Subject: Re: HAB: _Philosophy in a Time of Terror_ is available
Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 10:37:47 -0400


ralph, we agree, ...in the main (ob dic isn't "liberation" metafisical just
war coz? ...even if, ala usama, said lib essentially includes religion?),
...the unspoken oponent, gulliver in lilliput, is chomsky, no?
bob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ralph Dumain" <rdumain-AT-igc.org>
To: <habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 3:52 AM
Subject: Re: HAB: _Philosophy in a Time of Terror_ is available


> Paul Berman is a complete fraud, perhaps as fraudulent as Gary Davis,
> though I doubt that is possible.  First, there is the general question of
> Berman's public role as a mediator between the mainstream and the "left",
a
> professional watchdog, gatekeeper and adjudicator of ongoing trends, in
> other words, superficial and opportunistic.  As regards to 9-11 and the
> USA's war of aggression against Iraq, Berman's spin could not be more
> reactionary, justifying the war by portraying, not without little tidbits
> of fact, the anti-war opposition as knee-jerk anti-Americans and
apologists
> for third world fascism.  BTW, there is no such thing as a "just war" in
> any metaphysical sense.  There is at best self-defense-- practical not a
> metaphysical issue--but the invasion of Iraq was not that in the
> least.  The invasion of Afghanistan may have involved self-defense--though
> we may never know because we have been lied to so thoroughly--but that too
> was basically a geopolitical maneuver as part of Washington's imperial
game
> plan.
>
> There is of course a basis in fact for Berman's complaints, his
> pro-imperialist apologetics notwithstanding.  The American activist
> community is full of confusion and ideological incoherence, fed
undoubtedly
> by marginalization, exhaustion and plain old desperation.  Having
> participated in several anti-war demonstrations, I can attest to a number
> of lame slogans and chants, trite street theatre, and old crap recycled
> from the 60s, indicating the low intellectual level upon which Americans
in
> general operate; nonetheless I saw evidence of some really sharp and
> incisive thinking.  As in all coalitions, there is every shade of opinion
> represented, from addled abstract pacifism ('an eye for an eye makes the
> whole world blind') to extreme sectarianism.  There is also an obnoxious
> undertone from some people concerning 9-11 that we had it
> coming.  Nonetheless, the legitimacy of the antiwar movement stands on its
> own in spite of the dumbest tendencies of the activist subculture, whose
> biggest fault is that it really is a subculture and thus fertile soil for
> irrationalist tendencies.
>
> This problem is well worth analyzing.  Some more thoughtful people in the
> left press have expressed their concerns, but media celebrities are not
> very scrupulous about it.  Berman is just an opportunist prick.  I am much
> more disappointed in Christopher Hitchens.
>
> At 07:14 AM 5/25/2003 +0000, Ali Rizvi wrote:
>
> >Thanks Gary,
> >
> >Also John Gray has a book called  Al Qaeda and What It Means to Be Modern
> >out this month. Independent has its review. After Habermas industry we
> >have September 11 industry.
> >
> >Good luck!
> >
> >best
> >ali
>
>
>
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