Democracy Has Prevailed.

January 2, 2006

Happy New Year!

From a writer far far more talented than I could ever be:
I case you haven't noticed, as the result of a shamelessly rigged election in Florida, in which thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily disenfranchised, we now present ourselves to the rest of the world as proud, grinning, jut-jawed pitiless war-lovers with appallingly powerful weaponry--who stand unopposed.

In case you haven't noticed, we are now as feared and hated all over the world as the Nazis once were.

And with good reason.

In case you haven't noticed, our unelected leaders have dehumanized millions and millions of human beings simply because of their religion and race. We wound 'em and kill 'em and torture 'em and imprison 'em all we want.

Piece of cake.

In case you haven't noticed, we also dehumanised our own soldiers, not because of their religion or race, but because of their low social class.

Send 'em anywhere. Make 'em do anything.

Piece of cake.

The O'Reilly Factor.

So I am a man without a country, except for the librarians and a Chicago paper called In These Times.

Before we attacked Iraq, the majestic New York Times guaranteed that there were weapons of mass destruction there.

Albert Einstein and Mark Twain gave up on the human reace at the end of their lives, even though Twain hadn't even seen the First World War. War is now a form of TV entertainment, and what made the First World War so particularly entertaining were two American inventions, barbed wire and the machine gun.

Shrapnel was invented by an Englishman of the same name. Don't you wish you could have something named after you?

Like my distinct betters Einstein and Twain, I now give up on people, too. I am a veteran of the Second World War and I have to say this is not the first time I have surrendered to a pitiless war machine.

My last words? "Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse."

Napalm came from Harvard. Veritas!

Our president is a Christian? So was Adolf Hitler.

What can be said to our young people, now that psychopathic personalities, which is to say persons without consciences, without pity or shame, have taken all the money in the treasuries of our government and corporations, and made it all their own?
You can buy the book here (it's page 86-89).

IMPEACH

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You call this talent? So you're now going agree with this "kookery" that which refers to this country as Nazis? That's the lowest of the lowest blows. I was waiting for you to refer to this country as a bunch of Nazis.

As far as I am concerned, when you call someone a Nazi (and in your case, you're referring to this entire country as Nazis by agreeing with this writer you deem as having talent), you've lost the debate, big time. A Nazi is demonic monster who believes in complete racial genocide. You know, the Nazis were also guilty of spreading propaganda exactly in a similar manner of the way you're doing it now. I'd like to see you make that same statement in the face of a World War II veteran.

Secondly, I will not ever expect you or those like you to ever get over the 2000 Presidential Election - that right there is what drives your undying hatred for George W Bush, and it definitely sticks out like a sore thumb. Your hypocrisy alone could make you rich if ever there was a career for it.

Finally, it isn't "us" who dehumanised our own soldiers, it's you and those like you. It's the John Kerry's and the Edward (hic) Kennedy's and all of those people like them.

From everything you've said in your latest unintelligent post, I submit to you that you're a very hypocritic anti-American. Why? Because you right there earned the definition of the above by referring to this country as being on par with the Nazis. That's low, and you should be ashamed of yourself for saying so.

Q said...

Hey Braden -- impartial observer as you likely are (with you "www.democrats-lie.com" link), you may want to acknowledge reality here and there. By which I mean, comparisons with Nazis are, almost regardless of the circumstance, universally disdained by those calling themselves "right-thinking" in these days (as distinct from "right thinkers" -- many liberals dismiss Nazi similes out of hand), with rarely a cogent argument on why it's not apt. Our shining virtue can just automatically be assumed to be above such demonic besmirching.

Unfortunately, in reality, a Nazi is not "a demonic monster who believes in complete racial genocide," as easy and understandable as it is to believe this. Many many Germans got caught up in Nazism, with varying degrees of zeal, but by and large the people at the top were those whose countenances were nigh demonic. Many others were simply "following orders." Adolph Eichmann, the thousands upon thousands of soldiers, middle management, functionaries, bureaucrats, chattering pundits, IBM -- selling computing machines throughout the war through subsidiaries that were used to schedule the trains shipping those to be killed -- all complicit in what happened to the Jews and all the others killed by Nazis, but none bug-eyed demons. (Indeed, it was doubtlessly "patriotic" not to criticize the democratically elected Nazis. Those who dead were obviously considered traitors to the state -- not entirely like how you tar liberals with such labels now.)

The difference, dear Braden, is that we have contributed to thousands of deaths, through malice and neglect, but have had the good sense to do it quietly in our "backyard" -- Latin America -- and in relatively obscure or already tumultuous countries. Iran, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile -- overthrowing the Shah, the Contra War, Death Squads, Pinochet -- Mexico and NAFTA (thousands of farmers out of work and starving); the Iraq/Iran War (where we armed Saddam in the first place) -- we the people are not bug-eyed demons, but we are letting those who represent us do their best Nazi impersonations on the populations of foreign countries. The fact that these things are barely carried in the news doesn't entirely mitigate all of our complicity.

All that is required for US demony to succeed is for good people to stand aside, and avoid looking too deeply into the news. All that is required is "patriotism."

porchwise said...

Braden obviously hasn't read the book and, from the rant here, it looks like he'd have a hard time with any of Vonnegut's exquisite way of writing about humanism vs. big, uncaring government.

Dayvoe said...

Braden;

You need to READ MORE CAREFULLY.

Here, let me help you out.

If you look real careful at what the writer wrote, he didn't "refer to this country as Nazis" (as you put it). He said that this country is as hated as as feared as the Nazis once were. And then he gave reasons why. He said we've dehumanized millions on account of race and religion. You can take a look for yourself.

Braden I am sorry to say that your ignorance really is showing. Let me show you why.

The writer of the passage is Kurt Vonnegut. HE IS A WORLD WAR TWO VETERAN who was a prisoner of war in Dresden during the war. He survived the firebombing of that city and wrote "Slaughterhouse Five" about it a few decades later. I think we can all safely assume you haven't read it. You might want to pick it up - it's a great book.

You probably feel kinda silly right now, huh? Not knowing who Kurt Vonnegut is and not knowing that he's a WWII veteran. Sorry - I wish I could help you with that.

Braden, it would really help out your debating skills if you were to do a better job of informing yourself about the world and who's in it. You might even want to read a few books along the way. In the meantime, best of luck at the kid's table.

Anonymous said...

Funny, all I did was express my feelings on how I think it's wrong to refer to this country as a bunch of Nazis. You don't have to lecture me on World War II, nor do you have to lecture me on those who wrote the book you're quoting from. Just because the man is a World War II veteran doesn't necessarily mean his views are correct to the rest of us. He's only "correct" in his eyes because his views match your own. The bottom line here folks: referring to this country as a bunch of Nazis is the lowest of low blows, and if you don't recognize the Nazis as a group of monsters who believe in complete racial genocide (you do remember the Holocaust, the Jews?) then that's your problem.

Second, as far as "reading more carefully" is concerned, I needn't read on when I see someone making reference to this country as a bunch of Nazis. That right there is the end of the debate, you've lost. All bets are off.

Finally, I do not need you to lecture me on debating skills, especially as evidenced by the total lack of class your site continually demonstrates. And since I foresee you asking the question as to why I come here, my answer is this: the staggering entertainment value, not to mention the unbelievable hypocrisy unleashed by you guys.

"liberalism = where the facts make you turn your head the other way and cough."

Dayvoe said...

Braden;

Whatever you say.

All I can say (again) is that you're not reading carefully enough (even when I corrected you). Vonnegut did NOT call the nation "a bunch of Nazis" but whatever, you have your mind made up and no fact is going to change that.

Also you're the one who wrote, "I'd like to see you make that same statement in the face of a World War II veteran." obviously ignorant of the fact that the man who wrote the statement WAS a WWII veteran.

But whatever, Braden. I wish you well the next few months/years. Yours is the political movement of Delay/Abramhoff/Rove/Libby. Some, if not all, are probably heading to jail for corruption soon.

All I can say is that your debating skills are no where near what they need to be if you're going to try to defend these guys.

Best of Luck to you.

Anonymous said...

Again,

I don't care who wrote the book, WWII Vet or not, as I stated in my last post, so I did NOT ignore what you said, as you so suggested.

Secondly, How would you interpret the following:

"In case you haven't noticed, we are now as feared and hated all over the world as the Nazis once were."

Sure sounds like a reference to calling this country a bunch of Nazis to me. Now, I must ask, define "all over the world." What countries are being referenced here? I noticed the convenient lack of definement here.

Don't critique my debating skills, when your own debating skills clearly choose to ignore what's being presented to you.

I also can appreciate the following assumption on your part, which does not surprise me at all:

"Yours is the political movement of Delay/Abramhoff/Rove/Libby."
Which finally leads me to this:

I am willing to take bets that you are in pure belief that I am a Republican, which will shock the living heck out of you as you read on. Little do you know, I side with the Libertarians anymore. Both Democratic and the Republican Parties both suck anymore, and it's people like you on both sides who have lead me to my decision of siding with the Libertarian party long ago.

The reason why I target the Democrats so much is they are the most corrupt, hypocritical party of the two. I always get a kick out of the Democrats when they accuse the Republicans of doing something that they themselves have always been taking part in. But like I said on my own blog, "When a Democrat is involved, it's just different." So far, that statement's held true.

Anyway, this was a most enlightening debate due to the fact that I get so much entertaining "ammunition" from this site. It's just amazing how far left some people can go, not to mention how low. So much for uniting after September 11th.