From: tclock@orion.oac.uci.edu (Tim Clock)
Subject: Re: Mosque in Jewish quarter (was Re: Israeli destruction of...)
Nntp-Posting-Host: orion.oac.uci.edu
Organization: University of California, Irvine
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In article <bob1.737222733@cos> bob1@cos.com (Bob Blackshaw) writes:
>I always believed the statement 'those who do not know their history
>are condemned to repeat it (Will Durant ?), but I am beginning to
>believe the opposite is true.
>
>Here in t.p.m and in other newsgroups it seems that history is
>mainly remembered to foment hatred or to be used as a club. In the
>history of my own people there are ample acts of shame, both done
>by my people and done to my people. Since I was not party to any
>of those acts, I refuse to accept blame for the evil acts that my
>ancestors committed, nor do I direct hatred toward the descendants
>of those who committed evil acts against my ancestors.

The obsession with discussions of past (or present) events seems to be
largely centered on trying to "prove" that "they" are worse than "us".
As we see over and over, that leads nowhere except to make ourselves
feel superior. It's as if we've become addicted to periodic injections
of "self-affirmation" that draw their power from denigration of the
"other" and romanticization of ourselves. The hope is that we will begin 
sometime to apply these discussions in some way towards consideration of 
how to defuse the situation, advancement of negotiations and the search 
for common ground between the parties involved.
 
Of course, for this to happen we can't believe that the best path to 
*making ourselves feel better* is at the expense of others. As long as 
those valuing the coming together of "opposing" parties do not pursue 
their vision with the same passion as do those polarization specialists, 
we will stay stuck in the circus of one-upsmanship we now have. We're
getting precisely what we are willing to work for.
>
>Shalom, Salam, and Peace
>
--
Tim Clock                                   Ph.D./Graduate student
UCI  tel#: 714,8565361                      Department of Politics and Society
     fax#: 714,8568441                      University of California - Irvine
Home tel#: 714,8563446                      Irvine, CA 92717
