If you ever travel at all in Europe, you'll quickly
realize how uniquely
and profoundly uninformed the American public
generally chooses to remain.
I say "chooses," because in fact our media is
market-driven and we, after
all, are the market. In Europe and most of the
rest of the world where
global news is at all available, by stark contrast,
the common working
person -- the bricklayers and ditch-diggers, never
mind office workers --
have an astonishing (to us) command of the fine
points of who is doing what
to whom and why on the global geopolitical scene.
I'll never forget
overhearing heated arguments among such people in
working class European
bars about some subtlety of a recently announced
IMF decision and who would
stand to lose or gain the most and why. The
arguments were of an informed
depth that one would only find here in a few tiny
circles -- even in academe.
There is lots of irony in this since an informed
and educated public is the
bedrock foundation of any democracy and many of
these countries lay far
fewer claims to being democratic. But I digress.
The point is that most of the world reacted to our
tragic losses on 9/11
with sincere empathy but also with a quizzically
raised eyebrow at our naiveté
as long standing perpetrators of global terrorism
only rivaled in history by
that of the Nazis. In fact, if you go back to
in-depth reporting of the time,
you'll find our most reputable news sources gently
reporting or alluding to such
feelings among our allies. They were indeed deeply
empathetic over our losses
but surprised at our shock given what we've been
doing on a global basis for so
long.
Your own reaction to our pilots being shot at
suggests you may be unaware of
the darker side of our Nation's long terrorist
history, indeed you may find my
use of that word genuinely offensive. I do not use
it lightly and have taken
the liberty of ordering a copy of Blum's excellent
book for you. See:
for a quick review and be sure to read the linked
review from a reader. The
reader's scathing critique is marvelously ironic.
So, back to our pilots being shot at, yes, I'm
indeed empathetic but I have
to cast that against the backdrop of carnage that
we've been wreaking on the
Iraqi civilian population. Now, thankfully, even
our popular movie actors
are taking to producing documentaries of their own
travels in Iraq in an
attempt to inform the unwilling-to-wake-up American
public on what is being
done to civilian populations in their name.
Really, a few shots at the pilots
responsible for the attacks that destroy entire
families and villages, that
deprive innocent civilians of water, food and basic
medical care, should be
no surprise at all. If you are seriously
interested in becoming informed,
please consider not just my suggested reading, but
possibly attending the
first silence-breaking presentation I hope we'll
see on campus this Friday
at the Newman Center late morning. I'll post the
event to the calendar as
it gels but I hope Dave Robinson will be there to
offer a repeat of the
presentation/discussion he's offering at Canisius
College Thursday evening:
Eyewitness from Iraq.
A dear and courageous friend of mine will also soon
be traveling to Iraq with
a Christian Peacemaking task group to visit/support humanitarian aid
facilities
and to directly and personally intervene in the likely event that we
start dropping
bombs in earnest. If he returns to us, God willing, I'm sure you'll
soon be able to
hear first-hand reports from one of our most
respectable and well known local
successful businessmen.
And then there's our use of depleted uranium (DU)
munitions to reduce the
cost-to-kill while forever polluting foreign
environments at staggering costs
to civilian non-combatant populations -- even our
Sierra Club speaks out about
that. Do a Google search on "DU Munitions" for
more. And on and on and on.
You only have to wake up and want to learn more to
start to your own thoroughly
depressing education and to learn about what may be
actually inspiring so much
hatred directed at us as a Nation -- not as people,
except possibly in our blind
and greedy ignorance.
I'll set aside a copy of Frank Dorrel's compilation
of previously aired
documentaries, "What I’ve Learned About U.S.
Foreign Policy: The War Against
the Third World" video for you. He's graciously
given me permission to
reproduce and distribute it locally. Remind me
when I next see you and
Also, keep an eye on our on-line regional calendar
at:
And consider joining with the many highly esteemed,
distinguished and award-
laden faculty and staff now organizing a UB
Faculty/Staff for Peace campus group
to promote informed discussion and debate -- the
only cure for what ails us. You
can subscribe to a simple UB news list at:
UB Faculty/Staff planning group.
I like and respect you a lot or I would not have
bothered to respond at
such length. Please take no offense and please be assured that we
need
never discuss this topic further if you prefer. I
have nothing but respect
for informed
opposition: it's typically uninformed opposition that genuinely
frightens me. And it's not at all for my own
sake: I've already lived a long
and highly satisfying life. If I have to continue
to put more and more of
my own life on the line to get folks to wake up and
pay attention, it will
be out of increasing fear for the future well-being
of my young daughter and
children like her around the world; we owe them far
more than this. If we,
Americans, persist in our ignorance and greedy
blind global manipulations,
I have no doubts that others will continue to
strike out and back at us as
technology advances and the horrifyingly brutal
means become ever more
readily available. And whatever happens is likely
to make 9/11 look like child's
play in comparison. And we will have no one to
blame but ourselves. Our
own children's blood will then be on our very own
hands. And who among us
could ever sleep at night with that thought? Which
is why so many good and
respectable people are increasingly rising up to
say clearly and unequivocally:
No. Not any longer.
Not
for another minute. Not ever again. Not in my name.
Please consider joining with us.
Best Regards,
Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not In My Name
James O'Connor
Whitlock
Bitsy's Dad
Buffalo, New York
