XPost: alt.society.liberalism, soc.culture.usa, alt.anarchism   
   XPost: alt.politics.radical-left   
   From: anarcissie@gmail.com   
      
    Dan Clore  wrote:   
   > Dänk 1010011010 wrote:   
   > > On Dec 21, 7:10 am, "5295 Dead, 428 since 1/20/09"    
      
   > >> It's such an idiotic story.  Even among American right-wingers, two   
   > >> plus two equals four is a well-known scientific principle, and the   
   > >> most illiterate farmer in all of Kampuchea had to be able to count   
   > >> to at least ten.   
   > >   
   > > I am only repeating what an actual Cambodian who survived the   
   > > genocide told my tour group.  If you don't like it, take a trip to   
   > > Cambodia (I used Sinh Tours out of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), and   
   > > ask them what happened yourself.  Try calling them liars and laugh at   
   > > them and see how they react.   
   >   
   > The problem isn't necessarily that they are lying. Scholars dealing with   
   > the Khmer Rouge have often had problems when collecting testimony from   
   > refugees and survivors. (This is dealt with often enough in the   
   > scholarly literature on the subject.) Some stories turned out to be   
   > outright black propaganda, exaggerations with a core of truth,   
   > untraceable rumors, and so on.   
   >   
   > Acknowledging this fact in no way constitutes support for the Khmer   
   > Rouge. Their documentable crimes condemn them more than adequately.   
      
      
   You're being rational again.  2+2=4 doesn't   
   cut it here, either.   
      
   I was reading lately about disaster and atrocity   
   tours.  Ever hear of them?  Someone noticed that the   
   site of the World Trade Center is a big tourist draw,   
   I guess -- for years you saw hundreds of people coming   
   to stare at holes in the ground.  (The actual debris   
   had long since been cleaned up, so all there was to   
   look at were nicely squared-off concrete-walled holes,   
   like some really big basement.)  And Auschwitz has   
   been something of a tourist draw, too, especially for   
   politicians, celebrities, and religious leaders like   
   the Pope to do little soft-shoes numbers in front of.   
      
   Anyway, according to an article I read anyone who   
   can pay can go on tours to gawk at disaster sites   
   world-wide.  In some cases, like African civil wars   
   and famines, the disaster may be ongoing, although I   
   don't know if you're guaranteed touching tableaux of   
   children with vultures hanging around.  It would be   
   a shame if Tour Cambodia missed out on this sort   
   of thing.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)