Home

"Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel.... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" - with his mouth":

Mark Twain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feeding the Sheep

Comment by Larry Ross September 7, 2004

In the case of World War II the Germans were controlled by a dictatorship and fed hate and fear propaganda, (see Hermann Goering's quotes below) to get them to go to war against what they were told were threatening enemies. They became the real threatening enemies to everyone so it was just and necessary for the West to oppose them with war. I think Twain's quote applies to the Nazis, but not to those defending themselves against the Nazis.

In the case of the Vietnam war or the Iraq war we are not taking up arms to defend ourselves as in World War II. With the Iraq war, the Bush Administration is playing the role of the Nazis in initiating a phoney war based on lies. Bush is using American's fear and hate for terrorists, and focusing it on making war on Iraq. It was necessary for him to deceive people (as the Germans were deceived) and provide justification to them, in order to lead them into an unjust war. It seems as easy to do this in the American Democracy as it was in the Nazi dictatorship, so long as the mass media help the war maker. The mass media played a key role for Hitler, as they are doing for Bush, faithfully repeating his lies as they support his wars.

Mark Twain's quote is a good overview of a war-making species that has engaged in thousands of wars throughout history.

Larry Ross

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"God gave the savior to the German people. We have faith, deep and unshakeable faith,
that he was sent to us by God to save Germany."

Hermann Goering, speaking of Hitler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine 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 pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

Hermann Goering: quote verified at http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm

Danger PR Men at Work! - http://www.nuclearfree.org.nz/DangersFundamentalism.htm

Karl Rove's Republicans swerve right on the way to the middle
It looked like Karl Rove was going to get away with it: presenting a nominating convention the press would call "moderate." The Times reported the opening morning how the "party seeks to pivot to the center." The first day's reviews depicted undeniable success, the Christian Science Monitor, for example, reporting on the Republicans, um, "pivot to the center." MSNBC put up an astonishingly Orwellian "Question of the Day" on its website: "Did Rudy Giuliani's speech reassure you or move you to support the Bush-Cheney ticket?" You could click either "Reassure" or "Move to support."