Out Speaks Poobah Indian Dyslexic

"'Anybody who is pushed to a corner will be forced to take up arms. We have to understand that psychology,' Pandey told The Associated Press."

When that little paragraph caught my eye on the page, I thought, Yes, that does help to explain the USA's reaction to 9-11 alright.

I shoulda known better. Sandeep Pandey, winner of the Magsaysay Award — I don't know whywhy he won that award, whateverever it is — wasn't talking about the USA having been pushed into a corner by an unprovoked attack on an unsuspecting civilian population. Oh, no. He, and a few others, got his perception of reality backwards: he was talking about the USA's military action attempting to prevent another such attack, as this AP story at ABC shows:

Activists from more than a dozen countries held an anti-U.S. protest Sunday at the American Embassy, calling on Washington to fight terrorism with dialogue and not war.

About 70 foreign and Filipino activists said they would help organize protests timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to draw support against the U.S.-led global war on terrorism....

Talk about rubbing salt in a wound. Or kicking a man while he's down. Oh, I'm quite sure they'll "draw support". But they'll also draw disgust, derision, and scorn. From me, at the very least.

That article prompted a very long and very good response at USS Clueless:

.... For a supposedly ethical man, recipient of Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, this attitude betrays a frighteningly unethical point of view. The United States must "address any grievances" which implies that the grievances are our fault (else why should it be us who does the addressing)? "Addressing" means to make concessions, to change our own behavior, so as to satisfy those who attacked us.

It means to reward those who killed our people, and to establish this as our national policy in such cases, which would in turn encourage others to attack us in hopes of gaining concessions of their own. It means that when we're attacked, we automatically surrender. It means appeasement. It means cowardice.

And for a man described as an "educator", this betrays a woeful lack of knowledge of this particular struggle. It's always possible to have dialog, but it isn't always possible for that dialog to make any sense. Sometimes there's no common ground, and this is such a case. Sometimes the ideas held by the two sides are so far apart that neither can even understand the other. We face such a case....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 09/02/02 11:37:32 AM
Categorized as Classic.