Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Oversimplification

When I wrote what I wrote yesterday about arrogance, I probably committed the error of oversimplifying the problem.

I forgot to note that Congress had basically given the go-ahead to the extreme levels of risk-taking seen when, during the 1990s, they removed regulations that had prevented such a crisis since the Great Depression.

Similarly, in an article in the NY Times, I read about the Homecoming of the Pan Am bomber into Libya, I was reminded just how multi-faceted that issue was, from his not entirely proven guilt, to the fact that the Libyans never believed he was guilty, to the fact that another situation a few years ago when Libya found several Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor guilty of infecting children with AIDS, Libya returned them to Bulgarian, where they were met by crowds, dignitaries, and were immediately pardoned. The truth is, we see their justice as less good than ours (and probably with good reason). The reality is, though, that we fail to realize all the interconnections between each action, and that everything that is done has a price, has people connected to all sides, and should be understood in terms of those interconnections before judgements are made.

No comments:

Post a Comment