RE: america
John Touzios (JTouzios@mwumail.midwestern.edu)
Tue, 30 Mar 1999 19:45:51 -0600
jim,
a quote from yesterday's chicago tribune:
mccain, a key member of the senate armed services committee and a vietnam war
combat pilot, said clinton's commitment had put american and nato military
power on the line and that there now is no choice but to defeat milosevic if
u.s. credibility is to survive.
"that means we have to exercise every option," mccain said. "we can't allow
him to win. we are the superpower."
you could probably imagine a military man saying something like this anywhere
in history, from an athenian in peloponnesian war onward. i wonder, however,
if there isn't something new under the sun in it. i don't have to remind
anyone that a missile can now take out, say, chicago, and this is now a part
of our mythology, as well. (i'm not saying it's fictional, or anything, just
a concern.) another thing in that bucket is what's going through the heads of
our pilots. perhaps they feel like they're playing a video game, but i of
course can't know. another probable picture in there (please tell me if i'm
full of shit) is what home sweet home must look like; what are we fighting for
if not peace?
i'm not your man when you use axioms like "we have to look at every conflict
seperately" and so forth. i don't think i've thought about war as much as
you. being a god-damned taoist means i let the world go its own way to a
perhaps excessive degree.
john touzios
"Man the most complex, intricate and delicately constructed
machine of all creation, is the one with which the osteopath
must become familiar." A.T. Still
"Everyone seems to know how useful it is to be useful.
No one seems to know how useful it is to be useless."
Chuang Tzu