Lack of Imagination
Chien Wen has little intelligence if he thinks someone is egregiously anti-American because they don't think the terrorists were cowards. I'm glad Chien Wen admits that conservative idol Dinesh D'Souza is 'egregiously anti-american.' (He was the one who made the comments about the 9/11 bombers not being cowards on Politically Incorrect. Bill Maher reaction to that got the show cancelled, but D'Souza later said exactly the same thing in his book What's So Great About America?). So I'll continue my name-calling at Chien Wen for his lack of thought. That such banal thoughts, when said by leftists, get labelled 'egregiously anti-American' is why I have little sympathy to those who unthinkingly parrot crap on this blog. Particularly galling to me is the word "egregious" which implies that Chien Wen does even know, consider, acknowledge, and/or understand other points of view. I haven't read everything of Sontag's, but I will hold to saying that some of her stuff is labelled 'egregiously anti-American' in part because of hysterical reaction.

Chien Wen also says that "not calling 9/11 an attack on humanity, liberty, and civilization" is pretty bad. Many New York leftists say it was exactly that, that 9/11 was primarily an attack on humanity (many different nationals were killed). Of course, many Americans don't accept a further extension of that argument: if 9/11 was a crime against humanity, Bin Laden and Al Qeada should have been tried by humanity in an international forum. Heh, maybe Chien Wen is anti-American for not wanting to turn those in Guantanomo Bay over the International Criminal Court. (Would turning them over to the ICC be a good idea? That's debateable, but it does not seem to be "pretty bad" or "egregiously Anti-American" even on Chien Wen's standards. And Chien Wen's immediate labelling of things is why so many on the left say dissent isn't being allowed to be heard). Finally, maybe Sontag is wrong to say that 9/11 was an attack on the U.S. as a superpower, but is that egregiously anti-american of her to say? Is it egregiously anti-american when a conservative or George Bush says something like it?

And it is VERY different to say that the war on terrorism, as oppossed to the 9/11 attacks, have been about humanity as a whole (I hope and trust that Chien Wen is not one of those looney conservatives who buys into Karl Roves' line that Iraq was merely a 'battle' in the War on Terror). One of the complaints of many on the left around the world is that the Bush administration has squandered the unity and sympathy from around the world in order to fight for American I thank Chien Wen for posting Sontag's articles. So far his analysis of that article seems either demonstably wrong (or at best, empty). I wonder if he might post his thoughts (a link to Andrew Sullivan, the creator of the Sontag award, isn't the best stragedy. Sullivan can say interesting things, but also says ridiculous things there, so what does Chien Wen think?) In any case, Sontag is right that calling something a war on terrorism when there is no clear end does have implications; why else do we hear crap like, how can you say that when we're at war? or how can you be concerned with civil liberties at a time of war? (or even worse, and this is just too tragic... how can you criticize the President on his domestic agenda in a time of war?)

And I hope to God that Chien Wen thinks that the paragraph ending Sontag's article immediately below is an emimently reasonable statment, rather than an egregious anti-American one: "America has every right to hunt down the perpetrators of these crimes and their accomplices. But this determination is not necessarily a war. Limited, focused military engagements do not translate into "wartime" at home. There are better ways to check America's enemies, less destructive of constitutional rights and of international agreements that serve the public interest of all, than continuing to invoke the dangerous, lobotomizing notion of endless war."

Chien Wen says: "Others, like Sontag and Noam Chomsky, are crafty enough to be able to adopt themselves to contemporary discourse."
Ummm... how exactly has Noam hidden or changed his views? I'm not a big fan of Chomsky, but consistency over time seems to be one of his virtues (he didn't exactly hold back in his book 9-11 nor pander to the hawkish left during Kosovo). It's entirely possible that Chien Wen knows more about the arc of Chomsky's thought than what I do, but this sort of statement doesn't help Chien Wen's credibility with me. So I'm sure it is right to equate Sontag and Chomsky.
One other point: Sontag is not really being condemned for her past statements in the 70s. It was the article(s) she wrote in the 21st century that have earned her her reputation, much to her suprise. But people are awarded Sontag awards based on similarity not to Sontag's stated views in the 1970s, but to her stated views in the past 2 years. If Sontag has mererely adapted herself "to contemporary discourse" than contemporary discourse is also being condemned. Rather mild statements, not simply egregious anti-American ones, are being given Sontag awards. So if Sontag adjusted herself to what is appropriate to say today, it seems it makes no sense to condemn her and others for saying things that vaguely echo her statements in 2001 and 2002. Again her reputation comes from the perception of her recent discourse, so I apparently haven't read Sontag close enough to quite comphrehend how that recent discourse itself is 'egregiously anti-American.' I'm again clarifying that's what I'm concerned with, that others have been labeled as 'egregiously anti-american' for echoing non-egregious statements about America. And if Chien Wen is talking about apologies, he had better show some contrition and apologize for his previous lack of thought, particularly in his 'analysis' post. He's backpedalled some, by implying recent Sontag's statements which were labelled earlier as egregiously anti-American are not (as much) so, but maybe he's just adopting to contemporary discourse.

Posted by Timothy at 2:18 PM |