The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all … - Philip Gourevitch

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Science, in all its greatness, is still subject to human creativity. It starts the first moment a child tries to reach up and grab at the clouds. Soon, the child learns that his own hands cannot reach the sky, but his hands are not the limit of his potential. For the human brain observes, considers, understands, and adapts. Locked within the mind is infinite possibility.

Philip Gourevitch

The West's post-Holocaust pledge that genocide would never again be tolerated proved to be hollow, and for all the fine sentiments inspired by the memory of Auschwitz, the problem remains that denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.

Cry, Evil, Genocide, Good, Holocaust, Memories

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Denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.

Cry, Denouncing, Evil, Social Justice, Tyrants

I'm not pro-war. But I think war has been the dominant condition of humankind, and peace has been the anomaly - certainly sustained periods of peace that profit great masses of people - and I think war has worked, even awful hellish wars: worked to staunch fascist aggression in Europe, worked to preserve the Union after secession in the United States, etc. Not always, maybe not often, but to say never is to reject history in favor of a wishful unreality.

Europe, Favor, Preserve, Thinking, War, Worked

What distinguishes genocide from murder, and even from acts of political murder that claim as many victims, is the intent. The crime is wanting to make a people extinct. The idea is the crime.

Claim, Ideas, People, Political, Wanting

A serious pacifist approach can't win wars against enemies whose only program is violence. That doesn't mean I think the US has fought terrorists so wisely most of the time since 9
11. But there are some enemies that need to be destroyed by force lest they destroy much much more.

Approach, Mean, Program, War, Winning, Wisely

The piled-up dead of political violence are a generic staple of our information diet these days, and according to the generic report all massacres are created equal: the dead are innocent, the killers monstrous, the surrounding politics insane or nonexistent. . . The anonymous dead and their anonymous killers become their own context. The horror becomes absurd.

Insane, Massacres, Political, Politics, Report, Violence