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Nobody Was Listening
http://www.ornery.org/cgi-bin/printer_friendly.cgi?page=/essays/warwatch/2008-08-10-1.html ^ | Orson Scott Card

Posted on 08/25/2008 3:27:28 PM PDT by ventanax5

They were right. Starting at the moment of his famous address at Harvard in 1978 (see http://snipurl.com/harvardspeech), Solzhenitsyn became, in effect, mute. Why? Because the cultural elite of the West is just as unhappy to hear itself criticized as the political elite of the Soviet Nomenklatura. How dare Solzehenitsyn fail to recognize that the American intellectual establishment was not in possession of Truth! How dare he point out that in our arrogance, we of the West were as blind to our own doom as the Communists?

Let me quote just one passage from Solzhenitsyn's speech: "A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations.

He saw this in 1978. It is so clear today that he was right -- but how many of us saw it then?

Our intellectual elite today has only the courage of bullies. They can jump on individuals who dare to depart from their absurd and contradictory dogmas, calling them vicious names and doing all they can to silence them. But they haven't the courage of their own convictions.

They thrill at causes like saving Darfur, saving the desaparecidos of Argentina, saving just about everybody. The problem is that all this "saving" can only be done by the use of or the threat of America's overwhelming military force. All the "negotiations" they call for to solve such problems are absurd if there is no credible threat of force behind them.

(Excerpt) Read more at ornery.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: orsonscottcard; osc; solzhenitsyn; sovietunion; truth

1 posted on 08/25/2008 3:27:28 PM PDT by ventanax5
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To: ventanax5

I appreciate the opportunity to review my files, and read my copy of his address regularly.


2 posted on 08/25/2008 3:38:48 PM PDT by Retain Mike
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To: ventanax5
Our intellectual elite today has only the courage of bullies. They can jump on individuals who dare to depart from their absurd and contradictory dogmas, calling them vicious names and doing all they can to silence them. But they haven't the courage of their own convictions.

Ahh what better truth then thier own Messiah doing it: Obama Campaign Threatens Jihad Against TV Stations That Air Weathermen Ad

3 posted on 08/25/2008 3:42:27 PM PDT by Bommer ( Osama Bin Ladin - A Dumb@ss Muslim! Obama/ Biden - A Muslim with a Dumb@ss!)
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To: Bommer

Thanks for the link! BUMP-TO-THE-TRUTH!


4 posted on 08/25/2008 3:47:47 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: Bommer

BO isn’t the Messiah. he’s the Prophet.


5 posted on 08/25/2008 3:49:49 PM PDT by tired1 (responsibility without authority is slavery!)
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To: tired1

Obama thinks it will work this time, he’ll be in charge. That is elitism at its best.


6 posted on 08/25/2008 3:56:48 PM PDT by pacpam (action=consequence and applies in all cases - friend of victory)
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To: ventanax5
The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Would that liberalism truly died with Chamberlain. Thanks to the ranks of Western ivory tower academe, it is too alive and well this day.

Its plenipotentiary instruments have even invaded the Republican Party to the point where it wanted us to take such mavins as Giuliani seriously, and acted directly with the MSM to covertly subvert men like Duncan Hunter and Tom DeLay.

Our now leftist oriented legal profession holds as its icons, Orwellian Utopians like Ronnie Earle of Texas? ( I say this because he had to shop there grand juries to indict DeLay, and notice how that trial is NOT going forward?)

Lets pray that such weakness will not be our undoing, and that we have enough seed available to plant a new crop of courage, when the time comes. As it shall.

7 posted on 08/25/2008 4:17:49 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (Ridicule Obama))
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To: ventanax5
Solzhenitsyn is dead. His messages did not die with him.

Exactly. RIP, sir.

8 posted on 08/25/2008 5:00:09 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: ventanax5

people who count themselves as intellectuals but give no evidence of any ratiocination beyond repeating the slogans of groupthink.

Old Orson sure knows how to turn a word...


9 posted on 08/25/2008 5:24:10 PM PDT by George Smiley (This tagline has been Reutered. (Can you tell?))
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To: George Smiley
"people who count themselves as intellectuals but give no evidence of any ratiocination beyond repeating the slogans of groupthink."
Old Orson sure knows how to turn a word...

That he can... but is he old? How old is he?

10 posted on 08/25/2008 5:27:10 PM PDT by sionnsar (Obama? Bye-den! |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: ventanax5
Nobody Was Listening

Some of us were, even then, but... this engineer was never one of the "elite."

11 posted on 08/25/2008 5:28:55 PM PDT by sionnsar (Obama? Bye-den! |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: ventanax5; Lando Lincoln; danneskjold; quidnunc; .cnI redruM; A Longer Name; A message; ...
Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card - PING  [please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Orson Scott Card political articles]

Links: his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-orsonscottcard/browse  and archived here (it is a must go place for all new to OSC political writing): http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/index.html

His fresh articles appear in the Rhinoceros Times, Greensboro, NC: http://www.rhinotimes.com/greensboro/  (before being posted permanently on his The Ornery American website). Read his books/movies/and everything reviews: http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/ 

His "About" page: http://www.hatrack.com/osc/about.shtml


12 posted on 08/28/2008 1:07:52 PM PDT by Tolik
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To: Tolik

Thanks for the PING!


13 posted on 08/28/2008 1:18:29 PM PDT by SunTzuWu
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To: Tolik

Thanks for the ping!


14 posted on 08/28/2008 2:00:53 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: ventanax5

btt


15 posted on 08/28/2008 2:05:41 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: ventanax5

Thanks for the post....

I read the whole speech - a lot to reflect on, especially as we decide the direction of our country!


16 posted on 08/28/2008 2:51:26 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: ventanax5

Excellent article. I am and remain an opponent of Sen. McCain. But OSC has some words of wisdom worth listening to.


17 posted on 08/28/2008 5:16:05 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!)
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To: RKBA Democrat

Alvin Maker for President!


18 posted on 08/28/2008 10:45:35 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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