On 'The Axis Of Evil' -- and 'Dialectical Accountability'

A culture, ethnic group, or nation invaded, pillaged, victimized, traumatized... is a nation later capable of invading, pillaging, vitimizing, traumatizing... Call this a 'cultural, ethnic, and/or national identification with the aggressor'. To label the second culture, ethnic group, and/or nation as lying on, or belonging to, an 'axis of evil' -- even if there is 'evilness' involved in the second group's or nation's destruction and/or threatened destruction of other people -- is to take this attitude and action out of context and to hide the attitude and/or action of the first group and/or nation -- along with its element of responsibility and accountability in the evolution of the axis of evil of the second group or nation unless it too is included as part of the entire axis of evil.

This is what I call 'dialectical accountability' as opposed to 'unilateral accountability'. It occurs both between individual people and between groups, cultures, religions, and nations...

-- dgb, June 30th, 2008.