Thursday, November 23, 2006
Questions of the Age
Not long ago there was a discussion @ Lehrer about North Korea. An articulate woman from the American Enterprise Institute was adamant that sanctions were necessary. A fellow named Harrison from another think tank thought that we should apply a talk cure with North Korea; he said that he had had personal contact with members of the North Korean government and that “they are very open to negotiation.” Harrison appeared to me more focused on his personal validation via contact with the dictatorship than critically engaging the credibility to be applied to the North Korean assertions — from bureaucrats in a dictatorship no less.
This seems to be the dispute of the age. What do you do about bad characters? Do you punish them, do you try to understand them — talk to them? Is talking to them, after atrocious acts, simply “bringing them to the table”, or validating them? Or are you just enabling their behavior, giving them cover, and thereby complicit in their depravity, no matter what your motives? Do you “create them” if you reject them?