Following is a letter that was published in www.salon.com. I wrote it in connection with readers' reactions to a new book -- A Tragic Legacy -- by Salon author/blogger Glenn Greenwald.
I guess one shouldn't be surprised at the vitriolic tone of some of the comments. Bush and Co. are known to elicit this kind of response, and Glenn, by shouldering the burden of diagnosing the "sociopathic" plague that is the current administration (in the paraphrased words of some of the commentators, and not mine, or yours), you have indeed been rendered guilty by association.
The commentators who think it's useless to try to understand the root causes of why we are hanging by our nails on the precipice of history today (e.g., who cares what internal demons, or even the lack of such demons, caused the psycopath to rape and murder my child) seem to miss a crucial point. Glenn, as an American, has every reason to embark on this path. For the family of the little Iraqi girl who was raped and murdered by our soldiers and whose last memories of this world convince an agnostic like me of such a place as "hell", perhaps not. We, the nation, are the psycopath, not just some of our elected officials. So, if Glenn's analysis of this administration sheds some measure of light on our society (whether or not, that is his intent), there is sufficient justification for his book.
As a lawyer (albeit, not a "nerdy" constitutional one), I appreciate Glenn's reverence for the founding ideals of this country. My adopted home is indeed unique in that regard. However, critical legal theory (queer, feminist, race, class, etc.) has already subverted the notion that even in its inception, this country reached its moral ideals. Certainly, our global policy to date (please read Tariq Ali's "Clash of Fundamentalisms" for our rather excellent track record) lays bare naked the implication that somehow we were ever morally superior. I truly appreciate the uniquely beautiful (yes, beautiful) piece of law that is the 4th amendment, but if you poll the experiences of nonwhite citizens of this country and swarthy non-citizens at our borders, as well as swaths of our "comfortably off" citizenry, a different story emerges. History has every right to judge us by our actions and not by our words. Hard for a lawyer to admit, but there it is.
Lastly, Glenn, I was struck by the following sentence of yours: "Societies driven exclusively or primarily by a fear of avoiding Evil, minimizing risks, and seeking above all else that our government "protects" us are not free." This description fits (all too comfortably) any number of our allies who are still in the thralls of my birthright religion -- Islam. That may not have been your intention, but there's a reason why the dialogue between Bush and Co. and any ersatz Osama and Co. flows so smoothly. The rest of us, asking for reasoned reflection are (simply put) a bore...
Look forward to reading the book and very much enjoy your incisive blog. Cheers.
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