TheAgitator.com
Time Magazine’s letters to the
Sunday, April 14th, 2002Time Magazine’s letters to the editor provided some food for thought this week:
Writes Jackie Reckseit of Delray Beach, FL:
“Muslim monarchies and dictatorships encourage anger against the US because it provides an escape valve for the rage of the populations they oppress, which otherwise might rightfully be directed at them,”
and,
“The root of Islamic enmity toward Israel is a hatred of a non-Islamic country that has the audacity to exist at all in a region that Arabs consider Islamic and has succeeded economically where the Arabs and pre-Israel Palestine did not.”
The writer’s correct on both counts. Islamic theocracies will forever be doomed to poverty because they’ve little concept of property rights or rule of law. They also tend to keep themselves isolated from foreign markets (ostensibly to keep out ideas that may challenge Islamic law), which keeps out wealth and technology as well. Just watch, if Afghanistan can suppress its tribal rivalries, establish a stable government, nurture a healthy respect for property rights, and keep its borders open to trade (all tall orders), the world’s poorest, most Godforsaken wasteland will quickly become one of the Arab world’s wealthiest states. The Arab world should look to the Turks for inspiration, where Islam is still widely practiced and respected, but where capitalism has created a prosperous first-world economy.
Next, look at this cover. It’s tough to see, but look in the background, at the man leaning up against the building, with his arms crossed. I think this guy, this picture, speaks volumes about what’s going on over there. Writes one reader, “How many people would strike that pose if a gun were being fired in front of them?” Another, “The person leaning nonchalantly against the wall has an almost grotesque attitude, the resigned acceptance of a checkout delay at the grocery store. This is a world I cannot comprehend.”
Indeed.
As I read the March 17th magazine, I noticed that the photos on pages 24,25 and 35, was either printed backwards or our military leaders don’t know that the Union on the flag is always at the top left. In all of the pictures the Union is in the top right hand corner.
Let’s get it right
I go to sleep tonight unsure of what the world will look like tomorrow. Through a strange set of circumstances, events, and deliberate well planned actions – life, and everything precious to me, is poised on the sharp edge of change teetering over a vast abyss. An immense canyon which will grow in size, dividing the country, and isolating my home from the world.
I believe in my sense of what is right and wrong, what is moral and what is not. I think everyone has that same instinct, the same line, which is drawn thick and true, straight as an arrow between what is just and what is not, dividing the dark from the light. I am terrified and angry that the President has misused his power to twist and redefine this border, mutilating this boundary to such a degree that right has become wrong and wrong is in a paper thin disguise of right.
He has taken advantage of a public in pain and blinds them from his own underlying motives in a righteous crusade to rid the world of evil and terrorism. When in fact the wheels he has set in motion will turn the world against us, transforming the United States into the perpetrators of the very things we strive to rid the earth of. Instead of relying on popular opinion and listening to the council of the world he is, instead, establishing the United States government as a global bully.
He is throwing away an opportunity which will never come again in my lifetime and possibly the lifetimes of generations to come. At a time when the United States could have been the promoter of peace and well-being in the world and firmly established our country as the voice of all people against tyranny, evil, human rights violations, and terrorism he has instead vainly chosen to set himself and the government of United States up as the judge, jury, and executioner above the opinions of all others.
It is more than a horrendous waste of time, money, and lives. It is a crime of unfathomable proportions which has the extreme potential to cause damage on a scale the world has never seen.
The article “How Tony Blair Found His Groove” started with the determination of Mr Blair and Blitish people never being intimidated, or forced to change their way, or divided to weaken their resolve. Can it never occur to him that the other side, the people who are opposed to him and to Mr Bush feel the same way? Long histories of nations have been the histories of wars and through them we decided the borders and sovereingn powers, though it was a savage way. Can’t we leave other people alone? Can’t we wait and let them decide among themselves the border and their soveregn systems? Is it that I am too naive? Maybe the truth is that the leaders of western countries intend to grab the oil under the territory of Middle eastern countries, and to let those big business make more money. But for ordinary people all over the world, it’s much less expensive to let them handle oil and everything without any military intervention of foreign countries. I believe they are smart enough to do that. Willing individuals who are sufficiently paid and have technology can help them if necessary.