[extropy-chat] Re: The Force of Human Freedom

[Damien Broderick]

At 05:24 PM 1/30/2005 -0600, Greg Burch wrote:

> > > http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/map/
> >
> > Sheesh...!!  Now PBS too??
> >
> > With  that relentless hammering of fear, how do you folks sleep
> > at night, or get out of bed in the morning?
> >
> >
> > Amara
>
>Yes, it's pretty bad when reliably anti-American PBS does a report like 
>this.  What if it's true?
>
>A kind-hearted person of good will, circa 1933: "Won't those people just 
>shut up with their negativity about Hitler and Hirohito?  How can they 
>sleep at night or get out of bed in the morning with all that 
>fear-mongering?!?!"

Hang on, this is a rather different kind of story isn't it? Muslims hither 
and yon =/= a mad dictator with plans for world conquest. The threat might 
well be real, but as Steve Davies and others have argued it derives from 
different drivers. What worries me is that the analogy looks closer to:

< circa 1933: "Won't those people just shut up with their negativity about 
Jews and gypsies all around the place?  How can they sleep at night or get 
out of bed in the morning with all that fear-mongering?!?!" >

That would not have been the most helpful response, either, but it places 
the burden of proof where it belongs, and foreshadows something terrible 
for the stigmatized groups.

Damien Broderick