Friday
On Friday, my arms were a little less sore, but still hurt. At some points, they hurt quite a bit.
I read some of the writings of the Dutch anti-liberal and relativist Paul Treanor. He specifically criticizes the EFF by name. :-)
He has some things to say which would appeal to me, but I don't think he would like the uses to which I would put them. One interesting question which his site reminds me of: is it better that there should be fewer countries, or more? In the traditions of political thought which I care for and Treanor doesn't, both answers can be found, for many different reasons. Furthermore, if you say "fewer", is the ideal that there should be a handful of them, on some geographic basis, or one, or none, or that there should be parts of the world that are not part of any country?
On the other hand, if you say "more", is the ideal that every ethnic group should have a country, that every ethnic group that is somewhere persecuted should have a country, that every group that wants to should have a country, that every ethnic group that predominates in a particular territory should have a country, that every cultural group should have a country, that every person should have a country, or what? That every part of the world should be a part of some country (only true this century, and still perhaps not including Antarctica).
Or is it that there should be about 200 countries forever, as there are now? I agree with Treanor that this suggestion seems ridiculous (although I don't agree with all of his reasons why it's ridiculous).
Some of Treanor's ideas sound very exciting to me, others horrible.
He also suggests that the world should forget the Holocaust.
On the other hand, there is the motivation of Avi in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which I found one of the most interesting parts of that book:
"Randy, what is the worst thing that ever happened?"This is never a difficult question to answer when you are hanging around with Avi. "The Holocaust," Randy says dutifully.
Even if he didn't know Avi, their surroundings would give him a hint. [...] Randy and Avi are sitting on a black obsidian bench planted atop the mass grave of thousands of Nipponese in downtown Kinakuta, watching the tour buses come and go.
Avi pulls a small GPS receiver out of his attache case, turns it on, and sets it out on a boulder in front of them where it will have a clear view of the sky. "Correct! And what is the highest and best purpose to which we can devote our allotted lifespans?"
"Uh ... enhancing shareholder value?"
"Very funny." Avi is annoyed. He is baring his soul, which he does rarely. Also, he's in the midst of cataloging another small-h holocaust site, adding it to his archives. It is clear he would appreciate some fucking solemnity here. "I visited Mexico a few weeks ago," Avi continues.
"Looking for a site where the Spanish killed a bunch of Aztecs?" Randy asks.
"This is exactly the kind of thing I'm fighting," Avi says, even more irritated. "No, I was not looking for a place where a bunch of Aztecs were massacred. The Aztecs can go fuck themselves, Randy! Repeat after me: the Aztecs can go fuck themselves."
"The Aztecs can go fuck themselves," Randy says cheerfully, drawing a baffled look from an approaching Nipponese tour guide.
"To begin with, I was hundreds of miles from Mexico City, the former Aztec capital. I was on the outer fringes of the territory that the Aztecs controlled." Avi scoops the GPS off the boulder and begins to punch keys on its pad, telling it to store the latitude and longitude in its memory. "I was looking," Avi continues, "for the site of a Nahuatl city that was raided by the Aztecs hundreds of years before the Spanish even showed up. You know what those fucking Aztecs did, Randy?"
Randy uses his hands to squeegee sweat from his face. "Something unspeakable?"
"I hate that word 'unspeakable.' We must speak of it."
"Speak then."
"The Aztecs took twenty-five thousand Nahuatl captives, brought them back to Tenochtitlan, and killed them all in a couple of days."
"Why?"
"Some kind of festival. Super Bowl weekend or something. I don't know. The point is, they did that kind of shit all the time. But now, Randy, when I talk about Holocaust-type stuff happening in Mexico, you give me this shit about the mean nasty old Spaniards! Why? Because history has been distorted, that's why."
"Don't tell me you're about to come down on the side of the Spaniards."
"As the descendant of people who were expelled from Spain by the Inquisition, I have no illusions about them," Avi says, "but, at their worst, the Spaniards were a million times better than the Aztecs. I mean, it really says something about how bad the Aztecs were that, when the Spaniards, showed up and raped the place, things actually got a lot better around there."
[...]
Randy says, "You asked me earlier what is the highest and best purpose to which we could dedicate our lives. And the obvious answer is 'to prevent future Holocausts.'"
Avi laughs darkly. "I'm glad it's obvious to you, my friend. I was beginning to think I was the only one."
