[ViaxobbimeVar]

http://thedailybell.com/4039/Anthony...gela-Keaton-on

Anti-War Americans...do exist they are just suppressed by the American mainstream mass media, thankfully the Internet can by-pass this mass media.

Daily Bell: The argument has been made that the West is creating a kind of Islamic arc in the Middle East and Africa to manufacture an enemy to continue a kind of phony war on terror. Your reaction?

Angela Keaton: The USG creates enemies. It's all a cycle of blowback now. Chickens or eggs – does it matter? The real question is when will we be evolved enough to engage in ethical trades for resources and lands? When will we be sophisticated and tolerant enough to live and let live? And when will we learn to resolve conflicts without violence?

Daily Bell: Is Islam evil? Is there a difference between Sunni and Shia Islam? Is the West is some sense fighting a genuine war against terrorist Islam?

Angela Keaton: There was a time when intellectuals, free thinkers and adventurers saw Islam as this quaint little religion. Hippies and drug enthusiasts embraced Sufism and people were encouraged to travel to these exotic places. Call it patronization or Orientalism if you wish but it is far preferable to hysterical Islamophobia, anti-Arabism and all the related forms of bigotry, which should be horrifying if anyone actually bothered to remember anti-Semitic rhetoric leading up to the holocaust. How many times do we need to learn this lesson?

Daily Bell: Is Islam inevitably a terrorist religion?

Angela Keaton: My immediate reaction to this question was something flip as in, "No more so than Catholicism leads to pedophilia or Judaism to Zionism," but the new atheism does service to the great lie of USG foreign policy. Terrorism has tangible root causes in war, torture and occupation. One only needs the simplest understanding of human nature to recognize that people will take action to remove the boots on their necks. Actions have consequences. A is still A and people will still hate you for killing their children.

While I am at this point, while this is highly unfashionable to say, for me, Catholicism and Judaism minus the mysticism, spiritually and tribalism inform my ethical understanding of the world. These ideas that are supposedly the underpinnings of western civilization are what I act out upon. There is nothing unique about me. The world is likely full of millions of people who likely have that same relationship with Islam. These questions all have roots in a lack of empathy and imagination. Muslims are not cartoons. They eat, breathe, form families and try to impress their mothers just like we do.

Daily Bell: Does Islam mistreat women? Should the West rescue the women of Islam?

Angela Keaton: The first part: No more so than any other patriarchal religion. The treatment of women by men is the subject of another entire interview but let's say that Islam is particularly anti-women. Feminism is part of the struggle for basic human dignity, which cannot be created by force. Force, the use of violence, the use of power and privilege over others will not end force, power and privilege and the use of violence. The cynical use of feminism in regard to the occupation of Afghanistan is another example of how the USG co-opts and corrupts every aspect of each modern liberation movement.

The second: "Rescue?" Women are not small children or inert objects. Any authentic feminist revolution comes from within the woman herself. If one wants to see feminism in action Malalai Joya stood up to the USG, quislings, war lords and elites on her terms without any regard for her own comfort and safety. That's courage any woman anywhere can draw upon.

Daily Bell: Is Western society different and better than Islamic societies? Is Afghanistan better off with a Western-style government?

Angela Keaton: How does one begin to parse this out? If you mean by "the rule of law," "guaranteed human rights," etc., clearly the USG is not an exemplar. If you mean by efficient means of producing consumer goods, distributing literacy and marginally better treatment of minority groups, perhaps but if the Tea Parties, Occupy, black bloc, the new anarchists inspired by Ron Paul are any indication, more and more people are less and less impressed by cheap microwave ovens.

Daily Bell: Regardless of the rationale for such wars, should the US and NATO withdraw from them? Is it necessary to the defense of the US to participate in them?

Angela Keaton: Yes. No. In fact, the pursuit of the empire is not only antithetical to the national security interests of the American people but undermines any claim to Judeo-Christian ethics, Western civilization and basic human rights.

Daily Bell: Are you a supporter of closing down American bases around the world?

Angela Keaton: Yes.

Daily Bell: What is your position on a reasonable defense for the US and for NATO?

Angela Keaton: NATO? I am not a fan of collectives of any kind, particularly street gangs with the ability to carpet bomb.

Respect and friendship with all. Free and voluntary trade. Can't we just buy oil like normal human beings? People can exchange goods and services for land. That's what normal would look like.

Every day, I wake up in Los Angeles surrounded by millions of people of every imaginable race, creed and color, speaking scores of different languages, in both sexes and all gender constructs. It rarely erupts into violence apart from what is instigated though the police state and the drug war. These people, each an individual, make exchanges with each other without treaties or armed guards.