The Elfin Ethicist uses the R-word

My cousin Jared has posted an impassioned condemnation of equivocation regarding the prison abuses in Iraq. Since when, he asks, do Americans view barbarity in other lands as an excuse to be barbaric ourselves?

At the risk of tiresomness, I note that I have been saying this for months. I have been worried about equivocation since late 2001 or early 2002; that was when I saw half of the audience of a Nightline town meeting in New York advocate the use of torture on suspects.

But I think the problem goes deeper.

I wanted to scream when, during the invasion, someone at my dinner table explained that "they're all terrorists to me." I objected when conservatives (defending the government's irregular detainment policies) used absurd arguments like "they didn't give our people their Geneva rights; why should we give them theirs?"; but I also objected when I heard the words of a country song about 9/11 -- "I'm not sure I could tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran . . . . But I know Jesus and I talk to God . . . ."

This is not stupidity. This is racism. If you cannot even tell one foreigner from another, stay in America. You are causing pain for the nation I love.