The rationalizations do not end there.
The rationalizations are familiar: shorten the war, bring the troops home quicker, improve the morale of the South Vietnamese government, serve notice on Hanoi of the seriousness of our intent.
The rationalizations for these animal experiments by some scientists and drug companies are little more than attempts to justify their inhumanity and greed in service to a questionable purpose.
The rationalizations that let the French dispose of the past are the subject of this sensitive book, which covers the trial of a former cabinet minister, the Vichy memory hole and the interpretation of a Nazi atrocity.
The rationalizations often play on the notion that certain facts would be inflammatory or embarrassing, or that the context or legal arguments (justifying surveillance, perhaps) would be too much for the public to process.
The rationalizations and excuses start to give us some solace, we think: 'Ya, (chuckle) what was I thinking?" or "This is the MUCH safer and responsible way to go.
