[lit-ideas] Re: JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM. (was Re: Re: Historians & Bush)

 
<<The  FACT is we're all proverbial blind men feeling an elephant.  >> 
Amen.  Preach it,  brother. 



========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] JUST THE FACTS, 
MA'AM.  (was Re: Re: Historians  & Bush)  Date: 12/6/05 7:35:56 AM Central 
Standard 
Time  From: _atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   To: 
_lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:    

Phil Enns wrote:
> Mike Geary wrote:
> 
> "All depends  on the interpretation, I guess."
> 
> Interpretation of which facts  I was referring to, right?


I'm not sure which facts you are/were referring to.   My position is, I 
think, that something is a fact only because we interpret it  as a fact.  We 
need 
look no further than the Bush Administration's  justification for the war in 
Iraq to see the 'truth' of Nietzsche's  dictum.  It was a justification based 
on 
the interpretation of all  those WMD "facts" garnered by the best 
intelligence agencies in the world.   Oops.  OK, seems those facts were 
interpretations 
of other "facts".  
 
Or take Amago's examples: "Johnson's utterly corrupt  policies during 
Reconstruction following the Civil War are the direct cause of  our race 
problems in 
this country."   'Utterly corrupt' --  interpretation; 'the direct cause of 
our race problems' -- interpretation; 
"Bush has unleashed forces that will haunt us for decades  or longer." -- not 
just an interpretation, but a prediction based on his  interpretation of 
Bush's policies; 
"He took the U.S. from economic superpower to a debtor  nation with nukes" 
[well, actually we've been a debtor nation for several  decades now]
"while creating a class of Darwinian terrorists (killing  off the dummies in 
Iraq and leaving the best)" -- interpretation.  
 
And yet Andy says these are facts.  In  another post Andy writes: "But, all 
his actions as president have been severely  deleterious to the country." -- by 
Andy's interpretation, but just 13 months ago  the majority of this country 
thought otherwise and re-elected him.  
And further: "He bankrupted us." -- not an interpretation,  just an 
exaggeration.  
"He proved to the world that militarily we can't win over  a bunch of rag tag 
insurgents." -- that's still an open question.  
"He galvanized the Muslim world against us" -- they were  galvanized against 
us long before Bush came along -- though Bush  hasn't, in my opinion, done 
anything to ameliorate their historical grievances  against most of the Western 
cultures; 
"and created an elite breed of terrorists in the  process." -- 'elite'?   
"He did absolutely nothing to prevent (strengthen levies)  Katrina."  Nor did 
the State of Louisiana or the City of New Orleans  or the Corps of Engineers 
or anyone else. 
 
Before Andy accuses me of supporting Bush, let me remind  him that I harbor 
nothing but ill-will for this administration and one of my  greatest joys is to 
watch Fox News Sunday and hurl obscene invectives against  Hume and Kristol 
and Wallace and send them all emails that make Andy's rants  seem reasonable.  
The FACT is we're all proverbial blind men  feeling an elephant.
 
Mike Geary
Memphis
and that's a fact.

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