Subject:
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Re: Future Speech Text of George W. Bush?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 13 Feb 2003 20:04:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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255 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Scott Arthur writes:
> > Your fellow countrymen have woken up to the fact that whilst they may feel
> > that the USA stands for "freedom", for others is stands for the exact
> > opposite. They may want to sort that before the bomb a nation into a state of
> > "freedom".
>
> I don't think so. How *specifically* does American freedom *oppress* others
> (unless you are talking about "religious oppression" ie our freedom is an
> afront to Muslims in general, which I understand, though condemn as hateful
> intolerance).
It's not so much "American freedom" as "America". To many middle-eastern
people, the US is synonomous with 'evil jerks'. Regardless of whether or not
it's a justified assessment, that's what many think.
I think the point was that people in this country, really for the first
time, felt genuinely vulnerable on 9/11. It may have made some people more
leery of "policing the world" and whatnot. In effect, despite the fact that
the US doesn't bargain with terrorists, some of its populace does. They DO
respond to fear. Hence, some people may be afraid that if we jump in and
attack Iraq, it'll only result in more terrorist attacks.
On the other hand, perhaps more sadly, is the fact that some people's
response to that fear is to make others feel vulnerable by flexing the
nation's might out of some sense of inferiority/helplessness.
DaveE
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Future Speech Text of George W. Bush?
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| (...) The problem isn't that we are an open society that is vulnerable to terrorism, it is that there are those who choose to take advantage of that openess-- using freedom as a cowardly way of expressing their hatred and intolerance. (...) I don't (...) (22 years ago, 13-Feb-03, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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