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Re: Let's relax, please



Here, Here, Daniel...
and if you don't believe in "nationalism" check out the celebrations in
Palestine.  That's nationalism at its most blatant.  If I am addressed as
"American" by such violence -- and I don't think that the folks in the WTC
or the Pentagon were attacked as particular individuals -- I respond with a
"Hell yes I'm American."

No, it's not that all the victims were American, but isn't that the point,
too?  Terrorists have NO INTEREST in the particulars of who they kill or
what they destroy. That's what "innocent victims" means, no? The whole
point in terrorism is to create as much categorical/symbolic death and
destruction as possible, in the most categorical of ways: US:Military
Intelligence, US:Economic Hub, US:Symbolic Locus of Middle East
Negotiations (Camp David).

We're a nation that believes in the individual and the particular:
individual freedoms, particular identity.  It makes us rather interesting
in many ways, and it makes us require freedoms and privileges from our
government/society.  And you might say that it's because of our freedoms
and privileges (that much of the rest of the world does not enjoy) that
this kind of thing can happen -- and I'm not suggesting that we abrogate
the Bill of Rights, I'm just pointing out that we don't suppress all
dissent, all possibility of freedom of communication and movement,
something that these attacks do depend on.  And we'll all pay for this with
an increase in security, which is to say in "inconvenience," which violates
a high priority for many Americans -- and we're all going to have to pitch
in and cope, with more patience and politeness than many of us are prone to
muster.

No one can defend US foreign policy and actions (in particular during the
Cold War) without exception, and I certainly would not attempt to do so.  I
would also have trouble finding a nation that is free from the taint of a
violent and shameful past (or present) -- even the supposed "victims" of
"first world oppression."  No matter...this level of terrorism is beyond
what can be tolerated, and, I believe is a tactical and strategic
misjudgment of a magnitude only comparable with the magnitude of the
tragedy itself.

Of perhaps poetic interest to us as archivists, though, is the dispersion
and destruction of records, the papers that have inundated Lower Manhattan,
records that, in their file drawers and in order, were business archives of
probably high significance, but, scattered about the streets of New York
City, are basically meaningless.

So: fly the American flag, give blood, take in stranded travellers, pray or
meditate, but by no means give in to the "oh woe I'm american"
breast-beating shame and abjection they want us to give into.  And
document, document, document -- the truth will out, but only if the
documents are preserved.

I'm going to give blood, pray/meditate, and say "you bet I'm american, and
you've made a major tactical error." And keep on with archival/information
work.

Linde Brocato



> [Original Message]
> From: Daniel Sokolow <DSokolow@NSHS.EDU>
> To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
 > Date: 09/11/2001 15:52:01
> Subject: Let's relax, please
>
> Ladies & gentlemen, if I may ask, can we please at this time, of all
times,
> cease & desist from our heated (if not angry) postings?
>
> I personally don't really give a damn whether flying a flag is an
> appropriate response or not.  I don't care who else has suffered (though I
> have even less kindness left than before for the Palestinians after seeing
> them celebrate in the streets of the West Bank).  I don't care whether
> terror on a grand scale happened here first or not.
>
> People, probably in the thousands, have died.  Hundreds of thousands of
> husbands, wives and children have lost their wives, fathers, and husbands,
> brothers and sisters, friends and cousins.  The right to basic safety, so
> assumed here in the US, is no longer true.  Significant damage has been
done
> to our city, our infrastructure, our commerce, our nation, and our world.
> The world will never be the same again, and we should recognize that.
>
> Each response, be it flag waving, blood donation, prayer, physical, mental
> or emotional support, should be in the eyes, heart and mind of the
> individual.
>
> Please don't compound ALL OUR suffering with petty debates about
> nationalism.
>
> Trust me, it's really not helping.
>
> DS
>
> ______________________________________
> Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator
> David Taylor Archives
> North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
> 155 Community Drive
> Great Neck, NY 11021
> mailto:dsokolow@nshs.edu
>
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--- Linde Brocato
--- lindemb@earthlink.net
--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>