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Re: CHAT: Multi-Lingos

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Wednesday, August 23, 2000, 4:18
On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:

> It's that nothing is being done, and Westerners should snap out of the mind > control that they, their own media and politicians keep on themselves.
Hear, hear.
> It's this pervading naivity, mass denial, over-simplification, repression > of human thought potential - it's all of those that I perceive as the > world's greatest threat.
In short, the tyranny of the dull mind, as American novelist Tom Robbins calls it.
> After a bunch of countries had held speeches telling their views (most of > which were predictable and unoriginal), I held my speech. Most of the > Western leaders had been advocating the independence of East-Timor, > withdrawal of Indonesian forces, etc, as they all do in the real world. I > put forward my view that this was naive and ill-thought-through (not quite > so bluntly though). I pointed to other restless parts of Indonesia, asking > if the delegates had considered the consequences of Timoran independence; > very possibly, those other parts of Indonesia would demand their rights, the > federation would break apart, and stability would be lost in the entire > region. Chaos, bloodshed, and misery would ensue.
As opposed to the chaos, bloodshed, and misery Indonesia has been generating in East Timor for the last 25 years?
> Also, none of the other options in governments are any better.
As Winston Churchill said. -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org "[O]n the whole I'd rather make love than shoot guns [...]" --Eric Raymond