[lit-ideas] Re: When a civilized society fights a barbarous one
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:58:46 -0400
Eric: But Judy it is the essence!
Judy: No Eric, it is not.
Eric: You wrote that West's comment, "The morally superior
(read: paralyzed) don't really take sides; don't really
believe one culture is qualitatively better or worse than
the other. They don't even believe one culture is just plain
different from the other" was balderdash.
I tried to show that claims to superiority reside in overall
governing ideals, and may be constantly refuted in
day-to-day praxis. Otherwise the society with the lowest
ideals would be superior because it always lived up to those
low ideals.
West's "morally superior(read: paralyzed)" ignore the
distance between ideals and praxis, and bestow opprobrium on
all, regardless of their overall governing ideals. Zarqawi
deliberately chopping off heads and US bombs accidentally
killing civilians are treated as the same thing--from an
absolute perspective that ignores praxis.
This is like condemning a man who had an affair with equal
force as one would condemn a serial rapist.
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