Perry,
You asked me to elaborate on how you maligned Zinn, but then you elaborated instead:
His leftist pacifist perspective and critisms of the U.S. mesh well with the propaganda spewn from Islamic sources. Why is it that he appears to be a poster boy for Islam? I wonder what motive they could possibly have in fostering pacifism in the US?
To be honest, most of your conclusions you have drawn without justification. That is why I said you have fallen victim to ideology. The broad generalizations about Muslims and Islamic culture reflect that you, too, are attempting to understand something that troubles you.
But you draw an entirely arbitrary line here. You imply that any attempts at reconciliation are based upon justification of what 'evils' have been committed. No advocates for peace whose writing I have read attempts to justify the commission of evil.
Most of your concluding comments (in both of your recent comments) I more or less agree with, or at least I have sympathy for what you try to say.
Civilized people will sooner or later have to fight against the agression of evil. Trying to understand that evil is fruitless. Crushing it is hard enough.
But I disagree that 'trying to understand that evil is fruitless'. We have to start with examining our own faults. This is neither anti-American nor misanthropic.
I'll speak from personal experience for a moment.
I have met several people who used to be gang members or otherwise shady characters. The conversations that ensued have been some of the most honest and enlightening moments in my recent memory. Mind you, these are people you would tend to avoid if you saw them in the street. They would admit readily that their former lifestyle was atrocious.
But they also were able to see that their own former attitudes were reflections of the attitudes of the more 'politically correct' members of society. The obvious is our devotion to money, which we hypocritically try to ascribe to the 'lower classes' of people.
But my overall point is that the evil that is hardest to 'crush' is that within ourselves and our own insititutions. It's certainly harder than just sending missiles at enemies; prehaps you would agree.
cellmould
