h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

that I'm not going to post to the Forum:

Fix News is all worked up about a paper written by the Native American scholar Ward Churchill: 'A Colorado University professor has written an essay contending that the terrorists who hijacked planes on 9/11 were not terrorists, but "combat teams", adding, "The most that can honestly be said of those involved on Sept. 11 is that they finally responded in kind to some of what this country has dispensed to people as a matter of course." Here's what this professor, Ward Churchill, says of those killed: "As for those in the World Trade Center, well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. but innocent? Gimme a break." He further describes the victims as "little Eichmanns", referring to Adolph Eichmann (who carried out Hitler's plan to exterminate Jews).

Now Professor Churchill has been invited to speak next week at Hamilton College in New York. As we often hear from a certain colleague of mine: what say you?'

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145634,00.html

I didn't expect Fix to provide a link to Mr. Churchill's article, but it would have been helpful if they had at least provided the title -- so that we could take a fair and balanced look for ourselves, perhaps.

Well, the paper is title '"Some People Push Back" On the Justice of Roosting Chickens' and is available here: http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html

Fix News also neglects to mention that Mr. Churchill's article was published over three years ago, in September of 2001. One wonders why they've dredged it up now.

I must say, there is certainly nothing in the article that I've not read elsewhere. Certainly, the basic premise of Mr. Churchill's argument is pretty darn similar to my initial reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Wow, for once the Faux news talking heads might actually be using the appropriate phrase when they say he "hates America"

Given the tenor of the piece I'd love to see him in a cage match with bill o'really or Sean Hannity or Rush Limbagh.

If faux is fussing on national primetime television about his upcoming appearance at an event, I'd suggest Mr. Churchill invest in a new suit, possibly something in a ballistic kevlar.

I can't say that I agree with him on all points and I would suggest he check out America's competition in the mass murding empires category. The persians, greeks, british, spanish, russians and ottoman turks were no slouches either and they didn't have heavy bombers, napalm and tanks - they had to do it all by hand. And its not just the europeans who have been adept at slaughter - How about ancient china, Japan (until 1945) or Indonesia's treatment of Timor? What about the Incan and Aztec empires - they didn't exactly come about through handing out daisies.

I don't think the people in the World Trade Center deserved to die anymore than those Iraqi kids deserved to die. Churchill makes the usual activists mistake of supposing that most people give rat's ass about their fellow man when the truth is that despite a lot of noble sounding talk the vast majority of people in the world don't really care a great deal about what happens to people they don't know. Sure we all feel bad when a tsunami erases impoverished villages in Sumatra and we'll donate some money and canned goods, some of the better among us will even go and help first hand, but most of us don't lose much sleep unless we know someone there. I'm not saying that's a good thing, I'm not saying this is the way it should be, but I'm afraid that is the world we live in.
Churchill talks about Albright condemning the children of Iraq to death during an appearance on Meet the Press. How many people watched that appearance and walked out the front door to start a revolution to overthrow the murderous Clinton regime and how many said 'god this is boring, I wonder if there are any cartoons on. What time does the football game start?'

Yeah, it is sad, but I don't know how you fix it. Maybe with more 9-11s, maybe with religion, maybe with activism. Maybe its going to take an asteroid strike to clear out the parasites so that the cockroaches can build a truly egalitarian empire.

Maybe I'm just feeling cynical today, but it seems like we are stuck with a world that is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Of course (and pardon me if this seems bipolar of me) as hard as we try to exterminate each other, the population keeps getting larger, life expectancy and living standards around the world keep creeping higher. Yes the rich are getting richer, but the lot of the poor is better than it was 100 years ago and certainly better than it was 200 years ago. The same technology that has led to cruise missiles and germ warfare has also cured polio and smallpox and given us ways to communicate with people in any part of the world. 100 years ago there would have been no international relief effort for the tsunami, 300 years ago we wouldn't have even known about it and probably would have said it was a warning from god to the local heathens.
As hard as religious fundementalist try to drag us back to the dark ages, the forces of reason, enlightenment and humanity keep inching forwards. Think about how far we've come in a couple of centuries.
Slavery, once widespread, has been rolled back so far that in the West we still feel surprised when a magazine article reminds us it hasn't disappeared altogether. The majority of the world is now more tolerant than it has been in a long time. When was the last time a midwife was burned at the stake? Yes, women are still stoned for adultery in some places, but not as often as before. I know that sounds lame, but taking the long view, it is progress. 500 years ago how many people could read and write? The vast majority of us now can.

It is slow going, but things are getting better. Think of how slowly a glacier moves, then consider the fact that they do move mountains.


meanwhile, hug your kid, have a beer, and be grateful for the accident of birth that landed you in 21st century Edmonton and not someplace worse.

<>

The question is: is there really anywhere better? (I know,m but I am feeling really hacked off and cynical today, so much sh1te is happening in the RL, and I am not convinced we are any better off, than say, the people in the King Arthur film we watched on DVD last night. I know I am personally, but cosmically, nah, it *all* sucks!

This post has been removed.

'Just sing out a Te Deum
When you see that I.C.B.M.'


What a wonderful rhyme!

Sorry Zoomer, I had to yikes your post because of the copyright material

Understood, no hard feelings.

Can I do this?

http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/allgo.htm

Officially, I don't think you can, but I'm... oh look, what's that over there, in the opposite direction, way in the distance?

Nyah, nyah! Can't catch me!

Just a little update. They're collecting the feathers and heating the tar: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145871,00.html