Opinion: Dialogue Isn't Just One Way - Questions We Should be Asking

By Abbi and Gogol G

http://www.urlzen.com/bnv

Clarifying Questions from a Friend

Here are some questions one of my friends asked me in order to better clarify what's going on:

* We have to be careful in how we frame our arguments...i.e. isn't it funny that in order to kill supposedly 200 remaining Tamil Tigers the government is killing 100 civilians a day?

* Why are we asking whether Tamils should be supporting the LTTE without also asking why they're supporting it in such large numbers?



* Instead of giving superficial responses and just stating, yeah, they believe the LTTE is the only one who can defend them, why don't we explore that further?

* What other options is the international community giving the Tamil community?

* Why is all the focus on the Tigers, and not the civilians? That makes little sense to me

* Well, if we can proscribe the Tigers for doing what they did, why not proscribe the Sri Lankan government? After all, it has committed worse human rights abuses and it is a government. If a government can't be held accountable who can?

* And do we tell Sri Lankans who are pro-government they have no right to support a government that attacks its own civilians? Kills journalists? And disappears hundreds of people every week?

* Are we going to sacrifice the better half of the remaining 200 000 ppl. in the Vanni in order to capture or kill 200 rebels?

* Who do you think is going to take care of all the injured Tamil civilians? It will be the Diaspora, many of whom are working blue collar jobs. They'll have to start sending hundreds of dollars back to sri lanka to help their relatives get treatment.

So I told my friend that this stuff has been said before. My friend replied, "yeah, but I think it needs to be repeated in different ways: in questions, or other ways, until it gets through to people. I am just not sure how everyone is going to respond to all this stuff, because it's not in the Western media"

posted by Gogol G

Say it With questions?

Whether you say it with statements, questions, or with music, for that matter, you will still have very little credibility as far as I am concerned. The Tamil Tigers are terrorists who have been attempting through brutal violence to split off from Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government has the right to maintain the integrity of the Sri Lankan nation by crushing this violent terrorist group once and for all. All your protestations and attempts to gain sympathy from Canadians come across as insincere hyperbole.

posted by Herman Steppenwolf

Re: Say it with questions?

Herman Steppenwolf, The point of a question is to ask for a response. Questions are often important for having dialogues, and dialogues are good for educating ourselves on important issues.

If you were trying to answer any of the questions I asked, then I think you replied aggressively with non sequiturs. If you can answer the questions I've put forth in a way that defends your statement, I support your right to hold your opinion. (Kind of, but not quite, like what Voltaire said.)

My original request (i.e., question) was for a working definition of terrorism. You're free to answer that or any of my friend's questions, if you can.

If you can't, then you only prove my point that people use terrorism language to stifle discussion, persecute, and dehumanize.

Thanks.

Gogol G