Letters to the Editor
Amity
Published Letters: 1110 Editor's Choice: 106
-
Americans Made the Choice
[Read the article: Seizing American supremacy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While there are many flaws in Hiro's argument (Russia never stopped selling arms -- it was the one thing they did uninterrupted through the demise of the Communists), the greatest is the presumption that the Iraq War has been the particular catalyst for the new post-American global order -- or even, he sometimes seems to be saying, the decisive conflict in which all American power will be utterly exhausted.
There was nothing that happened between 2002 and 2003 that suddenly made it economically possible to operate news media outside of the "Anglo-American duopoly" (that's a nice concept and it's to Hiro's credit that he puts it forward). What happened was that an emerging world consensus that the British and Americans could no longer be relied upon for news reached a head. The run-up to the Iraq War was the last straw, not the moment of transformation.
The turn of the millennium was a formal marker of what was already a massive, worldwide sea-change in the aftermath of the Cold War, and it was at that point, at that critical moment of leverage, that the United States chose to be governed according to the lowest of its national characteristics -- ignorance, apathy, xenophobia, blind zealotry.
It could be argued, as many intellectuals have, that the twentieth century ended in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall in the midst of the rise of the information economy. In those days, now scarcely remembered in the United States, we Americans had a heady sense of possibility. Even for those who had never bought the Manichean myths of the Cold War -- or perhaps especially for us -- it seemed possible for our country to get out from the long shadow of a century cut blessedly short and build a new world.
A series of limited military engagements suggested a new American strategic paradigm. An engaged, intelligent president charmed the world, built bridges with former enemies, and ushered in an era of good feeling. Americans balanced their budget, reinvested their "peace dividend" in projects at home and abroad, and started talking about new challenges, new economies, and a rising tide that was going to elevate the world.
But then something interesting happened. We discovered that so long as we had been afraid all the time it had been okay to cheer on America, okay to throw our weight around, okay to talk about American values and American influence and being a beacon and all that business. Yet, when our shadowy enemy vanished in the daylight, the red-blooded patriots and cold warriors and tough-talking cowboys found that America on top, free and clear, was too much for them. Something wasn't right, something wasn't squalid enough, and they fell on the icons and institutions of American power and prestige like barracuda.
It's been nearly 20 years after the Wall, 20 years of willful national self-destruction and only the most tepid of defenses. Twenty years since the Wall came down, and our national aspirations have been reduced to building one of our own.
-
Nice Reversal
[Read the article: When the National Review attacks]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Salon writes a small article about the banal, unsurprising fact that Rudy Guliani is a lying sack of shit, and the National Review spends three columns reacting to it.
It's like .. I don't know, like they're mesmerized or something, fixated on irrelevancies, and can't actual voice what's really important to them because they're too busy scrambling over each other to be outraged about something stupid.
What a nice reversal of the usual dynamic.
-
Only As Good ...
[Read the article: I'm so damned judgmental!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's a saying that seems to have first come out of rock climbing, though one hears it among pilots, mountaineers, and others whose pursuits require nerve, care, and attention to detail in the face of danger:
"You're only as good as your last fuck-up."
This is more than (just) a platitude, something quite other than a way of feeling better about one's mistakes. It's about you, and others, knowing how reliable you are, because you've taken a risk and had it go bad and know something crucial about how things go wrong and what to do about them.
Someone who has never fucked up isn't necessarily a fool, but if you're a rock climber, say, they're definitely someone you won't rely on (unless you're a fool yourself) until the time when they've acquired their fair share.
And life is like rock climbing.
-
Patriot? Then Act! Democrat in '08
[Read the article: War Room contest: Pick the Democrats' bumper sticker]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Patriot? Then Act! Democrat in '08
-
Such Ignorance
[Read the article: It all goes back to trail mix]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What an ignorant article. Everyone knows that in prehistoric societies shopping was taboo for men unless it involved hardware or tools. That ancient stricture has been bred into our genetic code and remains with us to this day. The men in the study were demonstrating a primitive, subcortical fight or flight reaction (which is incidentally the real origin of the term caveat emptor). The results would have been the same at Neiman Marcus.
New research is expected to show a connection between the "gay gene" and the center of the brain responsible for shopping, explaining why gay men do not exhibit this response when picking out clothes, and why lesbians love power tools.
Now does that clear everything up? Just remember: if it fits with what you knew all along, it's science!
-
Get Used to It
[Read the article: Ari Fleischer's misleading message]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You haven't seen anything yet. We're still more than a year away from the presidential election, and the people behind these ads are just getting started.
So, no, they aren't going to tire themselves out or run out of money or become so ashamed that they stop, nor will their ad campaign lose its effectiveness as they try bolder and more manipulative tactics.
Those of us in the reality-based community have to be prepared to tangle with this kind of thing head on, and find ways to express our ideas that are emotionally stirring, not just well-argued.
Let's consider ourselves warned this time, rather than leap into Kerry mode. Please?