[Promotum] Re: Regarding attacks

[Edmund A. Hintz]

On 9/13/01 10:40 AM, ed@hintz.org thus spake:

>     In no way do I condone the activities of the terrorists. I think the 

     I've caught a bit of heat for that message, I'm not sure folks 
understand what I'm saying. Here's another attempt.

     I'm not saying the US is the great Satan. We do plenty of good 
deeds, and have for quite some time. Plenty of folks both here and abroad 
recognize that fact. There's plenty of nationalism and flag waving going 
on; international support has come in from such traditionally unfriendly 
places such as China, Pakistan and Russia. The Canadian tribute piece is 
popping up all over, and has been for days ( 
http://www.telepath.com/vinson/badger/comments/opin-15.htm if by some odd 
twist of fate you haven't seen it yet). We're not perfect, we make 
mistakes, but overall I don't think we're an evil bunch. Just like I 
don't think your average Afgan or Palestinian is evil. Misguided, maybe, 
a product of their environment, absolutely, but not inherently evil.

     My Grandfather, Ellert L. Anderson, wrote a book in '88 after the 
Challenger disaster, titled "Why they're away: the purpose of death", 
ISBN 053308005. The basic premise is that deaths, no matter how tragic, 
result in some good. Used as one of numerous examples was the death 13 
year old Cari Lightner, at the hands of a drunk driver in 1980. Her 
Mother, Candice Lightner, as a result of the tragedy, formed Mothers 
Against Drunk Drivers. The number of other lives saved by MADD over the 
ensuing years (their website estimates 138,000) honors the memory of Cari 
Lightner, and the purpose of her tragic death is fulfilled.

     While nationalism and flag waving may help some, to me they are 
hollow gestures. If they make you feel better, more power to you, but 
they don't work for me. I really wish they did, but they don't. I think 
much like a scientist. I tend to detach from emotion as much as possible, 
and analyze situations, and respond with logic. That's what I'm trying to 
do here.

     When airplanes fall from the sky, when bridges fail, when buildings 
collapse, we mourn innocent victims. We also analyze the system in 
question for failures, and fix those failures to ensure that the tragedy 
does not repeat itself. What happened Tuesday was a political failure. I 
see no reason to treat it differently from any other failure. To analyze 
it, we're going to have to ask some tough questions, and we may not like 
the answers. We may not even agree on the answers, but the worst thing we 
can do is not ask the questions, for then we are doomed to relive the 
past, and Tuesday's dead will have died in vain. The best way I can think 
of to honor the victims is to analyze the failure, find the root 
cause(NOT the symptom-BinLaden), and eliminate or mitigate it. I'm not so 
naive as to believe that we will ever make everyone happy with our 
foreign policies. But, if we can make them just UN-happy, versus 
violently and irrationally opposed, that's a noble and worthy testament 
to the fallen.


Peace,

Edmund A. Hintz              **|**     "You may say I'm a dreamer,
Mac Techie, Unix Geek,      *  |  *      But I'm not the only one...
Mac/Unix Consultant        *  /|\  *     I hope someday you'll join us,
<ed@hintz.org>              */ | \*      And the world will live as one.
'78 Westy                    *****      Imagine."
                     http://www.hintz.org