An Act of Witness is Not Laughable

I think the issue of an Olympic boycott is moot, and I wasn't particularly pushing it. I'm more concerned with decency--or rather indecency. I admitted at the start that no nation is pure and implied than virtually any criticism of another nation can smell of either hypocrisy or moral blindness.

Yet I fundamentally disagree with Earl's strong statement that our many (and accurately rehearsed by Earl) American sins make criticism of other nations wrong. I am an American--and an Angelino, a Californian and a Jew. There are a lot of identifiers I can claim.

The fundamental moral and ethical question is if the imperfections of any of my categories should silence me and make me stop speaking my truth to others? Given America's history of slavery, racism, sexism and economic inequality, is all criticism by Americans (not by America) wrong? Must I remain silent on Kenya or Zimbabwe and have no position on trying Serbian war crimes?

If so, then Palestinians are hypocrites for criticizing Israeli policies while they continue to kill each other. American Blacks have no standing for objecting to police brutality, as they suffer numerically more from Black on Black violence. Given the treatment of Palestinians, Israelis should remain silent on Darfur.

The fact that our nations or tribes are imperfect must not silence our own moral voices and restrain our ethical hands. As individuals we must, despite our civil and personal failings, be able to bear witness to our values.