Quotes of the Day

Via Corrente:

"C [head of MI6] reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." - Downing Street Memo

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality." - Bush Administration 'senior advisor'

"There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be "the man in the street." Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology." - Joseph Goebbels

The "senior advisor" sounds like either Feith or Wolfowitz. The jury may still be out on the validity of what he said, but I suspect he's not far off the mark.

But look at the portion I bolded. Truth is unimportant and entirely subordinate. Isn't that absolutely true? Again - I keep hammering on this. Every single justification for the war turned out to be a lie - and that is not arguable. If you think otherwise, you're severely misinformed, and I'll point you towards the proper sources of information if you need me to.

But the key is; truth is unimportant. A lot of us on the left are angry and bewildered by the apathy that the truth has wrought. To us, the truth is important, and by extension, we think it should be important to everyone. But - it's not. Goebbels knew that. Rove knows that.

I don't think there's much question that America is an empire now. The question is, do we create our own reality? I think you have to say yes. Bush won re-election. The media is behaving very strangely. In fact, I find it remarkable that the President is still in office, having committed this nation to a war under false circumstances.

It is true that Bush said in October 2002, he "hope[d] the use of force will not become necessary". Clearly he was flat out lying as the Downing Street memo proves. They had long before decided war was imminent. But the point is empire. Do they create their own reality? In the end, I think they will.

Finally, focus on the Goebbels quote. Do you think Karl Rove knows a thing or two about Goebbels? The parallels are amazing. If you've listened to any of the Bush speeches, the choice of words were almost infantile. Example; "evil doer". There was the "axis of evil". Were these choice of words a consequence of Bush being not-so-smart, or was it a conscious choice in order to appeal to the "man in the street"? I think the latter.

When Bush said "You're either with us, or against us", did you think he was appealing to the "thinking man"? It was a masterpiece of rhetoric that worked brilliantly. Even I hated the French.

But - please realize; there are very smart people working in the White House, whose job it is to consider these things. Their job is to understand rhetoric, and understand how the media and public opinion is formed. Just as the Nazi's had a carefully considered plan, the current Administration is being very meticulous and careful how they phrase things.

The world today is a little different than the 30's and early 40's of the last century. Still, do intellectuals have any more relevance today then they did then? I suspect not. The media panders to the man in the street. Fox makes up their news around that man. While the intellectuals have a louder voice today, with the internet, we still end up simply arguing amongst ourselves. The man on the street doesn't get it anyway.

What may save us is Presidential term limits. It wouldn't surprise me if there is a major "terrorist" attack shortly before the next President takes office, and Bush retains the Presidency on an "emergency basis", declares martial law, and becomes - finally - the Emperor.