>Stalin had Trotsky murdered in Mexico, so he can't come back to the farm,
>but some of the surviving Trotskyists became pro-capitalists, the neo-cons
>with whom we are familiar. Snowball who returns may be thought of as a
>composite figure of neo-cons, former East European dissidents come
>pro-capitalists, the Chinese Communist Party after the market reform,
>former social democrats & Labourists come Third-Way promoters, Dems, etc.,
>who together uphold the Empire.
Mmmmm, I think that's reaching a bit too far. (Some of?) Snowball's children would have made better figures of that sort. Snowball himself, no.
>The destruction of the natural environment was not a conscious motive of
>Islamic fundamentalists (at least they have yet to make it the center of
>their grievances), but if you think of the environment in a broader sense
>of the word, including social, political, economic, and cultural, the
>analogy makes sense.
Ehnn, I think that's reaching again. It's tossing ObL and his fascist pals too big a bone. Makes them out as representatives of the entire ME in its grievances against the US. I have little doubt there are ME states who wouldn't have minded having ObL and his coterie either wiped out or imprisoned as a bunch of fanatics or threats to stability.
The description just left me thinking the writer was sloppy with his imagery.
>What's most interesting to me in the parable is the responses of farm
>animals to the beavers: "The book ends with the farm animals crying out for
>revenge against the fundamentalists: `Kill the beavers! Kill the beavers!
>Kill! Kill!'..." (@ <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/books/25ANIM.html>).
> Cries for revenge were not the only responses in the USA, but certainly
>they were the dominant strain in public discourse.
Oh yes, no doubt about that part, but it's hardly subtle.
Todd
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