Tom Friedman is Dead Wrong About His "Excuse Makers"

Tom Friedman is Dead Wrong About His "Excuse Makers"

Tom Friedman said:

When you live in an open society like London, where anyone with a grievance can publish an article, run for office or start a political movement, the notion that blowing up a busload of innocent civilians in response to Iraq is somehow “understandable” is outrageous.

That's true on its face, but then you must consider that that people who decide that life is less worth living than having the ability to make a political and/or religious point may be acting out some form of frustration with "power" in their society - and how they perceive that power. People don't make a decision to commit suicide lightly. I know - I am a suicide counselor myself. People don't act in a vacuum!

I am deeply disturbed, as much as the next person, that terrorist tactics are being culturalized. We are NOT going to put a stop to it by pointing our fingers at one another in a free society and calling one another despicable for what we see as symptoms of sickness in the culture that breeds terror. Are imperialism, colonialism, and Zionism symptoms of cultural sickness? Of course they are! Has the Iraq war caused an increase in recruitment of terrorism? Of course it has!

Tom Friedman started his latest column with such a great idea. He recommended that hate speech should be pointed out whenever it is seen.

Hey, Tom Friedman! I just saw some hate speech - and it's right there in your column. It says:

"...excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists."

To Tom Friedman, people are "despicable" when they tie possible reasons for terrorist behavior with things that have actually occurred in history. (As if it's a murderous act, in and of itself - shame on Tom Friedman!)

"...imperialism, Zionism, colonialism or Iraq.."

These are not excuses - they are discussion about why and how these murderers come to make such heinous decisions. Tom Freidman acts as if THINKING and DISCUSSING is "despicable" in a free and open society. Think about that! Friedman is telling you to shut up and fall in line.

I would classify that as hate speech. Tom Friedman should stick to writing about business, because he's very good at it. His "flat world" concept is brilliant, in my opinion.

He becomes an insulting boor (and bore) when he sticks his nose into politics. I'm sick and tired of Mr. Friedman libeling people who only wish to comment on the reality of the society in which we live. He was dead-wrong about the Iraq war - and he's dead-wrong now in denying that the culture of the "flat world" and that the history that has led up to it has bred terrorism among us.

And it was such a good article at its start....Friedman ruined it with his "good dog/bad dog" vibe. When he lectures to us about how "words matter", he'd better look in a mirror.

Plamegate Updates

Plamegate Updates

Raw Story has ledes from WaPo and LA Times, both indicating that no decision has been made by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, but perjury/obstruction of justice charges may be under consideration for Rove and Libby.

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note says he has just learned from a highly placed source -- and in the right place to know -- that John Bolton was a regular source for Judith Miller's New York Times WMD and national security reports. Hmmm...

It seems as if those secret pages in the Court's hands are probably part of an after-the-leak CIA "damage assessment". This is probably how the Justices determined the extent of damage to national security and whether or not to place journalists Cooper and Miller in prison for their refusal to cooperate.

Ideas floating in the blogosphere

1. Maybe Mossad fabricated information and used a number of sources including Chalabi to disseminate the information. Suspected spies Michael Maloof and Larry Franklin working for Bill Luti and suspected spy Douglas J. Feith would then "stovepipe" the information to the White House. The same information would be disseminated by Miller on the pages of the New York Times to make the disinformation look real. When you have Defense Department intelligence corroborated by the New York Times it looks very convincing especially when our ally Israel was confirming the stories. Susan

2. Miller saw Wilson's op-ed as very threatening to herself...and who knows how she may have involved herself? Jonah

3. The Last Throes of Credibility