Posted on 01/11/2009 1:42:00 PM PST by grey_whiskers
A French writer has recently been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Aside from the fact that the Nobel Selection committee's skills have fallen off lately (Al Gore winning a Nobel "Peace" Prize? Yasser Arafat??!!), his comments upon being selected have stirred up a bit of controversy.
In his Nobel lecture, the Frenchman, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, was quoted as saying the following:
"Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded - ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day"
In the light of remarks like this, I am suddenly reminded that the tendency towards wishful thinking is not confined to acolytes of "The Obamessiah" in the United States. Stupidity, it seems, is one of the traits that we all share as human beings. Apparently M. LeClezio has forgotten that Adolf Hitler's criminal plot did not succeed merely as a result of its clandestine nature: Mein Kampf actually laid out fairly well how Hitler viewed the Jews:
"The personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew."
"I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
This vile work was actually published in the 1920's (long before Hitler became Chancellor, or the Einsatzgruppen of the Eastern Front...and according to Wikipedia, there was a special edition of the book given away free to marrying couples). I haven't seen or heard any works from serious historians claiming that the sentiments espoused were a curtailment to the Nazi party, or its rise to power.
Strike one.
Also, consider the effective use made of propaganda by the Nazi party. This is not an accident -- again from Mein Kampf:
"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one."
"The [Nazi party] should not become a constable of public opinion, but must dominate it. It must not become a servant of the masses, but their master!"
This was echoed by the propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels:
"Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play."
Is there any doubt, but that if there had been an internet available during the 1930's, that the Nazis would have mastered its use (and suppressed any dissenting voices on it) as effectively as they wielded the printing press and the radio?
Strike Two.
And lastly -- if anyone is inclined to doubt. Let us consider a couple of contemporary examples. Look at the genocide in Darfur. There has been extensive press about this, and coverage on the internet. How much good has the Internet done to stop this killing? And this is with a fifth-rate military, not a modern industrial power like Germany.
Speaking of industrial power, how is the whole "the Internet, by speaking truth to power, will hold all governments accountable" working out with respect to Communist China? The last I heard, the internet providers, from Cisco to Yahoo to Microsoft, were actively co-operating with the Communist regime to help censor and filter information in both directions, in and out of the country. Not only that, but the Chinese are quite good at using the Internet to squelch dissent. Consider the rumors that keep popping up, of atrocities against Falun Gong -- not just torture and execution, which are old hat, but vivisection and harvesting organs from living (but not for long!) victims.
"Oh, come on," you say, exasperated. "I always thought you were a troll, and this *proves* it."
Precisely my point. If it *should* happen to be true, but the truth is too terrible to contemplate (as was the Holocaust, the Rape of Nanking(*), and other happenings) -- it is all to easy for the perpetrators and their enablers to attack the credibility of the first reporters immediately, creating a "self-perpetuating denial" which needs very little additional effort.
So non, Monsieur LeClezio, I do not believe you that "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword."
Unless, of course, you are speaking solely of French military might.
Called third strike. You're OUT.
(*) Speaking of Nanking, the brutality of the Japanese was so great that it prompted a Nazi, John Rabe, to appeal personally to Hitler for relief in the name of humanity. Rabe was arrested by the Gestapo for his trouble.
“after me, the germans”?
I don’t get the french part of the title.
Are we going to have to form a Joe the Plumber Brigade; i.e., drop our screen names and be who we are? Take the consequences.
What if the Obama Administration turns out to be (as I suspect) a government run by 1960s street rabble and their ideological issue. Throw in a MSM dominated by same.
Both trying to "Bring it all down, man" and replace it with "social justice," a potent central total authority that brooks no opposition.
Will anonymous opposition suffice? Or better to suffer the consequences.
What say you, Mr. Hancock.
This guy is French. Remember who the Nazis overran in World War II?
They were "after" the French.
Cheers!
In his Nobel lecture, the Frenchman, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, was quoted as saying the following: "Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded - ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day" In the light of remarks like this, I am suddenly reminded that the tendency towards wishful thinking is not confined to acolytes of "The Obamessiah" in the United States... Look at the genocide in Darfur. There has been extensive press about this, and coverage on the internet. How much good has the Internet done to stop this killing? And this is with a fifth-rate military, not a modern industrial power like Germany. Speaking of industrial power, how is the whole "the Internet, by speaking truth to power, will hold all governments accountable" working out with respect to Communist China? The last I heard, the internet providers, from Cisco to Yahoo to Microsoft, were actively co-operating with the Communist regime to help censor and filter information in both directions, in and out of the country. Not only that, but the Chinese are quite good at using the Internet to squelch dissent. Consider the rumors that keep popping up, of atrocities against Falun Gong -- not just torture and execution, which are old hat, but vivisection and harvesting organs from living (but not for long!) victims... So non, Monsieur LeClezio, I do not believe you that "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword." Unless, of course, you are speaking solely of French military might.Thanks grey_whiskers.
Your obedient servant.
Ideas are more powerful than guns. If we don't let our people have guns, why should we let them have ideas?
-- Josef Stalin
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