Nathan and Imperialism

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Tue Sep 24 16:20:56 PDT 2002


Chuck Grimes wrote:
>
>
>
> Bandying around terms like Imperialism, Police State Thugs, Fascists,
> Capitalist Pigs, War Criminals and other clearly spoken words isn't
> considered polite. Just look at the a-gast Ari Fleischer, stammering
> with indigitation that a German cabinet minister called Bush's war on
> Iraq reminiscent of Hitler and the Third Reich. US relations with
> Germany seem to have taken a nose dive. Why? The truth hurts?

I agree with all of this, except that throwing in "Fascists" actually blurs rather than focuses the point. I agree that Bush's war on Iraq is more than reminiscent but is very closely equivalent to the foreign policy of Hitler's Third Reich.

Moreover, in conversation with people locally I have actually made headway in this comparison -- but those conversations _always_ took off from a clear _contrast_ between the domestic structure of Hitler's Reich and contemporary U.S. "Police State Thugs" disecribes both, but the organization of state and society which maintains those thugs are quite different. (The U.S. is a far more efficient threat to human survival than Hitler ever was -- the _U.S._ state, not just or not even primarily or mostly the Bush administration.) In fact Bush is probably less a threat than Clinton was.

Carrol


>
> Tsk, Tsk. Justin really, how could you be so gauche.
>
> Chuck Grimes



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