Monday, December 05, 2005
Word of the day: Intransigent
This is a word that Spielberg uses to describe both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict. "The biggest enemy is not the Palestinians or the Israelis. The biggest enemy in the region is intransigence."
It might also apply to the Al-qaeda / US terror conflict. It sounds a negative word in this context where each side is unwilling to step off of their viewpoint.
However, I am wondering how this word might apply to Senator McCain where he definitely should be intransigent. No comprimises are needed for the torture amendment. Afterall, he has survived torture, Bush and his cronies have not.
HighTechVagabond
Whether a position appears extreme depends on the zero point from which the measurement is taken. That normally means a prevailing mode. That in turn depends on where one looks. I look to find it neither in the United States nor Israel. There are other places and peoples, and I prefer their directions. Flip the ruler to measure from those, and what prevails in the USA becomes the extreme. It is from that I remain intransigent. The alternative is to drift toward its opposite, compromise with what cannot be accepted.
The basis for such perception of this old man of his nation and its people will not oft be heard for there are few yet alive to declare it. We who grew to adulthood in the US during the 1930's and 40's were taught well by government, schools, media, and surrounding society to hate the racist superiority inherent to the beliefs and actions of those "good" German people who allowed and in so doing championed Hitler's barbarism. We learned to cheer resistance fighters and militaries aligned against that colossus. Those roots and defining lessons drive me to stand and oppose by any means possible the actions of the US today, intransigent though that may be considered by those oblivious to a world welcomed process of their demolition.
"Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul." That originated from Thomas Paine in what was to become the United States. It was an intransigent call to battle those who would have it become what in time they succeeded in making it.
Forget the "bad" Americans. Their positions are starkly noted. What we can do here is help clarify the extreme actions of the self professed "good" people of the US and in so doing bolster the intransigence of those who battle them and what they allow.
