But you ignored my major point, which is that I disagree with your assertion that the interesting thing about the quote is that Goering said it. As I said, the interesting thing is that it's a quote about Historical Situation X which also happens to apply rather well to Current Event Y.
R.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Concerning my questioning of the lesson to be learned from Goering's
quote:
> "Of course the people don't want 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, 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
Robin Abrahams persuasively replied:
> To the extent that it is interesting because it's from Goering, well,
> I would attribute that to his being rather a successful expert at
> getting people into a warlike mood, not because he was evil per se. So,
> yeah, if I want to know how to get people to go to war, maybe I want to listen to
> Goering (or Roosevelt) rather than, say, Jesus or Salvador Dali or the
> "Car Talk" brothers.
Hmm. Yes. But Goering is doing more than providing a lesson from his
admittedly extensive experience in supporting a fascist dictatorship.
He's also asserting his knowledge of how a democracy works (and
displaying ignorance in his understanding of the terms "democracy' and
"parliament" in the process). Why should we feel that because he gets top
marks in Brutal Fascist Dictatorship 100 that he's also aced Democracy
200, and his views on both are equally valid? If I want advice on
democracy, I think I'd be better advised to read, say Winston Churchill
than Hermann Goering.
As for your gratuitous slander against those fine "Car Talk" brothers,
they tell me that their law firm Dewey, Cheetham & Howe will be
contacting you shortly for a retraction.
Stephen
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Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2600 College St.
Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8
Canada
Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at
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