Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Let God Sort Them Out. We Have Him In Our Back Pocket, Right?
Established conservative author and carpet bombing fan Shelby Steele has written an editorial for the Wall Street Journal arguing that we've been big pussies ever since we realized that people with darker skin tones have souls, and thus we need to start bombing everything that looks like the enemy.
Glenn Greenwald covers what many on the right-wing blogosphere are saying in response to it, notably to the tone of, "What's wrong with mass destruction in the name of a righteous cause?" Oh, and, "White supremacy had some good points."
You think I'm joking about that last one.
What is America to people like Steele? To them, America is not an ideology or a construct. It is not a body of ideas, many of them good at their core, which can nevertheless be used for ill purposes. To them, America is a destiny. It must be accomplished, no matter what means are necessary. So what if a few people get tortured? So what if some civilians get accidentally sprayed with white phosphorus? So what if we cover up the fact that some soldiers used the bodies of dead Iraqis as currency for porn?
So what if we kill 499,999 people so that we can save 500,001?
I accept that sometimes, the end justifies the means. But "the means" should never include the deliberate destruction of innocent life. That is not democracy. That is dictatorship.
Glenn Greenwald covers what many on the right-wing blogosphere are saying in response to it, notably to the tone of, "What's wrong with mass destruction in the name of a righteous cause?" Oh, and, "White supremacy had some good points."
You think I'm joking about that last one.
What is America to people like Steele? To them, America is not an ideology or a construct. It is not a body of ideas, many of them good at their core, which can nevertheless be used for ill purposes. To them, America is a destiny. It must be accomplished, no matter what means are necessary. So what if a few people get tortured? So what if some civilians get accidentally sprayed with white phosphorus? So what if we cover up the fact that some soldiers used the bodies of dead Iraqis as currency for porn?
So what if we kill 499,999 people so that we can save 500,001?
I accept that sometimes, the end justifies the means. But "the means" should never include the deliberate destruction of innocent life. That is not democracy. That is dictatorship.
