Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 11:18:01 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: M-TH: r-e-s-p-e-c-t


On Sat, 26 Oct 1996, Gerald Levy wrote:
> (1) Life *was* certainly too short for all of the victim's of Stalin.
	I agree.
> (2) Should we be "a little kinder to one another" when some defend *mass
> murderers*?
	Maybe we need to engage such people in a critical fashion without
the name calling... You are certainly not going to get an argument from
this Hayekian-Randian libertarian on the evils of Stalinist mass murder.
But hollering the argument will only produce heat, and not shed light on
this tragedy.  
> (3) What sort of "respect" are those who justify and apologize for
> genocide when it is committed by "progressives" and "leftists" entitled
> to?
	In this forum, I'd suspect that we should give our adversaries the
benefit of the doubt, and hope that with engaged conversation, truth will
win out.  The whole purpose of a dialectic of give-and-take, in the ol'
Socratic tradition, is to engage one's adversaries so as to uncover
argumentative contradictions.  This does not mean that one must be morally
neutral -- but it does mean that with the uncovering of contradictions, we
move closer to what is objectively valid.  Speaking for myself, I think it
is morally reprehensible that anyone could even think of justifying
genocide... but silencing those whom one might perceive as "apologists"
for it, seems counterproductive to me.  If indeed, such individuals are
apologists -- I, personally, would like to know WHY, and toward what
purpose.  
	And speaking from experience... my own advocacy of markets has
subjected me to all sorts of criticisms on the various Marxist
lists, that I am an apologist for capitalist imperialism, or a lacky for
the capitalist class.  If I'd been intimidated by such charges, I would
have left here years ago.  Instead, I've stuck around, and now I'm
co-moderating a group of Marxists!  Of all the inner contradictions!  But
surely, by staying here, I've learned a lot.  And maybe, my "adversaries"
have learned a lot too.  I'm simply saying that one should not, a priori,
dismiss ANYONE for what appears to be an apologia for injustice.  We can
learn alot -- even if such individuals, ultimately, are engaged in
whitewashing history.
					- Chris
=================================================Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Ph.D
Visiting Scholar, NYU Department of Politics
INTERNET:  sciabrrc-AT-is2.nyu.edu
http://pages.nyu.edu/~sciabrrc
=================================================


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