It should not need arguing, this late in the ethical history of mankind, that good people can do great harm. One of the finest and funniest novels ever written -- Don Quixote -- charts the damage left in the wake of a man who would make the world a better place.
Human beings are seldom more dangerous than when they are sentimentally overcome by the goodness of their own intentions. That Alice Walker believes it is right to join the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza I do not have the slightest doubt. But beyond associating her decision with Gandhi, Martin Luther King and very nearly, when she talks about the preciousness of children, Jesus Christ, she fails to give a single convincing reason for it.
Jacobson then takes on each one of Walker's reasons for associating with killers and thugs. And he does it well.
Read the full column.
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1 comment:
How curious that Ms. Walker would be looking to make her statement aboard a vessel called "The Audacity of Hope". His book...
The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—supposedly a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Obama sets out his political convictions and inspires his readers to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined the US and believes that it is our best hope going forward.
Who names these ships?
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