On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 21:03:06 EDT, Bemmzim wrote > What I meant to say is that arab hatred of jews may have played a > roll in 911 but that hatred is not a reason to begin to think that > the terrorists are correct. Maybe I am too sensitive but I see this > as a slippery slope. I am not a big fan of these sorts of arguements > in general but historical precedent tells me tha this a slope that > we have slid down before and I would like to see people be careful > about the implications of this arguement.
What you say resonates strongly for me. The Holocaust was in my parents' generation and as I grow older I realize how very recent that was. Last night, my dad was telling me about flying missions over Germany in WWII, a cousin who was killed, seeing a fellow airman after VE Day, who was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW. For all that has changed since then, human nature surely hasn't changed much at all. Sadly, I have no doubt that things like that continue to take place. Our friend David Brin writes so much about otherness... and I think most of our troubles arise when we blame others, use others to advance our own wealth and power, focusing on differences rather than what we have in common. I believe that self-deceit enables this kind of behavior. The provost of my college was a spy during WWII and interviewed Nazi scientists during the Nuremburg war trials. He challenged each incoming class' sense of ethics by telling them that virtually none of the scientists who carried out atrocities did so in the name of Germany, etc. They did them in the name of science, to advance our knowledge. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voicemail: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
