New Hope Journal
Personal Essays and Public Opinions since 1979
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To the Editor,
Under the headline "Tsunamier than thou..." a recent guest columnist [that would be Larry L. Dill lld] played a bit fast and loose with the truth and/or reality regarding the relief effort in Southeast Asia.
To wit: He began by ridiculing the idea [the idea being Ted Kirby's original article. lld] that Americans tend to be more civilized than Muslims in the Middle East, ignoring that there has yet to be a photo on the internet of an American slicing off the head of a helpless captive
[I leave it to the reader to decide what relevance this point has to anything in either of our articles. But even assuming that it does, is he implying that when Timothy McVeigh, for instance, (a decorated American Military veteran) blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing hundreds of his own countrymen, he was behaving in a more civilized fashion than the criminals who cut off heads on the internet. lld]
The writer said that Australia, Germany and Japan, not to mention the European Union (is not Germany a member of the Union? [ Well, yeah. Is it possible that Germany contributed money as Germany and as a member of the EU? duh! lld] ) all contributed more to the relief effort than did our country. Whether collectively or individually wasn't clear, and no mention was made of the logistical cost of the effort our military made to assist.
[The use of American Military Forces (the largest in the world) was an afterthought of the US government and was apparently done in an effort to gain some positive public relations in a world that is fed up with American Military adverturism. It is my understanding that military expenses are to be deducted from America's contribution. Another consequense of American military presence in Indonesian relief efforts was to reopen negotiations with the Indonesian government to begin supplying armaments again to help them maintain a decades long bloody repression of dissidents in East Timor. lld]
He [meaning Larry L. Dill] apparently hasn't recently visited the website of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to which he referred, or he would have known that in Southeast Asia humanitarian assistance was rendered by the Red Cross--personnel, field hospitals, etc--but not the Red Crescent.
[Actually I had no idea how the Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies worked until I found their website while researching my original response to Kirby's original article. I thought I made it clear in my response that the reason the Red Crescent wasn't in Indonesia was because Indonesia has a Red Cross and you can only have one or the other in a country. But anyway what ever they are called in whatever country, they are all part of the same organization and do not represent any religion whatever flag they work under. lld]
The writer [again meaning Larry L. Dill] also confused the Nation of Islam, in its world-wide context, with a black empowerment organization operating almost exclusively in our country.
[This is cleary the stupidest thing that Kirby says in a field of stupid things. It was I that pointed out that he was the one who was referring to some imaginary worldwide Islamic conspiracy as "the nation of Islam." There is no "Nation of Islam in its worldwide context" lld]
Finally, he [meaning Larry L. Dill lld] criticizes "jingoism" even though a 'jingo' is a person who favors belligerent patriotism and an aggressive foreign policy. Is something wrong with that?
[This last remark is sort of the coda of Kirby's inanity. Now if you go back and read "Larry of Waynesville," You can understand how I felt like Joan of Arcadia. lld]
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Copyright 2005 by Larry L. Dill
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