1 Boring Old Man

FDL Book Salon: The Age of Fallibility, Part I

On a rare occasion, someone writes something that so resonates with something already in your mind that it’s uncanny. I haven’t even read this book [ordered 5 minutes ago], but I know I’m going to love it. So here’s the story.

Back in 2002, I was involved in an email conversation with members of my high school class. One of our classmates, a retired Navy guy, had begun to use our high school email list [Class of 60] to send out those awful patriotic emails with wavy flags and corny slogans. One was an aircraft carrier with a car being launched off of it. The caption was something like "Justice for Iraqis [or Arabs]." One classmate, a Viet Nam Veteran who had become a sort of well known antinuclear activist took offense. What then happened was a debate among the class about what Bush was saying about Iraq. I was opposed to the whole idea along with a few others. It ended badly, with a bunch of Religious Right treatises on God’s War and one woman saying, "I’d rather have a President who prays every morning than one with his shorts around his ankles." So much for school spirit.

But it was a good thing for me, because it made me actually think the thing through. One of the things I thought was, "What the Hell is a War on Terror?" How can you declare War on an emotion? Did he mean a War on Terrorists? If that’s what he meant, why were we going to War in Iraq? We already did that. And what was the hurry? Why didn’t we go to the U.N. with our evidence and let them investigate? Why did we have to rush into things? I never got clear on any of that. It’s clearer now. It was all baloney.

But the book above by George Soros is apparently a much clearer elucidation of the absurdity of the idea of the "War on Terror." It was a phantasmagoric trick to work up a patriotic fever that allowed them to do what they wanted to do, under the guise of the "War on Terror." And that’s exactly what they’ve done – essentially ignored our form of government and created a fascist state. They’ve destroyed the National Guard – something that’s supposed to be for defense of this country, and incorporated it into an Army fighting overseas. They’ve ignored any Congressional or Judicial Oversight. They’ve undermined and purged the C.I.A. They’ve abridged our Constitutional Rights and essentially set up a "Big Brother" government. They’ve spent us into the ground. And the metaphor "War on Terror" has netted us nothing but the animosity and scorn of the world community.

I’m really looking forward to reading this book. Thanks to Pachacutec for the review…