Ed,
Let's not go ad hominem here. Snide? Limbaugh? Shall I tell you how much you remind me of Michael Moore--no, I don't think that's the right way to fly here.
This is the 2nd time you've gotten up on the Goering horse, riding him as if he had something to say about 21st century American representative democratic society. What is it you think he can add?
As for fear, sometimes people are afraid of the dark and sometimes they are afraid of what is out in the dark; sometimes their fears are unfounded, and sometimes they are well-founded. You have your opinions about how afraid Americans should be after 9/11. Great. Those are your opinions and go ahead, 3,000 miles from NYC and outside of any urban target, to be as brave as you wish. My friends who live in NYC and the NJ suburbs feel differently. In the Ed World, they are foolish and Ed is smart. Fine. But ONLY in the Ed world.
If you think Goering's thinking is applicable, what is it about 1930s despotic Germany and 2000 America that you find analogous? What is snide about asking THE OBVIOUS?
A fertile climate for war? Well, I would say we have a reluctant, infertile climate for war (note all the opposition in voters and press), but sometimes war is a necessary thing.
I don't mind reading what Goering has to say about things, or Mao or Stalin or Kim Jong-il, but I don't think they have any particularly valid insight into a 200 year old democracy. Why? Because none of them ever lived in one. Obviously you think they might know something.
As for "the quote was not about the philosophy of democracy or fascism; it was about the use of the propaganda of fear and nationalism to create a fertile climate for war"
I didn't say it was about either, I said it was political philosophy, and GOERING said it applied to democracies as well. You seem to accept that. Okay, that's his opinion (and your opinion), but since Goering didn't APPLY it to a democracy, let's just take all of Herman's universal suppositions about the way things work in democracies as just so much fluff. Irrelevant. Who cares what Herman thought? Can you give anyone a good reason to conclude otherwise? I don't think so. |
