phl@drusd.UUCP (10/03/84)
Vladimir Posner made an interesting point the other evening on NIGHTLINE. Answering Ted Koppel's question regarding the lack of freedom in the USSR, he remarked that the Russian revolution was about 65 years old and when the American revolution was the same age the American government was just as brutal. After that first shock of indignation I had to admit that the man was right. During the period to which he was referring we: 1. Enslaved the black race 2. Practiced genocide on the native American population 3. Treated the female half of our population as chattel 4. Routinely beat confessions out of criminals 5. Annexed a good sized chunk of territory through armed aggression Posner then expressed the hope that the USSR would not need as much time as we have taken in establishing basic rights. Propaganda, probably. Food for thought, definitely. Should we not put our own house in order before we start telling the rest of the world what to do? If the only way we can lead the world to the "American way of life" is through subversion, murder and terrorism should we throw any stones at our competition? Certainly, our past dealings in Chile, Nicaragua, Iran and Viet Nam and our recent actions in Granada, El Salvador, South Korea and the Philippines are nothing future generations will look back on with anything but shame.
cher@ihuxi.UUCP (Mike Musing) (10/04/84)
Makes some sense, but not much! USA is 200+ years old and
Lavette described the morality of 19th century.
USA was (probably still is) one of the front-runners
as far as the modern concepts of freedom and justice are
concerned.
It was quite good by those 19th century standards.
And it is totally laughable for Soviets to justify their
present day brutality by pointing to the way USA was
functioning 140 years ago.
Yes, I agree, it is propaganda. No, I do not
think it is much of a food for thought.
Mike Musing