Comments on: The Evil Empire?

The Evil Empire?

quirked — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 06:38:27 -0800

Ronald Reagan used many of the same good vs evil themes we are hearing from the current Administration. However, a comparison of his famous Evil Empire Speech with the recent words and actions of the U.S. makes you wonder if we are becoming what we once fought against.

By: klaatu

klaatu — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 06:58:33 -0800

What's Deacon Blue?

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 07:12:21 -0800

Great Find! "Sir Winston Churchill refused to accept the inevitability of war or even that it was imminent. He said, "I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here today while time remains is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries." - President Reagan: Speech to the House of Commons, June 8, 1982.

By: jammer

jammer — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 07:55:20 -0800

It's funny what selective quoting can do, isn't it? Let's try one of my own! "If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." Sounds like a much different Churchill, doesn't it? That whole piece suffers from selective quotation and improper analogies. But I'm sure the author thinks he's very clever.

By: Perigee

Perigee — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 08:02:18 -0800

Actually the piece is quoting Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire speech... and your particular quote doesn't appear in it. So... the selective quotation is on the part of Reagan's staff. They did think they were very clever, I'm sure.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 08:10:56 -0800

Heh. "Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root." - Ronald Reagan, The Evil Empire Speech, June 8, 1982 The American flag flies again over our embassy in Kabul. Terrorists who once occupied Afghanistan now occupy cells at Guantanamo Bay. (Applause.) And terrorist leaders who urged followers to sacrifice their lives are running for their own. (Applause.) America and Afghanistan are now allies against terror. We'll be partners in rebuilding that country. And this evening we welcome the distinguished interim leader of a liberated Afghanistan: Chairman Hamid Karzai. (Applause.)" - The State of the Union Speech, January 29, 2002 In a hearing before the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Powell said if the United States goes to war with Iraq to topple President Saddam Hussein, the U.S. military commander in charge of the operation will also take charge of the country for a period of time. - Associated Press, February 15, 2003 Gad. Not only is he selective quoting, but the damned writer forgot that our bayonets and our hired terrorists are so very different than their bayonets and their hired terrorists. Plus check it out! He somehow forgot that planting American bayonets and hired terrorists somehow, someway also became different since Reagan's time. Oh well, a few years does make all the difference in the ideologies of some of these folks.

By: zerofoks

zerofoks — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:34:30 -0800

I might appear like a troll, but I want to mention that quoting is always selective, that's the point about quoting.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 11:59:48 -0800

makes you wonder if we are becoming what we once fought against. No, it doesn't.

By: kavasa

kavasa — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 13:10:57 -0800

fold, plz to be reading the article - especially the last line - again kthx. Unless of course you enjoy missing the point and flipping out at imaginary foes like a rabid ninja brutally decapitating a juniper. Anyways. To be honest, no, I don't think we're turning into Stalinist USSR. That was a whole bag of nasty that I can't imagine seeing here within my life time. Some of the wacky paranoia does sort of call the kgb to mind, but... Well, the way Stalinism worked was bound up in the centralized economy, and I'm a thinking that isn't going to happen with Mr. Bush.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 15:44:52 -0800

fold, plz to be reading the article - especially the last line - again kthx. Unless of course you enjoy missing the point and flipping out at imaginary foes like a rabid ninja brutally decapitating a juniper. You mean the last line that reads "Because we have met the Evil Empire Reagan described...and it is us." Couldn't agree more. And hell. Forgot to put in those goddamned irony tags again.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 16:36:47 -0800

Speaking of the Patriot Act: Patriot II: Why It's Even Scarier than the First Patriot Act

By: ?!

?! — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 06:13:41 -0800

klaatu: re: Deacon Blue. I believe the author is self-depreciating. He is referring to himself as a loser. From the Steely Dan song, "Deacon Blues" They got a name for the winners in the world And I want a name when I lose They call Alabama the Crimson Tide Call me Deacon Blues Oddly enough it was the name I used in my local bbs community so many years ago.