Wednesday, September 14, 2011

In Defense of Paul Krugman

Poor Paul Krugman! He writes the obvious and is lambasted by cheap shot journalist colleagues hiding behind a lot of mass sentimentality consistent with America's narcissistic personality disorder. Of course the 9/11 has been inflated and twisted for propaganda purposes--Iraq, the war we did not need to fight--being the greatest example. Hundreds of times more innocent people in the Islamic world have died as the result of our hysterical reaction taking on an underground network of religious fanatics with the "shock and awe" of a huge conventional arsenal. A project doomed to ultimate failure. The Taliban  attacked Kabul yesterday, and Americans are still dying in Iraq despite winding down a long, bloody occupation. The Guardian newspaper of Manchester experienced a similar vituperative backlash when it "realized the war on terror would fail, bringing horror and bloodshed to millions in the process." Now that that conclusion has proven largely true, the paper may rightfully indulge in some self-satisfied 'I told you sos'. Krugman did not need to read the brickbats that he knew would be thrown at him, so he turned off his comments button. Far from being a "smug coward", Krugman had the nerve not to indulge in the maudlin exhibitionism of which corporate mass media is so fond, and correctly state a lot of people--like former mayor Rudy Giuliani and of course the Charlatan--behaved badly for their own ends. US Person thinks the 9/11 commemorations should be subdued. A lot of evil was done in vengeance and hubris in response to the despicable attacks, and it is not done yet. Ditto Paul.