pynchon-l-digest V2 #2158

[Doug Millison]

Malign:
("the U.S. government," would have to include the Congress, would
>it not, which included many who were against the war--Kennedy, McGovern
>notably).

Congressional opposition to the Vietnam war grew slowly over many years.
You could look it up. By  1975, you could say virtually the U.S. government
(not all members of the government, of course)  was against the war, having
decided to withdraw all U.S. troops and personnel.  The protesters had been
right all along.  The war was criminal, and disastrous for Vietnam and
neighboring countries, as well as for the U.S.

Malign:
>Comparing Rob Jackson to McCarthy is an astonishing act of chutzpah

You're easily, and selectively, astonished, I guess.  Comparing somebody
who doesn't agree with the Bush attack on Afghanistan -- Susan Sontage
being a andy example in Salon today -- to bin Laden is slimy and is
precisely the type of tactic that McCarthy perfected. It was despicable and
the nation agreed when it finally woke up and realized the damage that
McCarthy was doing to the country. For rj/rjackson/jbor/? to adopt that
tactic now is worth comment.

At any rate, I suppose rj/rjackson/jbor/?'s attack would have to include
all the writers of the various articles I've been passing along -- it's
them, after all, who have noted the illegality of the U.S. attack on
Afghanistan, who have reported on the bombing of children and other
innocent civilians, & etc. I guess all those reporters for the Guardian,
the Independent, New York Times, etc., are also working for bin Laden,
following rj/rjackson/jbor/?'s McCarthyite logic.


Malign:
>No one has tried to censor her or those who reacted in words to her.

Nobody said anything about anybody trying to censor Sontag.  The point was,
because she spoke up in dissent, she was called a confederate of bin Laden.