IS HE AN IDIOT OR A FOOL?
This is the question that I was left with after reading D. Landon’s June 28 Forum column (“Kim Jong-Il Tries Hand at Texas Hold’em”). Landon has again proven his ignorance by reducing his analysis of an impending global crisis to a black-and-white oversimplification steeped in blustery and nonsensical partisan polemics.
According to Landon, North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is the fault of the Clinton administration, part and parcel. Is it that simple? Common sense and an eighth-grade history textbook might suggest otherwise.
So how can it be that over a decade after the United States “won” the Cold War that we are again headed toward a new global nuclear crisis? Perhaps it is because the people of the world learned some lessons during the Cold War that aren’t easily forgotten. In 1945, over 200,000 people were killed by the American bombs that landed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For decades, the people of the world lived day by day and minute by minute with the awareness — and sometimes even the expectation — that we would die in a nuclear holocaust. In the 61 years since the nuclear age began, the American nuclear arsenal has multiplied to such a degree that our country could kill each and every person on the planet — with or without a good reason — many, many times over. And during the course of these several decades, the United States has invaded and occupied countries around the world with virtual impunity while acting on an agenda aimed at perpetuating the supremacy of the American military-industrial complex to the collective detriment and expense of the world’s poor and working-class citizens.
But why should North Korea feel that it is necessary to pursue nuclear technology?
Perhaps it is because Pyongyang is only several hundred miles away from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Perhaps it is because they recall how Douglas MacArthur pressed for the use of the atomic bomb against North Korea at the height of the Korean War. Perhaps it is because the President of the United States has declared North Korea to be a charter member of the so-called “Axis of Evil.” Perhaps it is because America acts with a complete disregard for the interests and welfare of others with virtual impunity and righteous indignation. Perhaps it is because North Korea can read the handwriting on the wall — handwriting that is written in the fresh blood of tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians. Perhaps it is all of these things.
I am certainly not an apologist for the Clinton administration. The implementation of NAFTA and the failure to develop and implement a universal health care program proved that the Clinton administration was no champion of the interests of working people in America. And the continued embargoes of Iraq and Cuba during the Clinton years proved that the Clinton administration viewed the suffering of civilians and children as a simple matter of politics as usual.
But did Bill Clinton’s failures drive North Korea to seek the bomb? Not exactly. There’s plenty of credit to be shared by the Democrats and the Republicans on this one. It’s the drumbeat of American imperialism heralded by narrow-minded partisan hacks like Mr. Landon that will distract us from knowing the truth of the matter if we continue to succumb to their jingoism and partisan rhetoric.
Is Mr. Landon an idiot or a fool? Does he even know for sure? Well, an idiot doesn’t know the difference between partisanship and the truth, and a fool wouldn’t bother to figure it out. So maybe Landon is a little bit of both.
— Mike B.
This is the question that I was left with after reading D. Landon’s June 28 Forum column (“Kim Jong-Il Tries Hand at Texas Hold’em”). Landon has again proven his ignorance by reducing his analysis of an impending global crisis to a black-and-white oversimplification steeped in blustery and nonsensical partisan polemics.
According to Landon, North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is the fault of the Clinton administration, part and parcel. Is it that simple? Common sense and an eighth-grade history textbook might suggest otherwise.
So how can it be that over a decade after the United States “won” the Cold War that we are again headed toward a new global nuclear crisis? Perhaps it is because the people of the world learned some lessons during the Cold War that aren’t easily forgotten. In 1945, over 200,000 people were killed by the American bombs that landed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For decades, the people of the world lived day by day and minute by minute with the awareness — and sometimes even the expectation — that we would die in a nuclear holocaust. In the 61 years since the nuclear age began, the American nuclear arsenal has multiplied to such a degree that our country could kill each and every person on the planet — with or without a good reason — many, many times over. And during the course of these several decades, the United States has invaded and occupied countries around the world with virtual impunity while acting on an agenda aimed at perpetuating the supremacy of the American military-industrial complex to the collective detriment and expense of the world’s poor and working-class citizens.
But why should North Korea feel that it is necessary to pursue nuclear technology?
Perhaps it is because Pyongyang is only several hundred miles away from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Perhaps it is because they recall how Douglas MacArthur pressed for the use of the atomic bomb against North Korea at the height of the Korean War. Perhaps it is because the President of the United States has declared North Korea to be a charter member of the so-called “Axis of Evil.” Perhaps it is because America acts with a complete disregard for the interests and welfare of others with virtual impunity and righteous indignation. Perhaps it is because North Korea can read the handwriting on the wall — handwriting that is written in the fresh blood of tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians. Perhaps it is all of these things.
I am certainly not an apologist for the Clinton administration. The implementation of NAFTA and the failure to develop and implement a universal health care program proved that the Clinton administration was no champion of the interests of working people in America. And the continued embargoes of Iraq and Cuba during the Clinton years proved that the Clinton administration viewed the suffering of civilians and children as a simple matter of politics as usual.
But did Bill Clinton’s failures drive North Korea to seek the bomb? Not exactly. There’s plenty of credit to be shared by the Democrats and the Republicans on this one. It’s the drumbeat of American imperialism heralded by narrow-minded partisan hacks like Mr. Landon that will distract us from knowing the truth of the matter if we continue to succumb to their jingoism and partisan rhetoric.
Is Mr. Landon an idiot or a fool? Does he even know for sure? Well, an idiot doesn’t know the difference between partisanship and the truth, and a fool wouldn’t bother to figure it out. So maybe Landon is a little bit of both.
— Mike B.
