Re: capital punishment in Iran
On Apr 27, 2007, at 2:18 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
But you have no problem with people who admire America, such as Noam Chomsky, despite what its government does in the world as well as at home, nor do I hear you going on about how guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, etc. you feel living here. You seem to take America in stride, while you can’t say the same about Iran. You have a problem of blindness that comes from nationalism, it seems to me.
The more you write about Iran, the more I think that you realize on
some level that you’ve backed yourself into a corner, but since
you’re incapable of admitting that, you keep saying more ludicrous
things every day.
I’ve said many times that I admire Noam Chomsky a great deal, but
there are important things I disagree with him on. His fundamental
patriotism is one of them. (Another is his belief in the power of
mere truth-telling.) But his work at documenting the nature of U.S.
imperialism is an enormous contribution.
I don’t think I should be personally ashamed or embarrassed for
living in the U.S. There are a lot of awful things about American
society, and I spend a lot of my life writing and talking about them.
I do what I can to improve things, which isn’t very much. But I don’t
see why I should hang my head in shame. I was born here and just
about everyone I know and love lives here. My work depends on
continuing to live here. And what would it accomplish for me to
relocate to a farmhouse in Fiesole, as lovely as it would be drive
along the via Antonio Gramsci to go home? If I wanted to get personal
about this, I could point out that you chose to live here; I’m here
by accident of birth. But personalizing politics like that would be
stupid and unproductive.
Doug