Subject: Re: Anthony Crifasi's justification for war
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 21:18:00 -0800


Anthony U wrote:

" The phenomena have been there, so George Bush does not
have to know Levinas in
order for Levinas to apply to what he is doing! Just as my
essence was still
existence even before I studied Heidegger."

How does Levinas apply to what G. W. Bush is doing? How does
killing and smoking out the Taliban apply to Levinas? It
seems to me that it was the US which got the Taliban to
power in the last decade. So what is the rational for
wanting to destroy them now. Why did the first Bush
recognize the problem with the Taliban in the beginning?

It seems like the US administration is either blind or
stupid? as far as morality is concerned. They are like
serial killers. First they support the other killers because
these killers want to kill some other killers, then when
there is no one around for the secondary killers to kill,
they start to turn on the tetiary killers which invariably
appears to be the US. The US is like a praying mantis eating
it's mates one after the other. Eventually something larger
than the US will eat it, just like the praying mantis which
may be eaten by bird. Perhaps that larger something will be
an economic depression and world opinion (the real
superpower in the world).


john





Here is a recent example of Malthus' Thomistic Philosophy
(Social Darwinism) by the notorious former World Bank Chief
economist and US Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers:

 "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic
waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable... because
foregone earnings from increased morbidity" are low. He adds
that "the underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly
underpolluted; their air quality is probably vastly
inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles.... "

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Crifasi" <crifasi-AT-hotmail.com>
To: <heidegger-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: Anthony Crifasi's justification for war


Malcolm Riddoch wrote:

>Are you seriously claiming that you and the US
administration have
>surpassed metaphysics and entered a post-Heideggerrean
epoch of morality
>beyond will to power?

Geez Malcolm, ethics did not have to wait for Levinas it to
be ethics! Just
as Dasein did not have to wait for Heidegger before its
essence could be
existence! Your talking as if Levinas suddenly "transformed"
ethical
phenomena through his analysis. That's like saying that
Heidegger suddenly
transformed every Dasein's essence into existence with his
analysis! The
phenomena have been there, so George Bush does not have to
know Levinas in
order for Levinas to apply to what he is doing! Just as my
essence was still
existence even before I studied Heidegger.

Anthony Crifasi

>You are laughable sometimes Anthony, and your logical
retreats are
>superficial in the extreme and boxing you into an
absurdity.
>
>I can't see how your justifications for war based on the
legalities of UN
>resolutions and the need to suppress 'untrustworthy' states
are anything
>other than simple conservative arguments for the use of
violence.
>Especially since the US administration does not recognise
the authority of
>the UN or the jurisdiction of any international court, it
recognises only
>its own authority, which is the authority of the US
president, and it has
>the power to assert this authority no matter what you or I
think about
>justice. Where is the Levinasian ethics here?
>
>Traditional notions of justice are guaranteed by an
authority such as god
>or a belief in the inviolability of human rights. Heidegger
points out that
>these are nothing more than an assertion of will to power,
and all major
>power elites now explicitly guarantee their own justice and
truth without
>recourse to these traditional notions except where
propaganda and the
>control of public opinion is concerned. It is a simple
statement of fact
>that the the US administration has declared a global war on
terror with the
>intent to realign the geopolitical order for this next
century, and without
>regard to notions of justice or morality except where
global and especially
>domestic public opinion is concerned. It recognises no
authority apart from
>its own, it is enforcing that authority at the moment
without regard to
>anyone except its domestic constituency, and this
enforcement will change
>the geopolitical order into the next century. It's called a
'war on terror'
>and the battle for Baghdad is just the second campaign in a
publicly stated
>US war plan that encompasses Iran and North Korea.
>
>Your puerile justifications for this realignment are
meaningless cos they
>have no power to justify anything. But they can influence
public opinion,
>and in the end it is US public opinion that will judge
George W. Bush and
>his Republican war at the next election. Your
justifications are not
>philosophical, they are Gerede. But this is where I see
Levinas' notion of
>morality coming into play because world public opinion does
have an
>influence on US domestic opinion, and if 'we' care for the
other 'they'
>will argue for world peace, the equitable distribution of
wealth and an end
>to all suffering (deep ecology anyone?). This is the stuff
of Levinasian
>ethics and all you are doing is parroting the dominant
propaganda. The US
>administration does not need your help in this matter, it
controls a vast
>corporate media machine that is doing the job quite well
already, at least
>in the US market and while the body bags and burnt babies
are kept to a
>manageable PR level.
>
>Regards,
>
>Malcolm
>
>
>
>     --- from list heidegger-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---


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