The response to terror, 2001/09/13:07:32
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I find Carolyn's anger just, but her opinion wrong and
overwrought. It is not our mere existence that provokes people to crash planes into our buildings. It is not our mere existence that has Palestinians dancing in the streets, passing out candy, at news our grief. In Sweden, say,women have the franchise and they make great porn. Sweden is not the Great Satan. Japanese imports blanket the Earth. But jetliners do not rain down upon affluent Tokyo. The easy, self-flattering, and I would say willfully naive answer is that we are hated simply because we are good, victims of low-minded resentiment. Sadly this is not the case. We bomb aspirin factories in the Sudan. We bait poorer nations with the humiliating dependency of loans, aggravated by fickle promises of debt relief. We funnel billions of dollars to corrupt militaries to help them destroy their citizens' cash crops and livelihood. We insert ourselves in tribal disputes in the Balkans, arbitrarily choosing sides, arbitrarily making bitter enemies. Most significantly, we mindlessly back one tribe of fierce mystics in the Middle East, despite their evident agression against and displacement of another coalition of fierce mystics. The corollary of faith is force, and by intervening (to no discernible national interest)in a conflict that primarily concerns faith, we cannot be pretend to be surprised to find ourselves ourselves the target of mystic agression. Though no doubt it will be an occasion for blood-thirsty revenge--revenge that may only encourage much of the world's seething hatred for the U.S., and encourage those who would make the U.S. a police state--yesterday's tragedies should move us to reconsider the error of becoming a hegemon. Let's withdraw ourselves from foreign conflicts with no direct bearing on our interests. Let's stop trying to plan other countries' economies. Let's stop trying to impose conditions on trade, and implement a policy of unilateral free trade. Let's concern ourselves with our proper concerns, and leave the rest to others. The best way to deter attacks from wild animals is not to hunt them all down, but to keep from provoking them when it does us no good. If we did all that, and _still_ we were attacked, we could then be sure that it really was because we were good. Let me recommend Justin Raimondo's column today at Antiwar.com, which reflects a great deal of my own opinion. (previous in thread, caro) |