"I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow. I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies." (Associated Press,1/14/03)Crow's statement is more than stupid; it's made without any reference whatever to the most obvious facts, which makes it dishonest. Following her lead, we shouldn't have police, because crime is always the victim's fault--it's just karmic retribution for something the victim did wrong. I wonder if Crow thinks rape victims deserve being raped. But of course, she wasn't concerned with facts or logic when she made her statement.
What motivates such dishonesty? Is it a lack of independence--a desire to fit in by parroting her peers' party line? Or is it a refusal to accept the morality of any self-interested action, such as attacking Iraq? Such altruism would sacrifice the innocent to the world's aggressors--a clear case of injustice.
Or is it just moral cowardice--a refusal to pass moral judgment on Iraq and to act accordingly? The only people such "who-am-I-to-judge" tolerationists cannot tolerate are the ones who reject nonjudgmentalism and expect them to pass moral judgment; such people they hysterically denounce while giving a free pass to the Saddam Husseins of the world.
These three possibilities amount to the same thing, the failure to assert one's judgment of one's own interests as a moral right. This is the corrupt spirit that permeates today's antiwar movement.