Now Showing on the History Channel

Watching a series about WWII, I couldn’t help but notice unintended parallels between the Nazi occupation of France & America's invasion of Iraq.  By way of analogy, Iraqi insurgents were the French Resistance & the Americans were–I’m ashamed to say–the Nazis, the fucking Nazis.  Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, I don’t mean that America is an imperialistic, totalitarian, fascist state. It’s not totalitarian--yet.  Nor do I mean to imply that then-president George Bush is like Adolf Hitler.  No matter how much Bush sucked–& he sucked at historic levels–I won’t stoop to such ridiculous comparisons. For one thing, Hitler had a moustache.*

You have to be careful about comparing people to Hitler. I took a lot of flak on Facebook when I said Angela Merkel was like Hitler. In my defense, no matter how deplorable I find her favoring, if not forcing, austerity cuts for struggling nations in the EU, all I meant was that both Merkel & Hitler have served as Chancellor of Germany & have similar moustaches. However, that’s where the likenesses end. No rational person would otherwise confuse Merkel for Hitler, who besides wanting to conquer or destroy Europe & ultimately the world with an insidiously evil plan–OK, I forgot where I was going with this.

Oh, yeah, the EU. I’d say I was surprised when the Nobel Committee awarded it the Peace Prize last year, but when you look at the list of recipients, it’s hardly a shock. Remember that Obama won one, despite the US fighting two wars, amping up its drone program & continuing to keep Gitmo open. Recently, a movement is afoot to petition the Nobel Committee to rescind Obama’s prize. I applaud the effort, but frankly there’s a better chance of the committee extending a posthumous award to Hitler, who would have ruled in peace–the saggy-assed aristocrats who hand out these things would claim–if everyone had willingly capitulated to his will.  Surely even Noam Chomsky sees the logic in that.**

Coming up next on the History Channel, a top team of parapsychologists looks into reports of a mysterious specter often spotted hitchhiking on the autobahn. Could it be the ghost of Adolf Hitler? Then leading scientists & genealogists investigate disturbing new evidence that indicates aliens from an unknown, distant planet once lived among us. Is it possible that you, without knowing it, are descended from a strange race of beings from the far reaches of outer space, just like–oh, I don’t know–Hitler?

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* I hope no one erroneously infers that I encourage or condone the killing of American troops.  As a lifelong pacifist, I wish all troops were brought home immediately.  In fact, I oppose, almost categorically, the deployment of US troops, but especially when it's done for the purposes of control & plunder.

** You have to read or scroll to nearly the end of the article to find the quote I'm alluding to here, "Everyone wants peace, even Hitler & Genghis Khan.  The question always is: On what terms?  Under whose direction?" 

Comments

Zack said…
I consider myself like Geralt from the fantastic game, The Witcher when it comes to politics. However, he is forced out of his indifferent political balance, as all monster slayers should be, when he realizes that not all monsters are creatural. In discovering his identity, he sees that monsters can also be human, which is how he becomes involved in politics. I hope this doesn't happen to me, but if the time comes when I have no choice but to find a kingslayer of whom I was wrongfully accused of being, perhaps I will be the badass that Geralt of Rivia is.

The world's a game.
Zack said…
Next time, I'll review comments BEFORE posting.
Zack said…
I consider myself like Geralt from the fantastic game, The Witcher when it comes to politics. However, he is forced out of his indifferent political balance, as all monster slayers should be, when he realizes that not all monsters are creatural. In discovering his identity, he sees that monsters can also be human, which is how he becomes involved in politics. I hope this doesn't happen to me, but if the time comes when I have no choice but to find a kingslayer of whom I was wrongfully accused of being, perhaps I will be the badass that Geralt of Rivia is.

The world's a game.
Matt Morris said…
For a long time, I tried to ignore politics because it tends to infuriate me, but it's more disturbing to behave as one of the all too common, all too complacent sheeple who choose blissful ignorance & pretend not to see the vast inequalities & stupidity which non-action helps to propagate. I don't want to join the ranks of a mulititude of mediocre writers who produce precious little more than innocuous ars gratia artis fluff so as not to upset the wretched status quo's rotten apple cart. Though I'm not in agreement on each point, Vallejo's Autopsy on Surrealism provides a more thorough explanation of what I'm getting at.