Heidegger

On 03/06/2006, at 7:04 AM, That Pete wrote:

>> And then deftly dismissing the problem of the Palestinian diaspora
>> which is where this thread started:
>
> I’m trying to figure out if you are just engaging on the regular sport
> of lets-beat-up-on-the-zionist-entity or you’re making a universal, or
> possibly, ontological point.

So you are policing anti-Zionism on this list now? That’s nice, keep
me up to date on how you go with that. Myself, I’d just like to have
even a vaguely sane conversation with someone sometime.

>> The question for me concerns whether humanity is in control of its
>> destiny or whether modernity is a technological juggernaut heading
>> towards resource wars for Lebensraum, as I suggested here:
>
> Its the jump from the particular to the universal I’m having trouble
> following.

Universal: we are all constrained by relations of power that
constantly override any moral considerations, there is no
‘exceptionalism’.

Particular: Ben Gurion decides to execute a terror war against the
Palestinians in order to gain a Jewish majority in Israel - because
he had to if Israel was to come into being.

> If you need a particular example for the universal, why
> not find it somewhere more disinterested like Timor Leste or Congo
> (4 million dead and counting) instead of in a conflict where most
> readers will already have their prejudices decided by years of
> bickering, and centuries of anti-semitism?

So you would prefer I just stay away from the main geopolitical drama
unfolding in the Middle East, the one that involves the world’s lone
super power and all the other great powers in a struggle for energy
that “will not end in our lifetimes” and that is even now defining
our new world order? And this because it’s contentious? Are you
serious, still playing dumb or are you a spoiler? In effect you seem
to be arguing that it’s pointless discussing the contentious problem
of “terror” in relation to the US, Palestine, Israel, Iraq and Iran
and that I should do something a bit less troublesome.

Thanks but no thanks. If you’d care to join the discussion at any
time feel free though.

>> Would you vote for military control of the Persian Gulf to
>> sustain your way of life?
>
> I would if physically controlling the Gulf was the only way to
> keep them from flying into local buildings, and otherwise impinging
> on my way of life, but not to control access to oil. Filthy stuff.
> I wrote my Masters thesis on wind turbine airfoils. Sadly I
> couldn’t persue that career because oil was too cheap.

Wait until the Goldman Sachs super spike hits, $US150/barrel, then
dust off your old masters thesis. I think sustainable energy tech is
going to be a very strong growth industry and eventually a matter of
national emergency. We’ve barely begun to feel the effects of this
growing energy crisis and look where we are - an illegal war in the
Middle East with over 100 000 dead, extra-judicial assassinations,
detention and torture, middle classes drowning in debt, retired
generals mutiny, a US congress eating itself alive - give us another
5 years and hopefully we can start to talk publicly about these
problems. What do you reckon?

Cheers,

Malcolm

***************************
Dr Malcolm Riddoch
Electronic Arts
School of Communications and Contemporary Arts
Faculty of Communications and Creative Industries
Edith Cowan University, 2 Bradford St, Mount Lawley
Perth Western Australia
+61 08 9370 6034

Posted on Saturday, June 3rd, 2006 at 9:45 am
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Tags: lebensraum» oil» power»