A Little Bit of Politics
Just for a change of pace, this is an apposite quote I came across yesterday :
"Why of course the people don't want war... That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Two points if you know who said it.
"Why of course the people don't want war... That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Two points if you know who said it.
7 Comments:
Hermann Goering
Two points on their way to you !
DY posts a comment on his own blog about this, and asks me to respond. I might, when he posts his thoughts on here, where I can respond to them.
Hi Andy, I don't have a comments section on my site for the 'signal to noise' reasons that you gave when you started this blog:
http://pokersoft.blogspot.com/2003/07/why-are-we-here.html
Essentially, in my October 16th entry on www.sleeplessinfulham.com , I mention that I disagree that the quote is 'apposite'. The essence of the Goering quote is that the public can be made to believe that they are being attacked when they aren't. While this may be true, it's odd to say that it's relevant to the present day when people ARE being attacked!
It's not hard to find people in this country or Australia who were affected by the Bali bomb in 2002. It's not hard to find Americans who were affected by the 9-11 attacks. I know someone who lost SIX friends on that day. No government needs to persuade him that he's under attack. He's seen the attack from his office window.
If Andy wanted to say that people were being misled into thinking that the attacks were connected to Iraq then he should say so and we can go on from there but to suggest that the whole concept of the public in the west being attacked is a fraud beggars belief.
DY
Nonetheless as soon as my blog was converted to a format that supported comments, I enabled them. All I wanted to do was keep the debate in one place. As such I am going to reply to your comment made here.
If you disagree that the quote is apposite, we can disagree. However I do feel that the current terrorist threat is being exaggerated to a great degree, and that this is being done deliberately by governments and media both here and in the US.
You believe otherwise ; we may have to leave it there. I know from experience I'm not going to change your mind and I doubt if you can change mine on this one.
If anyone is interested, I recommend Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars WHo Tell Them". I no longer recommend Michael Moore as I have come to realise that he uses all the same techniques of misdirection that are used by his opponents. I was wrong on that one. You know David, saying that every now and then really doesn't hurt.
Andy.
Why do people persist in telling me that I never change my mind? How many times have I explained that I wanted Gore to beat Bush in the 2000 election or that I felt that the problems in the middle east were due to Israeli intransigence in the middle-east? I have stated it on my own site!
You're changing them in the wrong direction!
Post a Comment
<< Home