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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (147735)	10/13/2004 11:55:28 AM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Neocon, re: It is a matter of logic that there is a strong presumption in favor of the opinion of those with expertise, a fuller array of pertinent information, and who have put in the work of analysis.....Yes, we can ask for arguments that build confidence, and challenge what may ring false, but, again, we should not start with an attitude of cynicism, as if any slander were readily believable of those in responsible position. It is precisely because we have less information that we should critically review and inspect every argument that is presented by those in power. That's because not only can they be wrong; they can also be deceptive. Our own history is replete with such deceptions; the Bay of Tonkin, the Watergate fiasco, I never had sex with that woman, Pat Tillman died bravely holding off enemy forces, our little lady POW who was wounded fighting off the Iraqis with a pile of empty shells beside her, the "daring" night rescue of that POW, the bomb attack on "terrorists" in Afghanistan that turned out to be an attack on a wedding party, the "certainty" that there were wmds and a reconstituted nuclear program in Iraq, the statements that we're not having any trouble filling our military recruitment quotas, the statement by Rice that "no one" considered that the terrorists would use planes as missiles, big and little, the list goes on and on. Bruce could give you many more, I'm sure. It's like buying a used car. The salesman almost always has superior knowledge but that doesn't mean you can trust that he can, or wants to, put all that knowledge together to benefit your purchase. You must recognize that your interests and his may be incongruent and you must be alert to the reasons why he may want to shade the truth. Sometimes you can sense the truth by listening to what he DOESN'T say, sometimes you can sense the truth by listening to him make exaggerations and try too hard to sell you, and sometimes you can sense the truth by listening to inconsistencies in what he says compared to what he said before or what you know to be true. If more of us had done that in the buildup to this war then more of us would have believed as Carl did, and I did, that this was being hyped. If it was necessary to hype it then those in power had clearly determined that the facts would not have justified the war IN OUR MINDS. What was in their minds we may never know because they've been blowing smoke ever since and changing "the justification for war." My bottom line is that if you're going to "trust," then trust with both eyes open and when the danger signs appear, demand real answers. Ed