Steven Poole ('Unspeak'): Bush talking about 'Pure Evil'

[muriel_volestrangler]

Steven Poole writes, in a published book, his blog, and occasional newspaper articles, on the distortion of language. Bush is obviously a target-rich area for him, but his observations on the thinking (if it can be called that) behind Bush's words are worth reading

...

In the long-term, we must remember that freedom is universal, and the best way to defeat an ideology – and make no mistake about it, these extremists believe things – for example, they don’t believe you can worship freely; they don’t believe you should speak your mind; they don’t believe in dissent; they don’t believe in human rights. We believe in the right for people to worship. We believe in the dignity of each human being.

All those human beings we have blown up and tortured – rest assured that we always believed in their dignity while we were blowing up and torturing them. Pedants might carp that, having told his audience that the “extremists believe things”, Bush went on only to enumerate various things that they apparently don’t believe. Well, never mind what they do actually believe – who cares? The real problem with them compared to us is that when they blow people up, they are not believing in human dignity at the same time:

I was amazed by the story of the extremists who put two children into a automobile so that they could make it into a crowded area – then they got of the car and blew up the car with the children inside. It only hardens my resolve to help free Iraq from a society in which people can do that to children, and it makes me realize the nature of the enemy that we face, which hardens my resolve to protect the American people. The people who do that are not people – you know, it’s not a civil war; it is pure evil.

...
On the other hand, I realise that this intepretation is somewhat challenged by the fact that George did go straight on to say that what is happening is “pure evil”, so much worse and more frightening than your everyday diluted or adulterated evil. George’s ethical calculus is refreshingly simple: a passionate belief in human dignity provides an impregnable moral armour that sanctions any conceivable act. If, on the other hand, you do not hold such a belief at the front of your mind while killing people, then you are “pure evil”. This simple way of looking at the problem suggests a simple solution. The only way to fight an apocalyptic surge of pure evil is with total war, sanctioned by God:
...
http://unspeak.net/pure-evil/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Bush worries about "pure evil"? Feh. He should talk,

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I also see that Bush was supporting that great theory that 'if you're not exactly like me,

than you're not really a person'. I get that from his quote, "The people who do that are not people." Wonder how, in his little bitty mind, he can justify that statement with his decision that torture is A-OK or all those Iraqi kids that he's killed are somehow better off.

[Demit]

3. That's how people who call themselves Christian resolve the dilemma of

professing belief in the dignity of humans yet killing and torturing them en masse. They aren't really fully human, you see, so it's all right.

[camero]

4. Pure Evil?

Someone should look in the mirror.

[Martin Eden]

5. Even mass murderers are human beings.

Even George W. Bush.

Ever seen the movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089941/">Runaway Train with John Voight, Eric Roberts, and Rebecca De Mornay? Voight and Roberts are two escaped convicts trapped on a runaway train with railroad worker De Mornay. Voight urges Roberts to make a dangerous attempt to climb along outside the speeding train to get to the engine and stop the train. He tries but can't make it. Voight insists he try again, doesn't want to let him back in, and kicks him savagely when he gives up.

De Mornay screams at Voight, accusing him of being an ANIMAL.
Voight responds "Worse -- HUMAN!!!"



We humans are capable of monstrous things while at the same time being incapable of recognizing ourselves of being monstrous. Bush falls into that category. At least the Voight character knew who and what he was.