From: "Simon Jones" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 10:36:56 +0100
First of all let me make it clear that this is not a direct reply to any of
the previous messages, only a further reflection upon what has happened and
how we, as a group, are responding. It was I who first referred to this act
as "evil" and therefore I will try to explain why I did so, or at least why
I think I did. Tagore once wrote that "We can never go beyond man in all
that we know and feel" and it is in this sentence that my explanation lies.
I, like Boris, have no illusions as to America's contribution to the state
of world affairs. But, we can not deny that what happened has affected all
of us in different ways. Some have looked to compare it to past historic
events, others have looked to explain it by listing America's past actions,
others still have called for revenge, looking abroad to find those
responsible, I myself have done all of these and more, but still all that I
think and feel seems inadequate. It seems to me that we are all searching
for an explanation as to what is happening. But whatever and however we try
to express ourselves, be it in academic stanza or emotive rhetoric, it seems
far too inadequate. In all honesty, my earlier email was not designed to
encourage a debate surrounding the events, though I do now feel this to be
of the utmost importance. I was simply trying to articulate myself and my
true sympathy for an act that I saw, and still see, as "evil". Evil in all
the senses that Robert Koehler has highlighted, evil in that it was morally
wrong, evil in the sense that it was harmful and yes evil in the sense that
is was disastrous. But for me it was evil because in my most inner self, in
that part of me that I can never prove to exist but know is there, in that
place that is 'Me' in the very realist sense, I know it to be evil, and it
is something, a feeling, a personal truth that I can not go beyond.
Simon Jones
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