[964] in peace2
A Call For Reason (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aaron Bornstein)
Thu Sep 13 12:59:41 2001
Message-Id: <200109131659.MAA07119@m56-129-11.mit.edu>
To: vmy@9mm.com, peace-list@MIT.EDU
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Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 12:59:37 -0400
From: Aaron Bornstein <aaronmb@MIT.EDU>
I sent the following to my senators, the president, and Secretary Powell as
well as a few local media outlets in cities I identify with. Please send
something similar (feel free to copy my words if you like) to your
representatives, as well as (and this is probably more important) the media at
large. It's become painfully obvious that this position needs to be heard.
------- Forwarded Message
To: secretary@state.gov, president@whitehouse.gov,
govsenator@kennedy.senate.gov,
john_jerry@kerry.senate.gov, senator@schumer.senate.gov,
senator@clinton.senate.gov
Subject: A Call For Reason
From: Aaron Bornstein <aaronmb@MIT.EDU>
1. war \'wo.(*)r\ n [ME werre, fr. ONF, fr. OHG werra confusion, strife;
akin to OHG Xwerran to confuse, L verrere to sweep, sweep away 1a1: a state
of usu. open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations
We are not at war. We are not at war any more than we were in 1995, when
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols slaughtered 168 American citizens in a
senseless lashing out against a system they could no longer support. We did
not declare war against disaffected white middle americans. We did not declare
war against the the army that trained them, the towns that harbored them, the
dozens of groups and thousands of people who share their views, or the angry
teenagers who to this day view them as martyrs.
To declare war, even to fight as though we were at war, is to give in to fear,
xenophobia and racism. To attack all those whom we percieve as different and
therefore threatening is to prove we are no better than the cowards who
launched this attack, that we have learned nothing from decades of bloodshed.
If we initiate, if we kill more innocents in response to this attack, then we
have no need to declare a war, because we have already lost.
Those responsible should be brought to justice. The world should see that we
are reasoned people, even in the face of great terror. To respond in kind to
this provocation is to take one fateful step closer to the horrific vision
espoused by people like Ann Coulter (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ucac/20010912
/cm/this_is_war_1.html), who wants nothing less than a full-scale invasion and
genocide of all countries whose belief structure differs from ours.
As our leaders, it is your responsibility to maintain calm and level heads in
the time of greatest crisis. The majority may be calling for swift and
violent action, but will they hold the same beliefs in two weeks? Can we
afford to wake up one morning months from now and realize we have initiated
full-scale armed conflict where there was no need? See past the pain. See
past the anger. Let reason prevail.
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