From: Elizaphanian (Elizaphanian@members.v21.co.uk)
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 12:39:57 GMT
Hello people,
I've been awakened from my dogmatic slumbers by the recent 'some other
controversial issue' thread. It's a political thread - there's never any
agreement in political threads (or at least, there's much less potential for
agreement) and so joining in is perhaps the essence of futility. Yet, yet,
yet. I guess I've just been musing about it a bit recently, and writing
something is the chance to get it off my chest. Even if it only produces
more futile squabbling. Hey ho.
So: does action to remove Hussein from his powers have Quality? (or does
Quality have action..)
Let's just review what Pirsig says, on a related topic: "The idea that
biological crimes can be ended by intellect alone, that you can talk crime
to death, doesn't work. Intellectual patterns cannot directly control
biological patterns. Only social patterns can control biological patterns,
and the instrument of conversation between society and biology is not words.
The instrument of conversation between society and biology has always been a
policeman or a soldier and his gun. All the laws of history, all the
arguments, all the Constitutions and the Bills or Rights and Declarations of
Independence are nothing more than instructions to the military and police.
If the military and police can't or don't follow these instructions properly
they might as well have never been written."
OK, ritual obeisance to the holy text has been satisfied, what does this
mean for our present context? (Before continuing, a nod towards the recent
thread about determining what patterns are. I don't know. Perhaps my
thinking on this is ultimately deeply confused, and I am reifying patterns
into SOM thinking. Perhaps someone would be able to explain patterns to me
in a way that is enlightening and agreeable. But that's a different thread.
Let's get on with this one, leaving metaphysical interrogation to one side).
I would argue the following: that social existence - the existence of a
community which enables human flourishing - depends upon, ultimately, a
willingness to use force in its defence. Where that willingness is lacking,
that social existence is consumed by biological patterns of value. I would
further argue that it is legitimate to consider the community of nations as
a social pattern, analogous to the more obvious and traditional ones.
What sort of pattern does Hussein represent? He is a fascist dictator -
therefore the leader of a social pattern of value (the Iraqi nation); yet
clearly his underlying motivation is biological, in quite a specific way:
the preservation of the Takriti clan and their control of the resources of
Iraq. So we have a social pattern controlled by biological values. Moreover,
this particular pattern (the Hussein regime) has a history of biological, ie
criminal, behaviour within the community of nations - a litany with which I
am sure you are all familiar.
So: to the present context. The United Nations has the formal (not often
substantial) role of world policeman - the soldier with his gun on which the
continued existence of the community of nations depends. The United Nations
has indeed acted against the Hussein regime - first in 1990, then through
the years since then, up to and including resolution 1441. After the
ceasefire in 1991 the UN required the Hussein regime to dismantle its
Weapons of Mass Destruction - the Sheriff telling the criminal to put down
his weapons, otherwise he'll get shot. Resolution 1441 was 'put that down,
I'm telling you, put it down! No more warnings!'
Trouble is, modern nations being what they are, the commitment to this
process weakened over time. That's because the maintenance of social order -
the peaceful co-existence of different nations - requires effort and
sacrifice. It means the loss of economic value after the imposition of
sanctions for a start. So the sanctions start to break down. Not least
because the sanctions aren't hurting the Hussein regime - they are hurting
the people of Iraq, massively so, but that doesn't matter, because the
Hussein regime doesn't depend upon the people of Iraq, it depends upon the
Takriti clan. So over the last twelve years or so we have had a system of
social control over biological values slowly breaking down - and clearly,
such a system of 'soft' pressure is unsustainable.
So the criminal is emboldened, and decides not to put down his gun. What're
you gonna do Mr Sheriff?
So the question becomes: which way do you go? Do you shoot the criminal, or
do you set him free? Those are the alternatives left - the middle way
options have been tried and found wanting; they will not continue, whatever
else happens. (You can't talk crime to death).
Imagine the Hussein regime re-admitted to the community of nations. The rule
of law will have been weakened. The idea that 'non-proliferation' of WDM is
an attainable goal is abandoned. The Hussein regime takes its time; builds
up its forces; gains significant WDM - and then, when it is confident, five,
ten years down the line, Hussein (say) takes over Kuwait. What, the US would
come back in again, Hussein wouldn't dare? Right. Hussein makes public: if
the US gets involved, the Saudi oilfields get nuked/chemoed/ bioed out of
existence.
Ah! So it *is* about oil! Obviously it is - not in the puerile and
simplistic sense that 'Bush wants control of Iraqi oil', but in the sense
that, for better or worse, the world is fundamentally dependent on the safe
and secure continuance of the oil trade - and that means that it has a
strategic interest in ensuring that the countries of the gulf region are
allowed to pursue their own interests (selling the oil) in a peaceable
fashion. That seems to be a perfectly legitimate concern to me. (Sure, lets
take some long term steps to reduce our dependence - but that's just it,
they're long term. And if this is just the perfidious West, consider the
dependence of China and the Far East on Middle Eastern oil. This is *not*
just a Western strategic interest.)
(Perhaps that wouldn't happen - perhaps Israel would stop it. Right. You're
saying that's a *good* strategy???)
So now imagine the Hussein regime removed, Iraq given a new constitution,
readmitted to the community of nations. More Quality? I think so. I would go
further: the quality of Iraq in five years time will be the direct evidence
of the morality of removing the Hussein regime. There are various outcomes;
I'm hoping for a Germany/Japan post-45 style outcome. Maybe that'll happen,
maybe it won't, but there's room for hope.
What about all the other arguments? Western hypocrisy (Rwanda, Nicaragua
etc). New American Empire. Bush is a goon. Bush is a stooge of the oil
industry. Blair is Bush's poodle. There's no link to Al-Quaeda. It'll
inflame the 'Arab street'. It'll start World War Three.
Whatever. Seems like so much obfuscatory whingeing to me.
The position of the last decade or so has led to the premature deaths of
half a million Iraqi children (UN figures). Continuing with that policy is -
to my mind - profoundly immoral. (Sorry, wrong language - it evidences a
severe absence of Quality).
The choice is: do we let a biological pattern of values survive and
flourish, or do we establish a rule of law? If that means an American
empire, de jure or de facto, so be it. I happen to think that democracy,
freedom and human rights are pretty good things for a ruling regime to be
centred on. Maybe the conflict will get wider - if so, so be it. I happen to
think that the establishment of the social level above the biological level
(at the international scale) is something worth fighting for. Perhaps others
disagree. We shall see.
I never thought that I'd sound like a conservative columnist, but that seems
to me the fundamental issue. I would say that the MoQ is pretty clear too.
But maybe I've got the underlying facts wrong. Maybe I've got the MoQ wrong
too - wouldn't be the first time.
Back to my dogmatic slumbers.
Sam
"A good objection helps one forward, a shallow objection, even if it is
valid, is wearisome." Wittgenstein
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Feb 01 2003 - 12:34:57 GMT