Thursday, November 10, 2005

Orson Scott Card on Realism in Foreign Policy

Orson Scott Card has some great points in this article. This one, in particular, caught my eye:
"I know from experience that what passes for political thought in America today is largely at the level of first-year high school debaters. Instead of listening to ideas and measuring them, most people seem to be looking for anything that resembles a contradiction, whereupon they pounce."
As I've pointed out in a number of comment threads, pointing one's finger and stating "hypocrite!" is not an argument. (And you always have to look at the three fingers pointing back at yourself.) I haven't stumbled across anyone hopping up and down about any perceived self-contradiction in OSC's article, but he apparently fully expects it.

The bulk of the article rips Brent Scowcroft a new orifice for his carping about the War on Terrorism. Here's my other favorite quote: "[I]t is not 'peace' to postpone a war, or 'statesmanship' to end a war under such terms as to generate the next one."

Check it out.

No comments: