Posted on 05/21/2003 1:55:32 PM PDT by dixiechick2000
Edited on 05/07/2004 6:24:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
I want to speak to you today about war and empire.
Killing, or at least the worst of it, is over in Iraq. Although blood will continue to spill -- theirs and ours -- be prepared for this. For we are embarking on an occupation that, if history is any guide, will be as damaging to our souls as it will be to our prestige, power, and security. But this will come later as our empire expands and in all this we become pariahs, tyrants to others weaker than ourselves. Isolation always impairs judgment and we are very isolated now.
(Excerpt) Read more at rrstar.com ...
Not a bad speech in style, just full of errors, echoes of Arab disinformation, and left-liberal short cuts = for example that if it wasn't for Putin and Sharon the jihadists would drop their ideology and such.
How many read the The History of the Peloponnesian War ?
Wow! Chris Hedges quoted Thucydides!
I guess he's a lot smarter than I am, and everything that he says is laced with insight and genius.
*sigh* Maybe if we asked him, he'd be nice and be a philosopher-king for America. Only educated "progressive" people from the Left Coast and the Reverted Tory Colonies can lead us in this dire hour of our need!
</sarcasm>
Have you read Thucydides? You can get him for free and instantly at this url: http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html
Go for it!
BTW - Hedges interpretation is about as accurate as the rest of his speach - not at all.
Could you elaborate what is inaccurate in his interpretation of Thucydides?
T. believed that the Athenians lost because Alcibiades had achieved a diferential of power in the polis. Alcibiades, a former butt boy of Socrates, was a charismatic leader with absolutely no morals (an early version of Bill Clinton). He convinced the Athenians to send a large fleet to Syracuse, where it was destroyed. At this point, T. became so discouraged, he stopped writing his history.
Even after the Syracuse disaster, the Athenians rebounded and achieved a major sea victory. Unfortunately, at this point, the polis became angry at their victorious generals and had them executed (including a son of Pericles). It was only after this democratic bit of stupidity that the Athenian military fortunes went irrevocably down the toilet. They no longer had competent leaders. This had nothing to do with tyranny at home or abroad, except perhaps the tyranny of the mob.
At least, that's how I read Thucydides. Hopefully a better scholar than I will comment.
It's nice that the whole graduation thing didn't get in the way of his pompous and condescending lecture. The students at RC probably were inundated with this crap on a daily basis for four years. This is exactly how they wanted to culminate their college careers. They were right to disrupt this windbag.
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