Way down deep among the rightwing troll comments in the Ward Churchill thread, reader Hal offers this passage by Jean Paul Sartre who addressed it to French intellectuals during that country’s colonialist war in Algeria. And I thought it deserved wider readership than it would get if I forced everyone to read through the Freeper crap.
So I’m posting it here, and then I think I might tattoo it on my forehead.
It is not right, my fellow-countrymen, you who know well all the crimes committed in our name. It’s not at all right that you do not breathe a word about them to anyone, not even to your own soul, for fear of having to stand in judgement of yourself. I am willing to believe that at the beginning you did not realize what was happening; later, you doubted whether such things could be true; but now you know, and still you hold your tongues.”
Note:Many old comments were lost in a database crash in 2008. Some conversations may seem to make less sense than they would have. A few will make more sense now.
9 comments on "Oh Lord, now he’s quoting French Philosophers"Yeah, tattoo that on your forehead…dummy. Smoke some of your dope first, though.
You know, Chris, I think that the law of trolls is operating here.
The more likely something is to be true, the more of them come flying out of the woodwork.
Congrats on hitting a nerve! *grin*
“Treehugger” aka “SpecOp” broke one too many rules: he posted using another poster’s name.
It’s one thing to be too cowardly to post under a real name or a consistent nym. It’s another to attempt to besmirch another’s reputation.
So he’s banned and the offending posts spiked.
Ah, well. Better sooner than later, I suppose.
Feel free to dump my comments, too. They’re not worth reading if they’re here all by themselves.
Chris ... I’ve seen guys with that much text tattooed on their foreheads. I look at them and think ... “freeper”.
Alas, we are too verbose to express ourselves in that medium. Too prone to revision, too.
Just keep at it, Chris. Even trolls know that the truth hurts.
Reading the discourse on the Ward Churchill post and the above comments, sadly my point is proven. We on the left who try to have a calm sane discourse continue to run up against the rising tide in the U.S. of “my way or no way.”
Why? Are their positions undefendable? It seems so when they come up with “if you don’t like it here move to another country.”
I don’t like the label “liberal” for myself, my choice is “radical” using it’s real definition. “Of or pertaining to the root. As in root of the problem.” And to get to the root of a problem it takes some thinking, exploring and dialogue. A dialogue that some of us are trying to have to lead us toward a peaceful, friendly union and an awareness of the suffering of ourselfs and others.
How do they explain away shit like this? I don’t get it. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/opinion/11herbert.html?ex=1108789200&en=d1e9de042e797004&ei=5070
(“Torture, American Style” by Bob Herbert, today’s NYTimes)
They’re not fools, so they must be intellectual/spiritual cowards. That’s all I can figure.
(After reading message string to “Ward Churchill post) O.K., I take it back. Some of them ARE fools! Sheesh.