[Air-l] peace

[Charlie Breindahl]

Like Rune Dalgaard, I am from Denmark. Our government has sent two naval
vessels to the Gulf. We are technically at war with Iraq, but of course we
are nowhere near the war in the way the US or the UK are. 

It is difficult to express your opinion in times of divided loyalties. One
expression of this is the list of 'most e-mailed articles' at the NY Times
web site (http://www.nytimes.com/gst/pop_top.html). Many of the articles are
about the war, but there is no consensus. Each news-item might be seen as
forming part of a pro-war or a no-war argument. There is no escaping this
division. You are either with us, or you are against us, as pres. Bush has
said. What if you consider yourself a friend of the US, but consider the war
a giant mistake? You are denied a voice.

Add to this the strong effort of all involved in setting the agenda for the
media. One example: The 'failure' of the UN's Security Council 'to live up
to its responsibilities.' The Security Council could not reach an agreement
to authorize a war against Iraq despite severe pressure from one very
powerful member, the USA. Is it the responsibility of the UN to authorize
wars? Hey, lets have a war on Turkey, then. Or perhaps Norway? This is
preposterous, of course. A closer analysis proves this oft-cited phrase to
be the workings of another spin doctor, not a fact.

Could it be that students simply feel a lack of words they can trust?

Best,
Charlie
--
Charlie Breindahl
Ph.D. Student, Copenhagen + Malmö

Web:    http://staff.hum.ku.dk/hitch/
        http://www.creativeenvironments.mah.se/
Phone:  +45 35 32 81 19
Mobile: +45 51 92 15 98
E-mail: hitch at acm.org

"For the modern Don Quixote, the windmills have been preprogrammed to turn
into knights"
        - Janet H. Murray