Dear Log,
I've been busy and yet feeling unproductive. So last night, to wave aside some of the funk and try to get the ball rolling on some of the module work that has backed up as I have been finishing off the RTF book, I did some trivial releases: a new Locale::Maketext version, and a release of a module I've had sitting around for ages, Module::Versions::Report.
In non-programming news, I've mostly been trying to resynch my sleep schedule to something sane; and I've been trying to read Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon (now done, and started Starmaker); and cooking and stuff. It's all a haze, just like the view outside. It has been beautiful outside past few days, with amazing plant-life blooming everywhere; but I've been avoiding going out much because whenever I do go out, I come back with itchy bug-bites.
Meanwhile, it's one bit of hit-and-miss but reliably sententious analysis after another. And in other news, I might have to start a file for articles by Apaches/Navajos pining for a time when the legal system was easy because everyone was nice. They should put a roadsign on the highways into the reservation: "Watch for falling myths".
That Altantic interview is precious, TorgoX. I'm reading Howard Zinn's _Declarations of Independences_ right now and he spends a good deal of time exposing the authoritarian leanings of "realpolitics". In the linked interview, these quotes set off my crypto-fascist detector:
« And it's like any bureaucracy: the more people that are involved, the more mediocre and diluted the decisions are. Tough decisions tend to be made by small groups of people willing to take risks. »
That's right "diluted" decisions here being a byword for comprimise. I believe democracy encourages dilution of power through an odd practice of "debate" and "free expression." It's enough to drive an autocrat to tears, really.
« I would say that a liberal power like the United States cannot spread its liberalism without military power as well. »
I bet you didn't think you could linked "liberalism" and "military power" outside of a socialist satire, did you?
"Pablo, your country is going to be liberal, even if I have to kill every last one of you mofos!"
So it's "natural" for America to pursue empire (Kaplan's words, not mine), because hell, we're already there anyway. Magically. Now it's just a matter of making the best of a bad situation. I know where Kaplan's coming from, though. Sometimes, when I'm caught walking in a rain storm, I give up trying to stay dry and just live a little.
Re:doublethink
pudge on 2003-06-27T00:07:39
« I would say that a liberal power like the United States cannot spread its liberalism without military power as well. »
I bet you didn't think you could linked "liberalism" and "military power" outside of a socialist satire, did you?
Well, what would you call a policy -- just imagine for a moment it actually happened that way, for the sake of argument -- of liberating an oppressed people by deposing its dictator by force? Seems pretty liberal to me, and if that was the purpose of the war in Iraq, I don't support it.:-)
