Tuesday, October 19, 2010
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Almost every high school graduate who reads knows the quote that is the title to this post (or some version of it), from George Santayana. Here is the quote with some context:
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Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The Life of Reason, Vol. 1, Ch. XII.
I am reading The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich, by William L. Shirer. It is an eyewitness account by a renowned journalist and historian of how Hitler came to power in Germany, how he Nazified the country and started World War II, and how he ultimately perished along with everything he had created. In addition to reporting the news as it happened in the late 1930s from his posts in Berlin and Vienna for Universal News Network and CBS, Shirer had extraordinary access to the records and documents collected for and generated by the Nuremburg trials, whether or not they were introduced as evidence. When the work was first published, in 1960 it was a sensational best seller. I'm not sure it would be so popular today because it is long and dense with information, and I don't know if a lot of modern Americans would have the patience to plow through it. That said, like most historical works it contains many ideas and concepts applicable to our contemporary world.
For example, I am struck by how closely the behavior of the British and French, and the League of Nations vis a vis Hitler in 1936-38 is paralleled by the West and the United Nations with regard to Iran's Ahmadinejad. In both cases, the dictator signaled well ahead of time what his plans were, and his feckless opponents refused to take him seriously. When Hitler finally could not be ignored, the British and French opted for appeasement rather than confrontation, much like the US and European powers are opting for negotiation and dialogue with Ahmadinejad rather than taking action, and for many of the same reasons. I am also struck by how much the behavior of Ahmadinejad (and other dictators of the day) resembles Hitler's behavior--as if they're reading from the same playbook (I plan a future post detailing the techniques Hitler used to become Der Fuehrer without violating the letter of German law at the time). There are also similarities between Germany in the 1930s and Iran today.
Because of these parallels I am becoming alarmed that we are condemned to repeat history, and soon. Karl Marx said, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." I have a very uneasy feeling that in the case of Iran we will experience the first repetition, not the second.
For example, I am struck by how closely the behavior of the British and French, and the League of Nations vis a vis Hitler in 1936-38 is paralleled by the West and the United Nations with regard to Iran's Ahmadinejad. In both cases, the dictator signaled well ahead of time what his plans were, and his feckless opponents refused to take him seriously. When Hitler finally could not be ignored, the British and French opted for appeasement rather than confrontation, much like the US and European powers are opting for negotiation and dialogue with Ahmadinejad rather than taking action, and for many of the same reasons. I am also struck by how much the behavior of Ahmadinejad (and other dictators of the day) resembles Hitler's behavior--as if they're reading from the same playbook (I plan a future post detailing the techniques Hitler used to become Der Fuehrer without violating the letter of German law at the time). There are also similarities between Germany in the 1930s and Iran today.
Because of these parallels I am becoming alarmed that we are condemned to repeat history, and soon. Karl Marx said, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." I have a very uneasy feeling that in the case of Iran we will experience the first repetition, not the second.
Labels: dictators, France, Germany, Great Britain, History, Hitler, Iran, United Nations
Saturday, September 26, 2009
President Pantywaist?
Once again, more valuable insight into what Mr. Obama is doing to the United States is available from abroad than from our domestic "news" organizations, whose credibility is now approximately on the same level as whale poop in the view of many if not most Americans.
Here's Gerald Warner, writing in the UK's Telegraph:
When words like "President Pantywaist" appear in the public discourse taking place in the staunchest friend that the US has in the world, it can't be good.
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Here's Gerald Warner, writing in the UK's Telegraph:
Thanks to President Pantywaist’s supine policies, the former satellite states can see that they are fast returning to their former status. The American umbrella cannot be relied upon on a rainy day. They have been here before. Poles remember how a leftist US president sold them out to Russia at Tehran and Yalta. The former Czechoslovakia was betrayed twice: in 1938 and 1945.I wish I'd said that.
If the word is out that America is in retreat, it will soon find it has no friends. The satellites will pragmatically accept their restored subordination, without openly acknowledging it, and co-operate with their dangerous neighbour, ushering in a new generation of Finlandisation.
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Barack Obama is selling out America and, by extension, the entire West. This is a catastrophe for America and the wider world.
When words like "President Pantywaist" appear in the public discourse taking place in the staunchest friend that the US has in the world, it can't be good.
Labels: defense, Great Britain, media bias, Obama
Friday, February 27, 2009
Chairman Obama?
The headline on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal reads, "Obama Budget Pushes Sweeping Change." It's pretty clear from the facts, not to mention Obama's own words, that he intends to turn the country into a much larger pre-Thatcher UK, or even more socialist than that.
It's also pretty clear that Obama wants to make his mark on history to the same extent, if not effect, as Washington, Lincoln and FDR. In short, he wants to be revered as a sort of savior--the messiah meme returns with a vengeance.
To paraphrase a famous lady, for the first time in my life I'm not proud of my country.
I wonder how long it will be before we all have to carry around little books titled, "Quotations from President Obama," and suffer punishment at the hands of the government if we don't.
As I've said before, I HOPE all this CHANGE doesn't ruin us, But I'm getting more and more pessimistic.
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It's also pretty clear that Obama wants to make his mark on history to the same extent, if not effect, as Washington, Lincoln and FDR. In short, he wants to be revered as a sort of savior--the messiah meme returns with a vengeance.
To paraphrase a famous lady, for the first time in my life I'm not proud of my country.
I wonder how long it will be before we all have to carry around little books titled, "Quotations from President Obama," and suffer punishment at the hands of the government if we don't.
As I've said before, I HOPE all this CHANGE doesn't ruin us, But I'm getting more and more pessimistic.
Labels: Economy, government, Great Britain, Obama, politics, Socialist
Monday, September 15, 2008
Britain Adopts Islamic Law
If you think bilingual countries have cultural issues, how about "bilegal" countries? The UK has given Sharia courts full power to rule in Muslim civil cases.
Now, I don't know how the UK deals with the notion of equal protection under the law, but it seems to me that separate but equal legal systems will work about as well as separate but equal education systems. That is, someone's gonna get screwed.
I imagine that Sharia courts will (at least initially) only deal with disputes in which all the parties are Muslim. I figure it'll be about a year, maybe less, before some non-Muslim gets hauled before a Sharia court by a Muslim in an attempt to impose Sharia law in any case in which at least one of the parties is Muslim. The logic would be, of course, that the Muslim is entitled to be judged according to Muslim law, irrespective of the identity of the other party. That's political correctness run amok, but that appears to be the way the UK, and the rest of Europe, for that matter, is heading. Anything to prevent religious riots, right?
Neville Chamberlain's ghost is somewhere smiling in approval.
I have had a fear for a couple years now that our cousins in the UK are committing cultural suicide. This will prove to be one more nail in the coffin, and it's a damn shame.
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Now, I don't know how the UK deals with the notion of equal protection under the law, but it seems to me that separate but equal legal systems will work about as well as separate but equal education systems. That is, someone's gonna get screwed.
I imagine that Sharia courts will (at least initially) only deal with disputes in which all the parties are Muslim. I figure it'll be about a year, maybe less, before some non-Muslim gets hauled before a Sharia court by a Muslim in an attempt to impose Sharia law in any case in which at least one of the parties is Muslim. The logic would be, of course, that the Muslim is entitled to be judged according to Muslim law, irrespective of the identity of the other party. That's political correctness run amok, but that appears to be the way the UK, and the rest of Europe, for that matter, is heading. Anything to prevent religious riots, right?
Neville Chamberlain's ghost is somewhere smiling in approval.
I have had a fear for a couple years now that our cousins in the UK are committing cultural suicide. This will prove to be one more nail in the coffin, and it's a damn shame.
Labels: Great Britain, Islam, Law, Political correctness, Sharia, UK
