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Nuclear testing, the military and Humanty
Levesque Robert (levesqr@ERE.UMONTREAL.CA)
Wed, 19 Jul 1995 14:23:58 -0400
>Subject: On nuclear testing
>
>Chris Harris writes:
>
>- All French people have to make the choice to remove the
> criminal government they have elected.
>
>
>- If French Culture gives rise to this essentially nihilistic
> behaviour, Then every effort must be made to remove all French
> words, food, customs, etc from civilized culture.
>
>- One is reminded of past criminal actions and lies by French
> governments, therefore any assurance from the French must be
> taken with more than a grain of salt.
>
>- All the above arguments apply equally to Korea, Israel, Britain,
> U.S.A, China etc if they choose to develop and/or set off nuclear
> weapons.
>
>Christine Mathieu replyed :
>
>How can 'All French people' be counted responsible for the 'criminal
>government they elected', when Chirac was elected with a percentage of
>votes? Would Chris Harris hold himself responsible for the actions of a
>government he did not vote to elect? Or even for a government he voted to
>elect but nonetheless acted in ways which he disapprove of? Or are we to
>believe that there is one French man out there called Jacques Chirac and
>55,000,000 clones?
>And how would the Chinese or the Koreans who don't even vote be held
>accountable for their governments?
>
>If we were to scrap from 'civilized culture' the languages of those who
>developed nuclear weapons or set them off, Chris Harris would not speak
>English.
>
>If we were to take with more than a grain of salt the words of those whose
>governments have committed crimes against humanity, Chris Harris as a
>national of a country (New Zealand, the same goes for Australia - my
>country of citizenship) built on the expropriation of indigenous people no=
t
>to mention their genocide would only have lies to tell.
>
>Please make intelligent politics - if not, what is the point of wishing to
>save the planet and its people? Does the world really need more xenophobia=
?
>
________________________________________________________________________
-DOES THE WORLD REALY NEED.... MORE "HOT AIR" ?-
________________________________________________________________________
I do not usualy take to the keybord to answer this type of posting,
thingking that the world has too much "Hot Air" as it is, but I wold like t=
o
make a point:
M. Chris Harris uses abusave language and arrogance and is puting it to u=
se
in a campaing to stop the French govenment to have nuclear testing for
military use!!!!!
Mr Chris Harris, while I recognize the urgency of bannig nuclear
testing, weapons and all millatary hardware and also do not forget the
militarist "mind set", the push buton philosophy of :kill the ennemi. You =
see
French culture as a nihilistc culture. But you what to annihilate French fr=
on
civilisation!? I do not belive that you are making a very good argument for
your cause.
It is arrogant and narrow minded when you suggested that :
"=A8...) every effort must be made to remove all French
words, food, customs, etc from civilized culture."
How are you to make such a suggestion? A "civilized" member of some
moral elite? Are you not beeing your self "rude" being a savage to every
person who has french for its culture ! Tell me, how you can juge what is o=
r
is not to be categorized as a civilisation in its hone rghit ? What is your
methodology that permits you a conclusion such as this one ? Are you so ful=
l
of your "civilised push-button" way of thinking that you advocate the
extinction of one culture from existence. I found that remark very, very, v=
ery
offensive, @#$%?&!!!!!!!!!!
On the moral side of this issue of nuclar testing by the French
government. I will say that globaly we must move towards a world were every
individual MUST HAVE adequate food, shelter, health care and eduction and s=
o
consequently we must ban (this is my utopia) : the militarist mind sets and
its hardware !!!
Finally I would like to give All somme food for thought on this
subject, it may be chronologically to far ago for M. Chris Harris, but I th=
ink
is has a bering on this issue of science, the military "mind sets" and
hardware and humanity.
This exerpt is from Jacob Bronwski's (1908-1974): The Ascent of Man=
,
pp. 234-235:
<< The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan on 6 August 1945=
at
8.15 in the mornig. I had not been long back from from Hiroshima when I hea=
rd
someonesay,in Szilard's presence, that it was a tradgedy of sceintists that
their discoveries were used for destruction. Szilard replied , as he more t=
han
anyone had the rghit to reply, that it was not the tragedy of sceintists: "=
it
is the tradedy of mankind."
There are two parts to the human dilemma. One is the belief that th=
e
end justifies the means. That push-button philosophy, that delibarate deafn=
ess
to suffering, has become the monster in the war machine. The other is the
betrayal of the human spirit : the assertion of dogma that closes minds, an=
d
turns a nation, a civilisation, into a regiment of ghost- obedient ghost or
tortuerd ghosts.
It is said that sceince will dehumanize pepole and turn them into
numbers. That is false, tragically false. Remember the concentration camp a=
nd
crematorium at Auschwitz.This is where people were turned into numbers. Int=
o
this pond were fulshed the ashes of some four million people. (In the TV
series Prof. Bronowski was in Aschwitz his two feet in a pond and grasping
with one hand the wet earth were some members of his family died) And that =
was
not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. When peopl=
e
belive they have absolute knowledge, with'no test in reality, this is how t=
hey
behave.>>
Thank You, et excusez mon anglais! Je suis francophone !!!!
Robert Levesque
Departement d'anthropologie
Universite de Montreal
<<History is not a menu, you can not have it a la carte>
Cox, G.O., African Empiers and Civilisations, 1977
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