A series of things...
I woke up this morning to NPR, like I always do, and I just seemed to get angrier and angrier at what I heard. Prince Charles to marry Camilla. Okay, that didn't piss me off as much. Let the boy be happy, he's hasn't had the best of lives, and he's the Prince of Wales. As an American, I have to support his desire to pursue his own happiness as long as he pays the price. As an American who likes the idea of Monarchy (not the Bush monarchy, but Monarchy in general) I think Charles needs to pass the crown to his son William. The Crown is supposed to reflect the nation, and Elizabeth, as much as I like her, doesn't do that. I feel sympathy with Charles, but not that much.
There was also some more drivel about Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. "Remember that Evolution is only a theory" the sticker says. The proponents for these stickers don't know what a 'Theory' means in science. Gravity is still a theory as far as I know, why don't they attack that as well and put stickers on our Physics books: "Remember that gravity is a theory..." Of course, I don't know of a single theologian who has claimed that gravity was antithetical to God.
I'll go on about that in Cutting Edge Theology. What really pissed me off was the demands for Ward Churchill's head because he wrote a fairly dense essay that claimed that there was a reason behind the attacks on 9/11/2001. I know Bush wants us to think that a) It's Clinton's fault, and b)Saddam Hussein ordered it, and c)It only happened because 'people hate freedom.'
In Bush's simple black and white world, that may be sufficient. In the real world, it isn't enough because all three points are wrong. I've read (or tried to read) Churchill's essay. You can try to read it here. I found it hard to read and didn't make it to the bit that is getting him in so much trouble. But from what I heard, his essay claimed that the attackers were seeking some revenge for a decade of U.S. foreign policy that has been hostile towards the middle east. The essay doesn't mention Clinton, so it seems to say "Bush the elder hurt the middle east, Bush the lesser is doing more damage." I'm paraphrasing and possibly getting it wrong. It's a hard essay to get through.
The basis for wanting Churchill to resign, as reported by NPR, is insufficient. If we don't fully understand the enemy, we will never win the war. I don't think middle easterners are an enemy, and while I abhor the actions 'Islamist Terrorists' (as well as Cristian Terrorists and Jewish Terrorists) I don't want to call them 'enemy.' I don't want to live in perpetual war. Churchill apparently wants his readers to understand why we were attacked, so we can understand why we're killing Iraqi citizens. It's a hard stretch, but we have to examine the real issues.
Unfortunately, in a America where Kerry was attacked for being 'too intelligent to be president,' this isn't going to happen anytime soon.
There was also some more drivel about Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. "Remember that Evolution is only a theory" the sticker says. The proponents for these stickers don't know what a 'Theory' means in science. Gravity is still a theory as far as I know, why don't they attack that as well and put stickers on our Physics books: "Remember that gravity is a theory..." Of course, I don't know of a single theologian who has claimed that gravity was antithetical to God.
I'll go on about that in Cutting Edge Theology. What really pissed me off was the demands for Ward Churchill's head because he wrote a fairly dense essay that claimed that there was a reason behind the attacks on 9/11/2001. I know Bush wants us to think that a) It's Clinton's fault, and b)Saddam Hussein ordered it, and c)It only happened because 'people hate freedom.'
In Bush's simple black and white world, that may be sufficient. In the real world, it isn't enough because all three points are wrong. I've read (or tried to read) Churchill's essay. You can try to read it here. I found it hard to read and didn't make it to the bit that is getting him in so much trouble. But from what I heard, his essay claimed that the attackers were seeking some revenge for a decade of U.S. foreign policy that has been hostile towards the middle east. The essay doesn't mention Clinton, so it seems to say "Bush the elder hurt the middle east, Bush the lesser is doing more damage." I'm paraphrasing and possibly getting it wrong. It's a hard essay to get through.
The basis for wanting Churchill to resign, as reported by NPR, is insufficient. If we don't fully understand the enemy, we will never win the war. I don't think middle easterners are an enemy, and while I abhor the actions 'Islamist Terrorists' (as well as Cristian Terrorists and Jewish Terrorists) I don't want to call them 'enemy.' I don't want to live in perpetual war. Churchill apparently wants his readers to understand why we were attacked, so we can understand why we're killing Iraqi citizens. It's a hard stretch, but we have to examine the real issues.
Unfortunately, in a America where Kerry was attacked for being 'too intelligent to be president,' this isn't going to happen anytime soon.
posted by Josh English @ 8:14 AM
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