Violence Is... Violence No Matter Who Commits It

A Communist victory in Vietnam, [the fourteen moderate scholars whose statement was published by the Freedom House Public Affairs Institute] argue, would “gravely jeopardize the possibilities for a political equilibrium in Asia, seriously damage our credibility, deeply affect the morale – and the policies of our Asian allies and the neutrals.” By a “political equilibrium,” they do not, of course, refer to the status quo as of 1945-1946 or as outlined by international agreements at Geneva in 1954. They do not explain why the credibility of the United States is more important than the credibility of the indigenous elements in Vietnam who have dedicated themselves to a war of national liberation. Nor do they explain why the morale of the military dictatorships of Thailand and Taiwan must be preserved…

The crucial assumption in the program of the moderate scholars is that we must not encourage “those elements committed to the thesis that violence is the best means of effecting change.” It is important to recognize that it is not violence as such to which the moderate scholars object. On the contrary, they approve our violence in Vietnam, which, as they are well aware, enormously exceeds that of the Vietnamese enemy… We must conclude that when these scholars deplore the use of violence to effect change, it is not the violence but rather steps toward social change that they find truly disturbing. Social change that departs from the course we plot is not to be tolerated. The threat to order is too great. (pp. 17-18, “Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship, 1969” in “Chomsky on Anarchism”)

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Bloody pee turned out to be a bloody ass! Hahahaha!!

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Then tonight, it is the turn of Mahler’s 2nd symphony by Klaus Tennstedt. I bought the CD in Boston on August 25, 1987. The volume level of this recording is quite low, I don’t know why.