In a previous post I mentioned 'evil'. I admit, it was partly for dramatic effect. As I continue to read about modern slavery I came across some discussions on how the US categories various states. Or rather, how legislation requires penalties for any country that remains a tier 3, so to avoid giving those penalties a nation might be raised to a higher tier level even though it's not truly warranted.
We say we want something, say we will act a certain way, but when push comes to shove we flinch. We don't really mean it. We want to apply pressure, but not the level of pressure actually agreed on by our own law.
Sort of the same thing happened with genocide. After World War II many nations said "Never again", and the UN made the Genocide Convention to ensure it didn't happen. So when genocide happens, we just change the name and call it ethnic cleansing. Then we can wring our hands and talk about how awful it is, without actually having to do something about it.
Before I go too far in this vein, I want to point out that recent history emphasizes how hard it is to effectively act. Part of the beliefs of the neo-conservatives was that they blended military force with Wilsonian ideals. Their ineffectiveness and incompetence has left a bad taste in the mouths of many Americans.
So what are we to do? Again, we face a dilemma. Cognitive dissonance. And we choose not to face it, deciding to let certain things fade into a bad memory.
In our willingness to look away, don't we still bear some responsibility for what happens?
That's part of what happened with the Taliban. I don't believe the CIA directly created the Taliban, no. But our willingness to look away, our desire to stay uninvolved, means we channeled resources to Pakistanis who chose to support the kernel of what would become the Taliban. We could have supported Ahmad Shah Massoud, for example, but our allies preferred to funnel money to other anti-Soviet organizations. Ones with a more fundamental bent.
The problem with being alive, with existing, is that what we choose not to do has just as much of an impact as what we do. Even when we are not aware of what we are choosing. Ignorance is...childish. Not appropriate for a nation of our stature. It means we make choices that often hamper our own stated goals, implying we either don't really know what we want or don't really mean what we say. Or both.
So anyways. When bad things are going on in the world today, I think we should do something about them. But how is pretty darn important, and I (like so many others) am skeptical of the elite who claim to know what they're doing.
We say we want something, say we will act a certain way, but when push comes to shove we flinch. We don't really mean it. We want to apply pressure, but not the level of pressure actually agreed on by our own law.
Sort of the same thing happened with genocide. After World War II many nations said "Never again", and the UN made the Genocide Convention to ensure it didn't happen. So when genocide happens, we just change the name and call it ethnic cleansing. Then we can wring our hands and talk about how awful it is, without actually having to do something about it.
Before I go too far in this vein, I want to point out that recent history emphasizes how hard it is to effectively act. Part of the beliefs of the neo-conservatives was that they blended military force with Wilsonian ideals. Their ineffectiveness and incompetence has left a bad taste in the mouths of many Americans.
So what are we to do? Again, we face a dilemma. Cognitive dissonance. And we choose not to face it, deciding to let certain things fade into a bad memory.
In our willingness to look away, don't we still bear some responsibility for what happens?
That's part of what happened with the Taliban. I don't believe the CIA directly created the Taliban, no. But our willingness to look away, our desire to stay uninvolved, means we channeled resources to Pakistanis who chose to support the kernel of what would become the Taliban. We could have supported Ahmad Shah Massoud, for example, but our allies preferred to funnel money to other anti-Soviet organizations. Ones with a more fundamental bent.
The problem with being alive, with existing, is that what we choose not to do has just as much of an impact as what we do. Even when we are not aware of what we are choosing. Ignorance is...childish. Not appropriate for a nation of our stature. It means we make choices that often hamper our own stated goals, implying we either don't really know what we want or don't really mean what we say. Or both.
So anyways. When bad things are going on in the world today, I think we should do something about them. But how is pretty darn important, and I (like so many others) am skeptical of the elite who claim to know what they're doing.
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