Letters to the Editor
William Timberman
Published Letters: 3299 Editor's Choice: 7
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David seems to need a history lesson
[Read the article: Why do so many neoconservatives lack the courage of their convictions?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Paul D., Bullsmith, I couldn't agree more with your criticism of David's formulation of the Iranian problem.
One question I would like to ask him is what he believes the nature of that problem was when we put the Shah on the throne in 1941, and overthrew Mossadegh for him in 1953. I'd also like to ask him whether or not he thinks that the opinions of the Iranian people were respected in either instance, and whether or not that matters to him at all? Would he at least be willing to concede that it mattered a lot to the Iranian people? If not, perhaps he can offer an alternative explanation for the widespread support for the Ayatollah Khomenei following the Shah's fall from power in 1979.
Despite the ambiguous evidence now available, David seems to believe that it's a dead certainty that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons. In the light of the past 65 years of Iranian history, can he really not imagine why they might want to do so?
One last set of questions: If l'affair Mossadegh didn't work out so well in the long run for the U.S. despite Allen Dulles' supposed cleverness, why would treating Iran to some of the medicine we're currently dishing out in Iraq turn out so much better? If he doesn't think it would, how would he convince the Iranians that they should expect better from us in the next 65 years than they've gotten in the past 65, or doesn't he think that matters?
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A worthwhile point
[Read the article: Why do so many neoconservatives lack the courage of their convictions?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jojo, you make a good point; if Bani Sadr was an Iranian Menshevik, I suppose you could call the Ayatollahs Iranian Bolsheviks with some justice. Nevertheless, given the state of affairs in the middle of a revolution, someone's ideas are always clearer, and their political forces better organized. It's also true that a majority, despite misgivings, will generally throw in with those they feel have a better grasp on the situation. In the Iranian case, I think there's little doubt who that was.
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Ignorance is anything but bliss
[Read the article: Is "Howard Kurtz" a software program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]or they simply have a disguised agenda nurtured since their pathetic college years as Marxist-Leninist fellow-travelling dopers, showing their college era empty heads have not developed into middle age.
You should change your handle to Don't Know Much About History
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Hypocrisy
[Read the article: Is "Howard Kurtz" a software program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thomas Jefferson believed that all men are created equal, yet he kept slaves. He had a large farm to run, and share-cropping hadn't been invented yet.
Al Gore believes that global warming is a threat to our entire species, yet has energy bills in the tens of thousands of dollars. Tipper can't entertain their friends in an earth-covered yurt, nor bicycle to her Junior League meetings.
GWB believes he has a divine mission to spread democracy to backward nations, yet he can't find a better tool for the job than shock and awe on the one hand, and the triumph of reasons of state over habeas corpus on the other. You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs.
Hypocrisy is a universal human trait; we're all creatures of present circumstance regardless of how fervently we imagine better ones, or how hard we work to create them. We shouldn't be ashamed of this, but we should be aware of it, and we should try to avoid lying about it. When we lie, others will point out our lies for us. This isn't an act of aggression only, in fact, we might be wiser to consider it part of a self-correction process, a way of insuring that reason and imagination don't get ahead of themselves.
There's nothing wrong with Al Gore's grand dream, or with GWB's, for that matter. What's needed from both of them -- and from us -- is a little humility, at least if we're to have a chance of realizing such dreams in the long run.
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@Mooser
[Read the article: Is "Howard Kurtz" a software program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have a friend who makes amulets -- also rattles, sistrums, talking sticks and fetish objects of all kinds for working shamans. He agrees that no eggs were harmed in the production of any of these essential spiritual tools. GWB is from an older school of thought; those who believe that when the going gets tough, the eggs'll have to look out for themselves.
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Is it?
[Read the article: Is "Howard Kurtz" a software program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is is demonizing to point out that O'Reilly, by presenting his moderate, figurative "war" between "traditionals" and "S-P"s is providing the extremists within the Dominionist movement the cover they need to make their views sound and appear mainstream.
-- m.b.f.
Well, no...but I hardly think you can legitimately hold O'Reilly responsible for what they believe. As an example, I once was forced to spend a lot of time trying to explain to my supposed allies on the left that Off the pigs, however satisfying it might have seemed to them as a metaphor, was inherently flawed as a political slogan, precisely because it a) wouldn't seem a metaphor to our adversaries, b) might cause some of our own to mistake a metaphor for reality, and do stupid and violent things, and c) tarred with far too broad a brush.
Once, after a demonstration in Berkeley 40 years ago, I was thumbing a ride home down Telegraph Avenue. I had hair nearly to my waist, was wearing a beaded Lakota medaillion around my neck, etc. A short-haired guy in his early thirties picked me up. It was only after I got into the car that I noticed the riot gear in the back seat. He asked me, What was all that about anyway; what is it that you guys want? It wasn't a hostile question, it was genuine curiosity, probably the reason he stopped for me.
Should I have wanted to off him?