Nancy-
I agree with the tone and overall message of the post you sent. It should
be noted that other circumstances than just racism (though I'm not doubting
that is _a_ factor) are involved. I wont waste too much bandwidth as
Chomsky and others have pointed them out in great detail, but it should be
said that the responsibilities we bear (the US, I mean) are much more
recent than you imply. For example, one of our "necessary" submarine routes
requires the cooperation of the Indonesian government. . . . (And before
anyone corrects Nancy as to the relevance of this, it is relevant to all
persuasion, social psych classes, especially those looking at
politics/affiliation/etc, cognition, and a host of other topics). This also
begs the question of the incompetence of the UN to go in and stir up
situations like this without contingency plans for what to do when a known
bully behaves in very predictable ways.
Tim Shearon
Listmembers,
>
>I am going to abuse this bandwidth this morning to ask you all to please
>think very carefully about the apparent hypocrisy of the US's failure to act
>to protect the innocent people of East Timor who are now again being
>slaughtered because they dared to express their desire for independence from
>Indonesia.
>
>I for one find it hard to swallow after the months of "concern" over the
>plight of the Kosovar Albanians. Even more hard to swallow because we sold
>and gave arms to the Indonesian government 25 years ago and essentially
>facilitated their outright genocide against the people of East Timor. We
>have a responsibility in this situation (in my opinion greater than the one
>we had in the Balkans), but apparently for all our lip service to protecting
>freedom and democracy whatever that responsibility is takes a back seat to
>our economic and political interests in that region.
>
>I think you might find some relevance here as our racism (the Timorese are
>not white-skinned Europeans) plays a role. We certainly are selective about
>which genocides we wring our hands over!
>
>I hope that you will alert your students to this matter. I hope you will
>think about this, not put it out of your minds so quickly, and perhaps spread
>the word among your colleagues too.
>
>Thanks for reading this post.
>
>Nancy Melucci
>Faux Full-Timer
>El Camino College
>Torrance, CA
>"It is impossible to love justice and to love one's country." - Camus
_______________________________________________________
Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
Albertson College of Idaho
Department of Psychology
2112 Cleveland Blvd
Caldwell, Idaho
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
208-459-5840
