "dominated by Fundamentalists", or even to "throw spanners in the works", as you rightly suggested. However, that didn't happen. Instead, US scientists & intellectuals are busy providing the means for implementation of an ever-more fundamentalist empire. Veblen must be spinning in his grave. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
