Preposterous Universe

 
The second time as farce

As the Green Bay Packers have essentially guaranteed a Kerry victory, we may not have George W. Bush to kick around for much longer. So as a final parting shot, let's just dwell on this quote from Donald Rumsfeld (speaking in a rare moment of honesty) that I found in an article by Jason Epstein in the New York Review:

people don't want to go to war.... But, after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship.... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same way in any country.

Oh no, wait a minute. That wasn't Rumsfeld at all -- it was Hermann Goering, speaking at the Nuremberg trials. So this wasn't really a damaging quote, it was just a cheap-shot comparison with the Nazis! Sorry about that.

~ posted by Sean Carroll at 10:41 AM ~ link ~ ~ ~