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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Chomsky, clever linguist
that he is, no doubt is referring to the in-general-use connotation of
hysteria<br>
rather than the fallen-into-disuse etymologic denotation... but he
definitely provides an excellent summary<br>
of the American majority opinion. <br>
</font>
<blockquote>
<p>It might be instructive to ask ourselves how we would be reacting
if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush's compound, assassinated
him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic (after proper burial rites, of
course). Uncontroversially, he is not a “suspect” but the “decider” who
gave the orders to invade Iraq -- that is, to commit the “supreme
international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it
contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole” (quoting the
Nuremberg Tribunal) for which Nazi criminals were hanged: in Iraq, the
hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of
much of the country and the national heritage, and the murderous
sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region.
Equally uncontroversially, these crimes vastly exceed anything
attributed to bin Laden.</p>
<p>To say that all of this is uncontroversial, as it is, is not to
imply that it is not denied. The existence of flat earthers does not
change the fact that, uncontroversially, the earth is not flat.
Similarly, it is uncontroversial that Stalin and Hitler were
responsible for horrendous crimes, though loyalists deny it. All of
this should, again, be too obvious for comment, and would be, except in
<b><i>an atmosphere of hysteria so extreme that it blocks rational
thought. </i></b><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><a
href="http://www.zcommunications.org/there-is-much-more-to-say-by-noam-chomsky">http://www.zcommunications.org/there-is-much-more-to-say-by-noam-chomsky</a><br>
</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
Despite his brilliant diagnosis, Chomsky does not suggest a treatment
for the condition.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">The Victorian remedy
seems to have some merit and<br>
the analogous prescription is what I suggest to the Powers-that-Be.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">On the other hand, the
equivalent, self-supplied, seems to typify the American attitude.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">"...oh, well...where was
I...?" - Flakey Foont.<br>
</font></p>
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