So is there some age limit on this "responsibility"? Are ten year old's
guilt=free? Are those suffering Alzheimers'
excluded? Are those who voiced opposition or even disapproved in thought OK?
Aren't Americans going to need
a humungous throng of shrinks to help Americans deal with their collective
guilt?
Cheers, Ken Hanly
----- Original Message -----
From: Nathan Newman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 4:06 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:2895] Re: Re: Re: Yugoslavia to fSU and Chile
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Louis Proyect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > But the fact that he was able to do
> >so reflects not just his personal qualities but a rough reflection of the
> >Serbian democratic will, an unfortunate reflection on that population.
And
> >that is one reason I could support the Kosovo intervention and war with
> >Serbia, precisely because there was collective responsibility by Serbians
> >for the crimes in Kosovo - collective responsibility in the sense that
all
> >democratic systems share for their government's policy.
>
> -Interesting. The Goldhagen thesis adapted to Yugoslavia.
>
> Short memory. I did that a while ago. But the idea that people might
have
> some responsibility for the actions of their government is hardly some
> bizarro way-out idea. It's a basic tenet of any democratic theory. And
> when a people democratically support atrocities by their government, it is
> not just the leadership that bears responsibility but the people
themselves.
>
> Some people have noted that Milsoevic was partly rejected in this election
> because the population wanted to escape the sanctions that the US and
Europe
> have imposed. That result is exactly the point of imposing the sanctions.
> And they made sense only because we had some expectation that popular
> pressure could force Milosevic out. Compare this to the sanctions
against
> Iraq, which amount to the murder of innocents, since the Iraqi people have
> so little democratic power, it is hard to hold them responsible for
> Hussein's government's actions, and they have little power to oust him.
>
> -- Nathan Newman
>
>
>
