Idewey-
I would so like to respond to your attacks on my person especially since you
know nothing about me or my personal political viewpoints, but I think I
will just walk away.
Tracie

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ldewey [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 11:10 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Iraq donation
>
> Your argument twists back on itself, but you may know that.
>
> The related activities of collections and interpretation are de facto
> political issues. Museums and archives collect material deemed of value
> by the people who run those organizations. That decision-making
> process, that assignment of (ideological) value, is fundamentally
> political as it reflects, promotes, reinforces, or analyses social
> policy (e.g. "politics").
>
> You admit as much in your closing paragraph, although you obviously
> consider only your value set to be valid criteria.
>
> As for your value set, it is obviously chauvinist. Your government is
> right, all others are wrong. Several dozen international news
> organizations are wrong, your government is correct. Doubting your
> government is harmful (to the war you support). Your government's
> soldiers are valiant, the opposing combatants 'don't have much respect
> for people.' etc.
>
> You may recognize your arguments to be tenuous. That would explain why
> you want to silence any opposing arguments.
>
> -LD
>
> (sorry for the repost, I want to append the correct thread.)
>
>
> On Wednesday, April 7, 2004, at 12:10 AM, Automatic digest processor
> wrote:
>
> > Date:    Tue, 6 Apr 2004 13:09:07 -0500
> > From:    Tracie Evans <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: Iraq donation
> >
> > First let me apologize to those who don't want to continue this
> > discussion,
> > I understand completely and probably should just ignore this but I'm
> > having
> > a hard time.
> >
> > Nick-
> > You do realize that you have sited all second hand sources for you
> > "body
> > count" numbers.  In addition, they are all on-line news services.  The
> > last
> > time I checked when I got my history degree, those are not reliable
> > sources
> > and should always be used with caution, especially when reporting on
> > current
> > events such as this.    In addition, you note that they only use
> > "English
> > Language" sites which in itself is suspicious and biased.  In addition
> > you
> > say "The project relies on the professional rigour of the approved
> > reporting
> > agencies. It is assumed that any agency that has attained a respected
> > international status operates its own rigorous checks before publishing
> > items" but that is an assumption not a fact.  You don't know even if
> > they do
> > have "rigorous checks."  Who is going to sue them or protest if the
> > numbers
> > are to high?  The US government, the  Iraqi government?  Remember that
> > the
> > US military and the US Government will not and need not tell the press
> > and
> > the American public everything to protect the operations that they are
> > working on.  And I for one support that, I don't want people killed
> > because
> > I think I need to know.  I'm not saying that the body count is not
> > right,
> > maybe it is, but what I am objecting to your assertion that these Iraqi
> > deaths are all civilians and all at the hands of heartless American
> > killers.
> > You may want to remember that the whole battlefield right now is a
> > civilian
> > area and as such (just as in WW2) innocent people die.  Also, Iraqi
> > guerrillas don't have that much respect for their people since they
> > start
> > firefights in populated areas, too.
> >
> > If you look at pass war experiences, war reporting is not an unbiased
> > activity and should not be viewed as being such.  As for high suicide
> > rates
> > and low morale, have you seen any actual pictures of the conditions
> > soldiers
> > are living in over there?  I have and its not  very nice.  It would be
> > interesting to study past wars and police actions and see if these
> > suicide
> > and low morale numbers coincide in those incidents also.  And just
> > because
> > people have low morale does not mean they don't support the war, that
> > is a
> > very large jump.  If more soldiers truly did not support the war then
> > they
> > would ask to be granted "conscientious objector status" but there are
> > not
> > that many coming to light.
> >
> > Also, we must rely on our laws to regulate the illegal importation of
> > artifacts into this country, what other choice do we have.  As museum
> > professionals, we need to understand what makes something illegal and
> > refuse
> > those items that fall under that guise.  Just because people try and
> > sometimes succeed in breaking a law does not mean the law should just
> > be
> > thrown out and ignored.  In addition, do you think going and leaving
> > Iraq is
> > like living in the US, these men are check coming and going.  Sure
> > something
> > will probably get through, but the high number of discovered attempts
> > illustrates that they are succeeding to some degree.
> >
> > By the way, all people are potential killers (natural law) some like
> > soldiers and hunters only learn how to do it more effectively and on
> > demand,
> > that however does not mean that all soldiers are in Iraq killing
> > indiscriminately as you suggest.  You need to be very careful of your
> > gross
> > generalizations.  We need to look at individual peoples stories both
> > that of
> > the soldiers and the civilians effected on both sides.  Museums are not
> > intended to pick a side of an issue and support it, they are intended
> > to
> > enlighten the public with information and let them make informed
> > decisions
> > about the event(s).
> >
> > Whether or not any institution does or does not collect war related
> > materials must be decided by each institution and should be viewed in
> > light
> > of their mission, their audience and the laws that govern collecting in
> > their area and for their institution.  I don't want to make this a
> > personal
> > policy about whether I feel the war is right or wrong, rather it
> > should be
> > about how I will deal with the fact that US Soldier are going,
> > fighting and
> > dying in Iraq and the items they may potentially bring back and want to
> > donate to my institution.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Tracie Evans
>
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