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Saturday, October 10, 2009

Maddow: "By Any Reasonable Measure, Americans Should Be Proud"

2 comments:

meat olaf said...

Predator droning AfPak civilians, GITMOizing Bagram, continuing an Iraq war despite, um, y'know, campaign promises, and a flat refusal to discuss or enforce an Israeli settlement freeze. Why you're right, Dale/Rachel, I couldn't imagine a more rightful recipient of the Henry Kissinger Peace Prize.

Dale Carrico said...

I am no less aware nor less sensitive to these things than you are, and yet I see the possibilities for progress in awarding Obama this Prize differently than you do. It seems that Maddow has come to a similar conclusion. I think her report is powerful, and sensible, and a force for good. People of good will can disagree on that and people of different tastes can go their diverse ways and still contribute to peace and justice.

No doubt your heart is in the right place even if you might not be either sensible enough or generous enough to recognize the same in me. Fight for a more peaceful and democratic world on the terms that seem best to you, and I will continue to do the same.

There are actually deeply broken, fearful, greedy, controlling, violent, authoritarians out there who fight equity and diversity and democracy and peace and creativity in the name of infantile certainties and corrupt incumbencies and pathological aggression. You sound like someone who has lost sight of what it means to appreciate collaborators who differ from you. Maybe I'm wrong to think that or just feeling a bit defensive in the face of your accusation, but it is always a worthy thing to remember that not all our allies will be our kin, our friends, or share our tastes or situations. And still, we are allies.

If you see poison everywhere, even in faint compromised shafts of light, I suspect your heart will be too poisoned too soon to be of much real use in the struggles to which we are both likely devoted, but that's something I fear and not something I know. Best of luck to you.