Re: The American Road to Self-destruction

["Alan Krebs" <alankrebs303@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Interestingly, hardly any one in this discussion has mentioned the fact that
for the past two years Israel has been the target of a systematic campaign
of terror resulting in hundreds of deaths among the civilian population. In
the lexicon of some of the writers on this list, Israel is that horrible
country that dares to defend itself. (I believe I am plagiarizing Joan
Robinson here.) In any case, let us stipulate, as lawyers say, that a
tremendous injustice has befallen the Palestinian people over the past half
century. Think about it: Is it the worst injustice in the world today? Is it
the only injustice in the world today?

As people with an interest in "the economic way of thinking" let us posit
the existence of a fixed fund of indignation. If you expend all of your
indignation on Israel, there will be none left for the Kurds, the Kashmiris,
the Rwandans, the Shia in Afghanistan, the AIDS sufferers in Africa and on
and on. Bu if you give your indignation about the Palestinians a rest you
might even have room to become concerned  about the Catholics in Northern
Ireland, the Bretons in France, the Berbers in Algeria and the Basques in
Spain.

AK




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