Agreed Graham. But I do not hold that we must pay for the sins of our fathers. Yes, If I profited, unjustly from the sins of my personal father, I might feel indebted. But to pay for sins committed 200 to 500 by people I never knew and would have condemned had I been alive then? No, I feel no indebtedness owing.
So, you have no sense that the privileged position that Americans (and Canadians) hold can in any way be related to the peoples they have exploited or destroyed in the past, or continue to exploit and destroy in the present? You have no sense that the US bears any responsibility whatsoever for the parlous state of the people of Palestine? Do you think that your government bears any responsibility for the poisoning of your own people in East Palestine? Do you maintain a strictly divided columned table of (a) acts for which liability exists and (b) acts for which there is no liability? And do these acts migrate by some magical osmosis from one side of that table to the other?
Take a look at my article on Peter Singer, if you care. In it, I do a calculation, of the amount that, at the time, the US granted in foreign aid. It was 49 billion dollars, which amounts to 0.187 per cent of the US GDP. 0.187 per cent of the average take-home pay is less than 75 bucks a year. Singer argued that anything spent on luxury instead of succouring to the needs of the poor is immoral. You don't need to go down that morality argument if you don't want to, but it is my contention that the average American family earning 40,000 dollars a year spends vastly more than 75 dollars a year on luxuries, and that the figure is nearer to 75 dollars a WEEK. So, putting that all together, and upping the 49 billion that the US was paying to international aid (before Trump stopped it all) by a factor of 52 - the number of weeks in a year - results in a figure that, in the space of one year, could eradicate world poverty - over 2 trillion dollars.
Now, tell me, just how much privilege, position and profit do you reckon the US ALONE has reaped from its exploitation, invasion and eradication of the peoples of the world, whether in their own country or in other people's countries? I think 2 trillion wouldn't even touch the fringes.
I do not hold any guilt for what my ancestors did 100 or more years ago, NO, But for the world today in which I live, I do feel we as citizens of the United States hold full responsibility for the horrific wrongs we have committed against any other people. We had no business attacking Vietnam, Iraq, Granada nor any other sovereign nation. We are correct in assisting Ukraine and should never give in to Putin's demands (although I fear that is exactly what trump will do.
The Middle East is a different matter, I despise all terrorists and genocidal maniacs including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Netanyahu, Assad, and any others.
Israel itself is a different dilemma - I despise Netanyahu, but support Israel's right to existence. I do not have any qualified suggestions in how to resolve the problem
If I were a super-powered magician I'd arrange the destruction of Netanyahu and all his cohorts (including trump) as well as the Ayatollah of Iran and all his cohorts.
However, as a declining very old lady. I did as much as I could to defeat trump. I actually wanted another four years for President Biden to give him the chance to rein in our ugly oligarchy. I am not now, and never have been a fan of musk, jobs, Zuckerberg, or the Silicon Valley mobsters. I do not consider musk to be a genius. He is an extremely self centered narcissist who never took his eye from the goal of obscene wealth. He now has his eye on the goal of becoming dictator a la Adolf Hitler of the 1930's and 1940's. I sincerely regret he was given Citizenship, undeseved
It's not about who you despise and who you like. If you were a judge in a court of law, do you think you could mete out unbiased judgment on those who petition you based on whether you like them or not? Is it not so that you hold the Supreme Court in contempt for the fact that it patently does exercise favouritism?
First, be very careful of the word "terrorist": it is not a characteristic, it is an excuse to abandon the rule of law, and the rule of law should not be abandoned at the whim of government, not without very good cause. When Jürgen Conings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_for_J%C3%BCrgen_Conings) was being pursued in Belgium a few years back, he was labelled a terrorist, even though he had not terrorised anyone. It was an excuse: so that he could be shot on sight-nothing more. Do a search in the Endless Chain, I've written about him several times.
Your government is terrorising people right now, by redating reports from ten years ago about immigrant deportations, in order to whip up fear amongst immigrants. By firing government employees peremptorily, by wildly threatening the good peaceful citizens of Denmark, Canada and Panama. That is terror. A whole raft of the incarcerated persons pardoned by Trump for their role in January 6 have ALREADY been rearrested on charges of paedophilia, assault and battery, and one has even been killed in a shoot-out with Indiana police. That is terrorism: releasing very bad people into society to commit crimes with impunity. Should I classify the US as a terrorist state then?
Calling someone a terrorist is just a way to say "we will not listen to your arguments". But listening to arguments is what government is supposed to be about. Regardless of who you like and who you despise.
If you wish to be treated fairly by others, you must treat them fairly yourself. But if they then don't treat you fairly, you must rise up against them, as your conscience dictates. And then you will be labelled a terrorist. So you can shut up and put up with the iniquity, or you can rise against it. Unfortunately, we can't all be judges in courts of law.
When I say terrorist, that is precisely what I mean: people who 'sneak in stealthily to commit bodily harm to others' not someone who releases well hidden government secrets online for all to see. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis [and in my Country Oath Keepers and Proud Boys] I define as terrtorists because their main cause is to kill non-combatants, not oppose a military force. And no, I don't listen to arguments of terrorists, lay down your weapons and have the courage to defend yourselves with words and I will listen but may not agree.
Since I lack a law degree, I cannot imagine being a judge, but if I had the appropriate credentials I believe I would apply the law fairly and carefully regardless of my personal feelings.
On the other hand since I am merely a writer on Substack I feel free to express my emotional response. BTW Netanayhu may not be a terrorist himself but he supports the idea of genocide which is terrorism.
As to the United States today, we have the lowest of the low scumbags in charge, Nothing the evil triumvirate of musk/trump/vance and minions propose is for the good of Americans or the good of Planet Earth. So nothing anyone in Europe or elsewhere says against them offends or surprises me, unless it were statements of support.
Agreed Graham. But I do not hold that we must pay for the sins of our fathers. Yes, If I profited, unjustly from the sins of my personal father, I might feel indebted. But to pay for sins committed 200 to 500 by people I never knew and would have condemned had I been alive then? No, I feel no indebtedness owing.
So, you have no sense that the privileged position that Americans (and Canadians) hold can in any way be related to the peoples they have exploited or destroyed in the past, or continue to exploit and destroy in the present? You have no sense that the US bears any responsibility whatsoever for the parlous state of the people of Palestine? Do you think that your government bears any responsibility for the poisoning of your own people in East Palestine? Do you maintain a strictly divided columned table of (a) acts for which liability exists and (b) acts for which there is no liability? And do these acts migrate by some magical osmosis from one side of that table to the other?
Take a look at my article on Peter Singer, if you care. In it, I do a calculation, of the amount that, at the time, the US granted in foreign aid. It was 49 billion dollars, which amounts to 0.187 per cent of the US GDP. 0.187 per cent of the average take-home pay is less than 75 bucks a year. Singer argued that anything spent on luxury instead of succouring to the needs of the poor is immoral. You don't need to go down that morality argument if you don't want to, but it is my contention that the average American family earning 40,000 dollars a year spends vastly more than 75 dollars a year on luxuries, and that the figure is nearer to 75 dollars a WEEK. So, putting that all together, and upping the 49 billion that the US was paying to international aid (before Trump stopped it all) by a factor of 52 - the number of weeks in a year - results in a figure that, in the space of one year, could eradicate world poverty - over 2 trillion dollars.
Now, tell me, just how much privilege, position and profit do you reckon the US ALONE has reaped from its exploitation, invasion and eradication of the peoples of the world, whether in their own country or in other people's countries? I think 2 trillion wouldn't even touch the fringes.
I do not hold any guilt for what my ancestors did 100 or more years ago, NO, But for the world today in which I live, I do feel we as citizens of the United States hold full responsibility for the horrific wrongs we have committed against any other people. We had no business attacking Vietnam, Iraq, Granada nor any other sovereign nation. We are correct in assisting Ukraine and should never give in to Putin's demands (although I fear that is exactly what trump will do.
The Middle East is a different matter, I despise all terrorists and genocidal maniacs including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Netanyahu, Assad, and any others.
Israel itself is a different dilemma - I despise Netanyahu, but support Israel's right to existence. I do not have any qualified suggestions in how to resolve the problem
If I were a super-powered magician I'd arrange the destruction of Netanyahu and all his cohorts (including trump) as well as the Ayatollah of Iran and all his cohorts.
However, as a declining very old lady. I did as much as I could to defeat trump. I actually wanted another four years for President Biden to give him the chance to rein in our ugly oligarchy. I am not now, and never have been a fan of musk, jobs, Zuckerberg, or the Silicon Valley mobsters. I do not consider musk to be a genius. He is an extremely self centered narcissist who never took his eye from the goal of obscene wealth. He now has his eye on the goal of becoming dictator a la Adolf Hitler of the 1930's and 1940's. I sincerely regret he was given Citizenship, undeseved
It's not about who you despise and who you like. If you were a judge in a court of law, do you think you could mete out unbiased judgment on those who petition you based on whether you like them or not? Is it not so that you hold the Supreme Court in contempt for the fact that it patently does exercise favouritism?
First, be very careful of the word "terrorist": it is not a characteristic, it is an excuse to abandon the rule of law, and the rule of law should not be abandoned at the whim of government, not without very good cause. When Jürgen Conings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_for_J%C3%BCrgen_Conings) was being pursued in Belgium a few years back, he was labelled a terrorist, even though he had not terrorised anyone. It was an excuse: so that he could be shot on sight-nothing more. Do a search in the Endless Chain, I've written about him several times.
Your government is terrorising people right now, by redating reports from ten years ago about immigrant deportations, in order to whip up fear amongst immigrants. By firing government employees peremptorily, by wildly threatening the good peaceful citizens of Denmark, Canada and Panama. That is terror. A whole raft of the incarcerated persons pardoned by Trump for their role in January 6 have ALREADY been rearrested on charges of paedophilia, assault and battery, and one has even been killed in a shoot-out with Indiana police. That is terrorism: releasing very bad people into society to commit crimes with impunity. Should I classify the US as a terrorist state then?
Calling someone a terrorist is just a way to say "we will not listen to your arguments". But listening to arguments is what government is supposed to be about. Regardless of who you like and who you despise.
If you wish to be treated fairly by others, you must treat them fairly yourself. But if they then don't treat you fairly, you must rise up against them, as your conscience dictates. And then you will be labelled a terrorist. So you can shut up and put up with the iniquity, or you can rise against it. Unfortunately, we can't all be judges in courts of law.
When I say terrorist, that is precisely what I mean: people who 'sneak in stealthily to commit bodily harm to others' not someone who releases well hidden government secrets online for all to see. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis [and in my Country Oath Keepers and Proud Boys] I define as terrtorists because their main cause is to kill non-combatants, not oppose a military force. And no, I don't listen to arguments of terrorists, lay down your weapons and have the courage to defend yourselves with words and I will listen but may not agree.
Since I lack a law degree, I cannot imagine being a judge, but if I had the appropriate credentials I believe I would apply the law fairly and carefully regardless of my personal feelings.
On the other hand since I am merely a writer on Substack I feel free to express my emotional response. BTW Netanayhu may not be a terrorist himself but he supports the idea of genocide which is terrorism.
As to the United States today, we have the lowest of the low scumbags in charge, Nothing the evil triumvirate of musk/trump/vance and minions propose is for the good of Americans or the good of Planet Earth. So nothing anyone in Europe or elsewhere says against them offends or surprises me, unless it were statements of support.