Magical Truthsaying Bastard (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jackscarab) wrote,@ 2008-05-09 15:00:00 |
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The purpose of lies is lies.
I finished Naomi Wolf's The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot today.zaphy had gotten it for me for Christmas, which shows how far behind I am in my books.
I recommend it. Crooks and Liars already reviewed it, so I'll just say that it is about as concise an argument as you're going to get as to exactly how, if not necessarily why, the United States of America under Bush and company is experiencing a "fascist shift."
My favorite short excerpt:
" People were being sent to prison [in Nazi Germany] for telling jokes. Klemperer notes about the jokes of the day that "Conversations in heaven are popular. The best one: Hitler to Moses: 'But you can tell me in confidence, Herr Moses. Is it not true that you set the bush on fire yourself?'" "
My favorite longer excerpt, coming as a sort of thesis statement summary:
" We assume, with our habits of democracy, that we can simply "throw the bums out" in the 2008 election.
But do people change direction so dramatically? Is it reasonable -- is it really a matter of common sense -- to assume that leaders who are willing to abuse signing statements; withhold information from Congress; make secret decisions; lie to the American people; use fake evidence to justify a pre-emptive war; torture prisoners; tap people's phones; open their mail and e-mail; break into their houses; and now simply ignore Congress altogether -- leaders with, currently [in 2007], a 29 percent approval rating -- will surely say, come 2008, "The decision rests in the hands of the people. May the votes be fairly counted"?
In trusting that "the pendulum will swing" when it is time for the votes to be counted, we are like a codependent woman with an abusive boyfriend; surely next time he will do what is right."
It's never enough to merely trust to hope. Hope is all well and good if it gets someone worthwhile into the White House, but hope is only a ladder to access dry and dangling tree limbs. Removing dead weight from a living body requires precision clipping -- or, in some cases, sawing.
Both of which require bodies in motion.
I finished Naomi Wolf's The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot today.
zaphy had gotten it for me for Christmas, which shows how far behind I am in my books.I recommend it. Crooks and Liars already reviewed it, so I'll just say that it is about as concise an argument as you're going to get as to exactly how, if not necessarily why, the United States of America under Bush and company is experiencing a "fascist shift."
My favorite short excerpt:
" People were being sent to prison [in Nazi Germany] for telling jokes. Klemperer notes about the jokes of the day that "Conversations in heaven are popular. The best one: Hitler to Moses: 'But you can tell me in confidence, Herr Moses. Is it not true that you set the bush on fire yourself?'" "
My favorite longer excerpt, coming as a sort of thesis statement summary:
" We assume, with our habits of democracy, that we can simply "throw the bums out" in the 2008 election.
But do people change direction so dramatically? Is it reasonable -- is it really a matter of common sense -- to assume that leaders who are willing to abuse signing statements; withhold information from Congress; make secret decisions; lie to the American people; use fake evidence to justify a pre-emptive war; torture prisoners; tap people's phones; open their mail and e-mail; break into their houses; and now simply ignore Congress altogether -- leaders with, currently [in 2007], a 29 percent approval rating -- will surely say, come 2008, "The decision rests in the hands of the people. May the votes be fairly counted"?
In trusting that "the pendulum will swing" when it is time for the votes to be counted, we are like a codependent woman with an abusive boyfriend; surely next time he will do what is right."
It's never enough to merely trust to hope. Hope is all well and good if it gets someone worthwhile into the White House, but hope is only a ladder to access dry and dangling tree limbs. Removing dead weight from a living body requires precision clipping -- or, in some cases, sawing.
Both of which require bodies in motion.
