[spectre] [RRE]attack

[Andreas Broeckmann]

>From: Phil Agre <pagre@alpha.oac.ucla.edu>
>To: "Red Rock Eater News Service" <rre@lists.gseis.ucla.edu>
>Subject: [RRE]attack
>X-URL: http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/rre.html
>

<snip>

>I have started getting irrational and abusive e-mail by people ranting
>for war against "ragheads", impervious to the concept that Islam is
>not our enemy, even if it turns out that some particular Muslims were
>responsible for the attacks.  I doubt if these people were born like
>that.  The currently fashionable political jargon has been eroding
>rationality for years now, and if we descend into a spiral of hatred
>and authoritarianism then we should not be surprised.  All sorts of
>agendas lie below the surface of any society, waiting for opportunities
>to come out.  Lots of them will probably surface now.  We need to
>preserve our capacity for reason, or we will make the problem worse.
>I do not oppose war in general, and I can even imagine this being a
>reason for war.  But people who promote war in ways that do not make
>logical sense are just as dangerous than any reason for war that we
>could possibly have.