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Re: puke
by Anonymous-Coward on Feb 12, 2002 - 11:13 AM
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The message of the Blame America Firsters, at home and abroad, in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, is that "America had it coming."
This is not a time for self-indictment. This is a time for self-defense. Everyone has a natural right to self-defense. We do not have to prove that we are perfect before we have the right to protect ourselves. Consider a woman who staggers into a neighbor's house, her face bruised, nose bleeding, clothes torn. She tells her neighbor that her husband has beaten her, only to be told, "Those are horrific injuries. You must have really provoked him to make him do a thing like that." This is the message of the Blame America First crowd. To defend oneself, a woman or a nation needs to believe that she has a right to live, without continually apologizing for her existence.
You may reply that the analogy between national self-protection and protection against domestic violence doesn't work. The battered wife should not retaliate privately. She should call the police, get a restraining order, set the wheels of the criminal justice system into motion, rather than resort to violence herself.
This response misses the point: The police and criminal justice system rely on violence to keep social peace. Criminals rarely volunteer to go to prison or even to trial. The police must use force to apprehend and detain them. This organized use of violence in society helps minimize the random violence of domestic assault and other crimes.
In international affairs, military action can contribute to the deterrence of crime and the apprehension of criminals. It is not good enough to say that we ought to rely solely on the international courts. Osama bin Laden is already under indictment for the bombings of U.S. embassies. Indictments by themselves do not serve justice unless the criminal is actually captured and brought to trial.
It is not unusual for a battered woman to make excuses for the abuser. "I really did nag him. I really did burn dinner. He really did have reason to complain." Counselors at battered women's shelters patiently explain that she is entitled to be safe in her own home. She does not have to be perfect in order to protect herself. The perpetrator's "reasons" for the battering are not reasons at all but excuses. Battered women's shelters are full of women who secretly or not so secretly believe that they deserved the punishment they received at the hands of their abusers.
Some of America's critics are comparable to a neighbor who says, "Just clean yourself up, go on home and fix him his favorite dinner. He will treat you right if you just shape up." If she ends up battered again, that irresponsible neighbor bears some of the accountability. So too, will the Blame America First crowd bear some responsibility for the consequences of draining our will to defend ourselves.
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- Re: puke by Anonymous-Coward on Feb 12, 2002 - 11:18 AM
- Re: puke by feralucce on Feb 13, 2002 - 08:29 AM
- Re: puke by Rae on Feb 13, 2002 - 10:06 AM
- Re: puke by Anonymous-Coward on Feb 13, 2002 - 11:19 AM
- Re: puke by feralucce on Feb 14, 2002 - 08:34 AM
- Re: puke by feralucce on Feb 14, 2002 - 08:33 AM
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