by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
During the catastrophic regimes of Bill Clements, George Bush Jr and Rick Perry --Texas came to be called the gulag state. What the GOP has in mind for the rest of the nation, was very nearly accomplished in Texas. Under criminal and incompetent GOP management, Texas was very nearly reduced to third-world status --an outcome resulting from Bush/Perry neglect and disdain for public education, the only education that those not born to wealth have a chance of acquiring. The 'elites' would deny you even that!
As a result, justice in Texas is applied inequitably. Minorities --primarily black and hispanic --are disproportionately represented in the Texas gulag system and under represented in the State legislature, the various city councils, and the state judicial system where 'justice' is often dispensed inequitably.
For example, blacks represent just 12% of the Texas population but comprise 44% of the total incarcerated population. Whites make up about 58% of Texas' total population, but only 30% of the prison and jail population.
Clearly --the GOP does not care about minorities. Neglect of this type is never 'benign'. At some point, when a vast majority of minorities are determined --statistically --to have been 'targeted' the word 'genocide' may be accurate and appropriate.
A recent Pew study fingers a trend that had been embraced by Bush's Texas --the rapid outsourcing of prison construction and management throughout the US. Over this period, CRIME RATES HAVE RISEN.
It was under the incompetent rule of then Governor George W. Bush that Texas became known as the gulag state of Texas for having turned a social problem into another GOP 'profit center', scam, get rich quick scheme. It became just another way in which GOP blood-suckers would continue to feed at the public trough. As a result, convicts are no longer people but a source of cheap, slave labor. Guilt or innocence is of no concern to robber barons of corporate Texas, corporate AmeriKa. It is an Orwellian nightmare of waste, graft, and fascism in which no one is held to account.
To be expected, the GOP blames its many victims. That is typical, symptomatic of the U.S. right wing. It was predicted by both Carl Jung, psychologist, and Hanah Arendt who founded the New School in New York. Jung said that some 30 percent of every population is certifiably psychotic and utterly without empathy. Hanah Arendt, who covered the war crimes trial of Herr Adoph Eichmann, arrived at some conclusion with respect to 'evil'. She described 'evil' as 'banal'. In both Jung and Dr. Gustav Gilbert 'evil' is always caused and/or accompanied by an 'utter lack of empathy' [see Carl Jung and Gustav Gilbert].
It is interesting that those studied seemed invariably to seek out an external validation, perhaps to assuage their increasing anxieties. For example, Republicans adored Ronald Reagan as Nazis adored Hitler. A Republican attending the GOP National Convention in Houston in the early 90s, swooned of Reagan: "...he made us feel good about ourselves"! During the Third Reich, Hitler had done precisely that for psychopaths and bigots!
The various governments of the United States are exempt or above similar criticisms. The most obvious example is the U.S. genocide against the many native populations that had settled the North American continent several thousands of years before the continent was known by Europeans to exist.
Many of these people had created advanced civilizations. The Mandans, for example, had built large cities from stable populations! The same is true of several western tribes who built permanent CITIES in the American west. Many ruins of these impressive cities still exist. I visited one and explored it. People still live in it though its construction most certainly pre-dates the arrival of the Spanish. It's called ACOMA. Literally a city in the sky, it looks like something from an Edgar Rice Burroghs story. The residents have a school, 'high-rise' adobe homes, an impressive church dating to the Spanish occupation.
And all of this was accomplished with no help whatsoever from 'Europeans'.
Another example of great intellect among the Native Americans is CHIEF JOSEPH BRANT of the Mohawks. He attended Moor's Charity School for Indians in Lebanon, Connecticut, mastered English and translated English works for distribution throughout his community. He read western history and literature and became an interpreter for an Anglican Missionary.
Another famous Native American Chief went to London. On 13 June 1892, the American Sioux Indian Chief, Long Wolf, was buried at Brompton Cemetery. On one of my many soujourns to London, I made it a point to find the cemetery on Brompton road where I paid my respects to the great Native American chief who is buried there.
Showing posts with label Hanah Arendt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hanah Arendt. Show all posts
Friday, January 11, 2013
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Is the GOP a Nazi Party?
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by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
It was James Whitcomb Riley, a Hoosier, not a Texan, who is credited with having said: "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." A thing or a party is what it does. This simple epistemological principles applies to everything from sub-atomic particles to mega-galaxies on the very edge of the universe and everything in between to include 'political parties'. Merely putting a name on something does not explain it. Putting the label 'Nazi' on the US GOP does not explain either GOPPS or Nazis; it just helps us sort them out. I am sick of 'labels' and sick of the way labels have subverted American thought processes and debased the quality of debate and discourse. Labeling is passive. Meaningful sentences consist of subjects, ACTIVE verbs and, often, direct objects which are affected by some action that is taken. It is not enough for me to discount a politcian because they 'are' Republican. If I am to make my case, I must allege an 'action' --a GOP action --that has had, in fact, a harmful result. Indeed, it is the panoply of harmful actions that define this 'duck', this web-footed, forked tongued GOP!
The wake of WWII left many declaring that it must never happen again. If 'it' was to be prevented, however, it was clear that 'it' must be explained. The origins of WWII, however, could not be understood without first understanding a 'Nazi' mentality that provided it fertile soil and nurtured its growing roots. The Nazi weed grows and is cultivated in the US by bigots, authoritarians, and corporatists i.e, fascists. At war's end, the victorious allies had in their custody the 'super-stars' of Hitler's Third Reich and imprisoned them at Nuremberg. Some believed that they should have been summarily executed. Others advocated trial for crimes against the peace and humanity. This is the legacy of Nuremberg: it left us what I hope is the lasting framework against which future crimes may be prosecuted. I have in mind the crimes perpetrated by the US against the sovereign nations of Iraq and Afghanistan and the peoples in those nations. War criminals are where you find them. In the US, there were war hawks in both major parties, eager to avenge 911 and strike a blow against 'terrorism'. This is simplistic thinking. Terrorism is so vague as to be meaningless, certainly any act against US interests 'not liked' by the US or the specific interests affected. What if the 'interest' itself is illegal --the theft of Iraqi oil, for example. What about acts of terrorism perped by the US? Will the US govt root itself out and bring itself to justice? Don't hold your breath. The US govt has been, of late, fucked up!
'Revenge' is similarly problematic. 911 did not, does not and cannot justify the US invasion of either Afghanistan or Iraq for numerous reasons not the least of which is this: no one had been able to pin the 'rap' on Al Qaeda. Does al Qaeda exist? Could it possibly have pulled off 911? George W. Bush boasted of having killed alleged al Qaeda members though there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Afghanistan had anything whatsoever to do with crime of 911.
I believe that this statement speaks to George W. Bush's guilt of war crimes that were defined and prosecuted by the US and its allies at Nuremberg. I believe that Bush should be cross examined with regard to this statement. It should be put to Bush: what --specifically --was that fate? Are we saying that the US rounded up Afghanis en masse and subjected them to summary executions? Who ordered these summary executions? Were the executions sanctioned by the President? If so --then the President and those carrying out the murders should be charged and, when found guilty, they should be hanged! How to Know a Nazi When You Find One Nazis are where you find them. In pre-war Germany, they were found in the party which gave them their name. In the US, latter day Nazis will be found in abundance in the GOP and even among the Democratic right wing. Nazis are what Nazis do!
by Len Hart, The Existentialist CowboyIt was James Whitcomb Riley, a Hoosier, not a Texan, who is credited with having said: "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." A thing or a party is what it does. This simple epistemological principles applies to everything from sub-atomic particles to mega-galaxies on the very edge of the universe and everything in between to include 'political parties'. Merely putting a name on something does not explain it. Putting the label 'Nazi' on the US GOP does not explain either GOPPS or Nazis; it just helps us sort them out. I am sick of 'labels' and sick of the way labels have subverted American thought processes and debased the quality of debate and discourse. Labeling is passive. Meaningful sentences consist of subjects, ACTIVE verbs and, often, direct objects which are affected by some action that is taken. It is not enough for me to discount a politcian because they 'are' Republican. If I am to make my case, I must allege an 'action' --a GOP action --that has had, in fact, a harmful result. Indeed, it is the panoply of harmful actions that define this 'duck', this web-footed, forked tongued GOP!
The wake of WWII left many declaring that it must never happen again. If 'it' was to be prevented, however, it was clear that 'it' must be explained. The origins of WWII, however, could not be understood without first understanding a 'Nazi' mentality that provided it fertile soil and nurtured its growing roots. The Nazi weed grows and is cultivated in the US by bigots, authoritarians, and corporatists i.e, fascists. At war's end, the victorious allies had in their custody the 'super-stars' of Hitler's Third Reich and imprisoned them at Nuremberg. Some believed that they should have been summarily executed. Others advocated trial for crimes against the peace and humanity. This is the legacy of Nuremberg: it left us what I hope is the lasting framework against which future crimes may be prosecuted. I have in mind the crimes perpetrated by the US against the sovereign nations of Iraq and Afghanistan and the peoples in those nations. War criminals are where you find them. In the US, there were war hawks in both major parties, eager to avenge 911 and strike a blow against 'terrorism'. This is simplistic thinking. Terrorism is so vague as to be meaningless, certainly any act against US interests 'not liked' by the US or the specific interests affected. What if the 'interest' itself is illegal --the theft of Iraqi oil, for example. What about acts of terrorism perped by the US? Will the US govt root itself out and bring itself to justice? Don't hold your breath. The US govt has been, of late, fucked up!
'Revenge' is similarly problematic. 911 did not, does not and cannot justify the US invasion of either Afghanistan or Iraq for numerous reasons not the least of which is this: no one had been able to pin the 'rap' on Al Qaeda. Does al Qaeda exist? Could it possibly have pulled off 911? George W. Bush boasted of having killed alleged al Qaeda members though there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Afghanistan had anything whatsoever to do with crime of 911.
All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. And many others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way: They are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies.
--George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2003
I believe that this statement speaks to George W. Bush's guilt of war crimes that were defined and prosecuted by the US and its allies at Nuremberg. I believe that Bush should be cross examined with regard to this statement. It should be put to Bush: what --specifically --was that fate? Are we saying that the US rounded up Afghanis en masse and subjected them to summary executions? Who ordered these summary executions? Were the executions sanctioned by the President? If so --then the President and those carrying out the murders should be charged and, when found guilty, they should be hanged! How to Know a Nazi When You Find One Nazis are where you find them. In pre-war Germany, they were found in the party which gave them their name. In the US, latter day Nazis will be found in abundance in the GOP and even among the Democratic right wing. Nazis are what Nazis do!Ritzler and his colleagues saw a socially distant, intellectually pretentious person lacking depth of character...this psychological profiled belonged to a simple man. They speculated that he attained his success by being a good organization man, doing what he was told to do and not making waves. ...no one suggested a person from academia, the clergy or the arts....the experience of learning the subject's identity has been unforgettable. the psychological protocol belonged to Adolf Eichmann!The Quest for the Nazi PersonalityAs he was tried, Eichmann was portrayed in the media as a 'depraved killer responsible for the deaths of millions'. And so he was but only because he was a bureaucrat, a 'Republican', an 'organization man', a man whose truth was the party line and modus operandi. The very face of 'evil' as it was glimpsed by Dr. Gilbert and, later, Hanah Arendt, turned out to be the banal face of a bureaucrat. Nazis may not have issued membership cards and a subscription to a newsletter! They were defined, however, by a psychological characteristic perhaps first described by Dr. Gustav Gilbert, the American psychologist who 'interviewed' Nazis imprisoned at Nuremberg. It was Gilbert who defined the Nazi mentality by its 'utter lack of empathy', a trait that has been identified in the contemporary US GOP. See John Dean's 'Conservatives Without Conscience'.
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