Re: [Marxism] More on Hitchens & la mission civilisatrice

["Gilles d'Aymery" <aymery@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> (WARNING-- EXTREMELY TOXIC)
>
> The Nation.
> October 19, 1992
>
> MINORITY REPORT.
> CHRISTOPHER KITCHENS
[...]
> But those who view the history of North America as a narra­tive of genocide
> and slavery are, it seems to me, hopelessly stuck on this reactionary
> position. They can think of the West­ern expansion of the United States
> only in terms of plague blankets, bootleg booze and dead buffalo, never in
> terms of the medicine chest, the wheel and the railway.
>
> One need not be an automatic positivist about this. But it does happen to
> be the way that history is made, and to com­plain about it is as empty as
> complaint about climatic, geo­logical or tectonic shift.
[...]

In other words, "shit happens and then you die." Looks more like
determinism to me than positivism. And imagine an Iraq without the
Iraqis, but filled with today's benevolent "medicine chest, the wheel
and the railway"....

Toxic indeed. Thanks for hunting down this piece, Lou.

Gilles

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