Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 16:40:49 +0100
Subject: Re: HAB: Racionalidad y Prejuicios / 
From: "Stefan Szczelkun" <stefan-AT-szczelkun.greatxscape.net>


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The current exchange seems to illustrate two related things:

1. That crucial debates are indeed infected and destroyed by
heightened feelings and emotion to go back to my earlier posting.
This emotional expression needs to be separated from rational thought
if open debate is to be safeguarded. This isn't a call for
suppression or self control. It is a questioning of how we think we
humans might integrate the outpourings of disgust, outrage etc, with
such rational discursive practices. A questioning of where these
feeling originate and how we understand these origins as part of the
communicative process.
Right and left positions are not just a matter of knowledge
validations they are built on opposing ingrained feelings of disgust.
These are often surrounded by their own rationalisations and myths.
Both are normative to each camp and normativity is a class
definition.

2. That the arrogance of the middle class western knowledge producers
is disgusting. (My own class feeling of repugnance). Instead of
welcoming the chance to listen at the foot of the outsider for the
knowledge s/he must bring in, the outsider is expected to conform or
be hounded with frankly threatening labels. This is the middle class
grip on knowledge which needs to be challenged. It is particularly
shocking to see this displayed on the Habermas list - a place we
outsiders expect to see liberals with communication skills that are
informed by this theory - A chink in the armour of hegemony.
Raoul is pretty persistent. Most of us would have been repulsed at
the first of these jibes.

Stefan

This forward seems short and relevant...

+
The government of the U.S., other governments, and much of the media
are making statements aimed at generating support for policies of
revenge.  This is to be expected in these circumstances, but can and
must be actively opposed if we are to end, throughout the world, the
likelihood of such attacks continuing to happen.

The destruction of the persons responsible for the terrorist acts
will not make us safe.  The military punishment of small countries
with any connection to the terrorists will not make us safe.  We can
easily understand the feelings that lead in these directions, indeed
we may have some of these feelings ourselves.  We know, though, that
these feelings must not be acted upon, instead we must find
intelligent policies and solutions that will actually move us and the
world forward.

Desperate, destructive, irrational acts of terrorism are done by
people who have been terribly hurt by the conditions in which they
have had to exist.  The conditions of life for a large fraction of
the world's population remain so very desperate, as they have been
for generations, that some of the minds of those who endure those
conditions simply lose their sense of humanity.

As long as these desperately poor, dangerously unhealthy and
oppressive conditions exist for any people in the world, we all will
be in danger of someone's irrational acts of violence.  Finding and
killing those who have committed terrorist acts will stop those
individuals but it will not stop more people from the suffering that
creates such individuals.

We must develop policies that end poverty and oppression everywhere
and for everyone.  We have both the intelligence to develop these
policies and the resources to carry them out.  We, together, must
actively develop and pursue policies that will value every person, no
matter where they live, no matter what their religion, race, or
nationality is.  This is something that we are capable of, but we
must give up the well-established pattern of life that has had
sections of the world's populations benefiting from the enforced
poverty of others.  That pattern can never provide security.  We
humans have developed enough resources so that no one needs to live
in poverty.   There is enough for all of us.


----------
From: "Raul A. Rodriguez" <rarodriguez-AT-unvm.edu.ar>
To: HABERMAS lists <habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Subject: HAB: Racionalidad y Prejuicios /
Date: Fri, Sep 21, 2001, 2:44 pm


Dear friends,


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Dear friends,