Not to change the subject, but has anybody here ever eaten Ramen Noodles?
(Now that was a loooong thread!)

ldewey wrote:

> 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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