[Austin-ghetto-list] new yorker

[Jon Ford]

Clever reductio ad absurdum and slippery slope usage, Bob, but it doesn't 
have much to do with what Sontag is complaining about--certainly not enough 
to brand her as a purveyor of "twaddle."
Basically she is saying that Bush is pulling out all the stops in a massive 
barrage of"feel good by getting mad at the evil dogs"   propaganda. I think 
you are caught up in it yourself-- 'tis a pity.
Jon




>From: "telebob x" <telebob@hotmail.com>
>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: Re: [Austin-ghetto-list] new yorker
>Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 20:50:32 -0500
>
>Hell if this gets any worse..anyone who doesn't volunteer to die for their
>country could be branded a coward...  american pilots who won't come down 
>so
>the missiles can get them....soldiers firing from behind rocks and
>foxholes....why don't they just strap bombs on and run at the enemy like 
>the
>brave Muslims on the buses?
>
>This is the kind of twaddle I have come to expect from the Susan Sontags of
>the world.
>
>
>telebob@hotmail.com
>00 506 224 4858 Costa Rica
>512 440 1862 Austin, TX
>
>
>
>>From: James Holland <jhollnd@swbell.net>
>>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>>Subject: Re: [Austin-ghetto-list] new yorker
>>Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 19:33:20 -0500
>>
>>T
>>Susan Sontag wrote:
>>
>>And if the word "cowardly" is to be used, it might be more aptly applied 
>>to
>>those who kill
>>from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those
>>willing
>>to die themselves in order to kill others. In the matter of courage (a
>>morally neutral virtue): whatever may be said of the perpetrators of
>>Tuesday's slaughter, they were not cowards.
>>
>>
>>Obviously the word "cowardly" is immediately false with respect to the
>>suicide bombers.  "Cowardly" has come to modify "attack" by reflex, and
>>several commentators noted that from the beginning.  Whether the bombers
>>had
>>the guts to ask themselves at any point whether they were doing the right
>>thing, however,  is a question Susan Sontag chooses not to address.  There
>>are people who are physical but not moral cowards, and vice versa.
>>
>>But it's when she, and of course Maher, start primly making comparisons
>>with
>>the overflights in Iraq that the remarks become totally ridiculous.  It's
>>another example of a presumably rigorous series of statements which really
>>beg the question.  She's saying that we have no business flying over Iraq
>>at
>>all, because if we do have that right then we can obviously retaliate
>>against anti-aircraft missile sites (that's the "ongoing bombing") that
>>shoot at the planes.  In a military context to use the word "cowardly" in
>>this way is stupid.  I realize that quoting General Patton here is not
>>likely to warm the hearts of everyone, but where this is concerned he
>>summed
>>it up: "your job is not to die for your country, your job is to make the
>>other son of a bitch die for his country."  Sontag and Maher seem to think
>>that it isn't sporting for the U.S. planes to fly so far up.  Just not
>>fair.
>>They ought to at least fly within missile range.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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