http://crookedtimber.org/2005/03/22/wolfowitz-for-the-world-bank/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sat, 26 May 2012 14:07:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://crookedtimber.org/2005/03/22/wolfowitz-for-the-world-bank/comment-page-1/#comment-64438 Juke Moran Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:23:40 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2005/03/22/wolfowitz-for-the-world-bank/#comment-64438 Since human beings, farmers' children or anyone's, are absolutely interchangeable and always of equal moral value, 400,00 saved lives and 200,000 lost will always be preferable. And the demise of a handful of aborigines, beneath the wheels of a progress that betters the lives of millions, will always be trivial. It's as though we can't see any differences between birds, so a flock of starlings is the same as a flock of blackbirds. And any disruption in the local ecology that leaves those starlings intact and thriving will be considered harmless to birds, even though it wipes out meadowsful of redwings. As an instrument of coercion the World Bank is a very large bomb indeed. It's a weapon, and a massively destructive one. Since human beings, farmers’ children or anyone’s, are absolutely interchangeable and always of equal moral value, 400,00 saved lives and 200,000 lost will always be preferable.
And the demise of a handful of aborigines, beneath the wheels of a progress that betters the lives of millions, will always be trivial.
It’s as though we can’t see any differences between birds, so a flock of starlings is the same as a flock of blackbirds. And any disruption in the local ecology that leaves those starlings intact and thriving will be considered harmless to birds, even though it wipes out meadowsful of redwings.
As an instrument of coercion the World Bank is a very large bomb indeed. It’s a weapon, and a massively destructive one.

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2005/03/22/wolfowitz-for-the-world-bank/comment-page-1/#comment-64306 abb1 Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:21:51 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2005/03/22/wolfowitz-for-the-world-bank/#comment-64306 What it's probably going to do is to destroy the damn institution, because whatever resentment and resistance towards the WB exists now - it'll multiply ten-fold. Which may not be itself a bad thing in view of your argument number 4. What it’s probably going to do is to destroy the damn institution, because whatever resentment and resistance towards the WB exists now – it’ll multiply ten-fold. Which may not be itself a bad thing in view of your argument number 4.

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