Posted by zeugma on March 5, 2006, at 11:00:49
In reply to Policy as opposed to people, posted by Dinah on March 5, 2006, at 10:36:21
> I've said this a few times and feel like I'm spitting in the wind a bit. But policy can always be critiqued. The problem comes in when you use negative words to describe countries or peoples, or if you say or strongly imply that anyone who believes in a certain policy is (insert negative comment here).>>
ah yes. But policies are the actions of people, whether directly (through political figures' own actions) or indirectly (through voting). And if I say that political figure X is violating the Constitution, or repeatedly engaging in policies that are inhumane and serve no policy ends other than the self-interest of a narrow group of individuals who have investments in corporations that profit from such policies, I suppose it's allright to detail the truth of these assertions without implying anything negative about either the individuals performing the acts or the people who vote for them.
You're not spitting in the wind, this discussion is getting somewhere. My difficulty is this: that the above statement, in the last sentence of the above paragraph, is not really coherent.
Because it's hard to allege that policies are deeply and systematically misguided without implying something, if not outright saying, negative about the individual(s) performing the acts.
I agree that invective directed against countries as a whole is not a good thing, chiefly because of its extreme inaccuracy, much like religious and racial stereotypes are forms of erroneous speech whose main effect is to stir up trouble.
But those who engage in specific policies, they are identifying themselves through their policies, it is why politics has a moral dimension and is not simply a game of chess, where we can comment on moves as functions of the players' skills without implying anything, anything at all, about wisdom or lack thereof, respect for life or lack thereof, respect for its citizens or lack thereof.
-z
poster:zeugma
thread:615250
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20060225/msgs/616159.html