Hello old p-list, my refuge in times of trouble

[barbara100 at jps.net]

Yes, I think David's argument that They hate us because of our "superiority of power" only validates Vonnegut's argument. I mean, the reason we have any of this power at all is because we steal it from the likes of them.  Remember in grade school when we learned America is 6% of the world population, but we suck up like 50 or 80% of its resources? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
But as far as Their theologies telling them They should be the rulers of the earth, you only have to listen to our President to figure we're all afflicted with that tired old sickness. Isn't there a passage in Gravity's Rainbow to this effect? The "[insert name of nation]" passage?  No, that's not it, but I know Pynchon wrote a good one.   

> The difference between Vonnegut's statement and mine has to do with which party
> is responsible for the "wrecked self-respect."   Vonnegut implies that America
> caused the wreck.  I'd say the wreck is due to the immaturity of the wreckee. 
> Take Cuba, for example.  Do Cubans hate America?  Clearly they are in a
> position of inferiority, but that hasn't resulted in America-hating.
> 
> David Morris
> 
> --- davemarc <davemarc at panix.com> wrote:
> > Vonnegut writes, "We are hated because our corporations have been the
> > principal deliverers and imposers of new technologies and economic schemes
> > that have wrecked the self-respect, the cultures of men, women and children
> > in so many other societies."
> > 
> > Morris writes "Vonnegut is full of shit," explaining "America is hated
> > primarily because of its superiority of power.  THAT is what wrecks the
> > self-respect of third-world countries dominated by theologies which tell
> > them that THEY should be the rulers of the earth."
> > 
> > Frankly, I don't see much of a difference between Vonnegut and Morris here.
> > Should I conclude that they're both full of shit?  
> > 
> > I don't think so.
> > 
> > d.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
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