Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Response to my post re: protest
Report on the protest from fellow Stanford student. Thank you, Daniel, for the amazing videos. I love the caterpillars at the beginning. I got the chills seeing my friends handled like that. What an immoral move to falsely bring the fire truck in. I wonder if there is anything we can do? Are they allowed to lie and create a false sense of emergency like that? Okay, it's just a microcosm then.
My friend Tom McManus** who works for the Sierra Club replied thus:
True that. I need to articulate the above points too, when I am explaining my position in the future.
Practicing what we preach is so crucial*. The example about which I've read most recently: the business deals that American economic advisor (and hostage) Moorhead Kennedy saw in Iran just before the students took the embassy (The Ayatollah and the Cathedral, excellent book). American diplomats and the American businessmen to whom they pandered were certain that they could use the provisional government and the instability in the country to control the market (which goods? oil, probably). Iranian businessmen of course also benefitted, though the country's interests and those of the people were completely neglected.
*I'm the worst at it
**Tom is also the bassist of Brother Buzz and Tonal Recall, formerly of the Mystery Cats, a band that plays Jerry Day, one of the coolest events I've ever attended. I was at Jerry Day 2005, which was the actual official renaming of an amphitheater in McLaren Park as Jerry Garcia Amphitheater. This SF Chronicle article mentions that "the name change...cost the city almost nothing."
My friend Tom McManus** who works for the Sierra Club replied thus:
One thing I wish to respond to is the idea that those who express criticism of the administration have a moral obligation to either go easy because there is far worse elsewhere, or express some commeasurate outrage with other countries whose behavior is worse. You are right that other countries behave horribly, and many who express outrage regarding U.S. behavior are silent about behavior by other countries. But the reason people in this country criticize our own government so much is because we have primary responsibility for its behavior - more so than we do for that of other countries. Our government is supposed to be accountable to us. Other countries' governments are only accountable to us indirectly at best. I also believe that the ability of the U.S. to influence other countries is increased when we have the credibility of practicing what we preach.
True that. I need to articulate the above points too, when I am explaining my position in the future.
Practicing what we preach is so crucial*. The example about which I've read most recently: the business deals that American economic advisor (and hostage) Moorhead Kennedy saw in Iran just before the students took the embassy (The Ayatollah and the Cathedral, excellent book). American diplomats and the American businessmen to whom they pandered were certain that they could use the provisional government and the instability in the country to control the market (which goods? oil, probably). Iranian businessmen of course also benefitted, though the country's interests and those of the people were completely neglected.
*I'm the worst at it
**Tom is also the bassist of Brother Buzz and Tonal Recall, formerly of the Mystery Cats, a band that plays Jerry Day, one of the coolest events I've ever attended. I was at Jerry Day 2005, which was the actual official renaming of an amphitheater in McLaren Park as Jerry Garcia Amphitheater. This SF Chronicle article mentions that "the name change...cost the city almost nothing."
