Totally! September 11 is a Day of American Evil!
Special for Myrrander
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Since Myrrander has recently adopted a policy of deleting my comments and blacklisting me, I thought I'd repost my comment on his most recent article as an article of my own.
I'm replying to this article.
The "our sonofabitch" foreign policy of the Cold War resulted in some pretty repugnant shit, and we Americans have a lot to be ashamed of in the way that policy was implemented and in its outcomes.
Myrrander deserves our thanks for taking this opportunity to remind us of our national and historic shame. Thank you, Myrrander.
The policy of putting U.S.-friendly strongmen in power was part of an overall mission to oppose the spread of soviet communism. And that overall mission was a good and necessary mission. Recall what happened to the Vietnamese after the U.S. pulled out. Recall what happened to the nations of Eastern Europe when we abandoned them to Stalin. Recall what is happening in North Korea today, and recall also the pressures placed on every free nation in the same region as a communist state. There was a valid concern about communism gaining a foothold in the western hemisphere. This concern was not only for the severe socio-economic strain that failed communist states put on their neighbors, but also for the availability of regional nuclear missile facilities. If communism had spread throughout Central and South America, we'd have had a hundred Cuban Missile Crises, and probably the very nuclear armageddon that everybody so greatly feared.
Today, Russia is in shambles, having sidestepped at least a hundred years of civilizational advancement. North Korea is a very hell on earth.
Today, Pinochet is imprisoned by his own people and his own government, while the Kim dynasty still rules North Korea with a despotic and iron fist.
I dunno, but it kinda looks like Chile got the better deal, in the long run.
Also, Myrrander seems eager to bring to light the U.S.'s past evils, but somehow manages to avoid giving the U.S. any credit for learning from past mistakes and improving its behavior today. I'm referring specifically to this passage in his article: "Allende was never given the luxury of forming a coherent government -- not near the luxury that we've given Iraq, and by God, Chile wasn't even the vassal state that Iraq is."
Which brings up another interesting point: While there is merit in reminding us that we are not perfect, and should not be overconfident, Myrrander has saturated the article with hypberbole, inaccurate analysis, and wild fantasizing, all with the aim of painting the U.S. as a horrible monster, far in excess of what the facts of his article can support.
For example, he says "Why do you think we hate Cuba so much? They got out from under that thumb in the 1950s." But he gives no countenance to the possibility that we hate Cuba because the socialist/communist Cuban government allowed the Soviet Union to station short-range ballistic missiles on the Island.
Finally, Myrrander's willingness to see conspiracy theories everywhere extends only so far as the Bush Adminstration, it seems. He would have us believe the laughable proposition that in the 1970s the Soviet Union had no interest in supporting a socialist revolution in the western hemisphere, and no desires or plans to co-opt it for their own ends.
He would also have us believe that the CIA had no legitimate reason to take action in Chile. I can only assume that Myrrander doesn't think the Soviet Union would ever bother sending agents and instructors to a fellow socialist regime, to establish a foothold in the west for easier access to the U.S.
But no, "socialism and communism are different" so of course the CIA concern was unjustified.
In the end, the misrepresentations, wilful ignorance, and unjustified holier-than-thou lecturing tone adopted in the article far outweigh any benefit brought by Myrrander's reminder of our past sins.
It's enough to make me question his motives for reminding us in the first place.
Could it be that Myrrander has personal reasons--possibly even mean-spirited ones--for bringing this up?
On Edit: Cleaned up the formatting a little bit. Fixed some spelling errors. Gave Myrrander's full name, instead of the "Myrr" abbreviation. Added this blurb. Added the invite to Myrrander (below).
Myrrander, you're welcome to debate my points, call me names, or even just flame me to your heart's content. No blacklisting going on over here. Mi comments es su comments.
I'm replying to this article.
The "our sonofabitch" foreign policy of the Cold War resulted in some pretty repugnant shit, and we Americans have a lot to be ashamed of in the way that policy was implemented and in its outcomes.
Myrrander deserves our thanks for taking this opportunity to remind us of our national and historic shame. Thank you, Myrrander.
The policy of putting U.S.-friendly strongmen in power was part of an overall mission to oppose the spread of soviet communism. And that overall mission was a good and necessary mission. Recall what happened to the Vietnamese after the U.S. pulled out. Recall what happened to the nations of Eastern Europe when we abandoned them to Stalin. Recall what is happening in North Korea today, and recall also the pressures placed on every free nation in the same region as a communist state. There was a valid concern about communism gaining a foothold in the western hemisphere. This concern was not only for the severe socio-economic strain that failed communist states put on their neighbors, but also for the availability of regional nuclear missile facilities. If communism had spread throughout Central and South America, we'd have had a hundred Cuban Missile Crises, and probably the very nuclear armageddon that everybody so greatly feared.
Today, Russia is in shambles, having sidestepped at least a hundred years of civilizational advancement. North Korea is a very hell on earth.
Today, Pinochet is imprisoned by his own people and his own government, while the Kim dynasty still rules North Korea with a despotic and iron fist.
I dunno, but it kinda looks like Chile got the better deal, in the long run.
Also, Myrrander seems eager to bring to light the U.S.'s past evils, but somehow manages to avoid giving the U.S. any credit for learning from past mistakes and improving its behavior today. I'm referring specifically to this passage in his article: "Allende was never given the luxury of forming a coherent government -- not near the luxury that we've given Iraq, and by God, Chile wasn't even the vassal state that Iraq is."
Which brings up another interesting point: While there is merit in reminding us that we are not perfect, and should not be overconfident, Myrrander has saturated the article with hypberbole, inaccurate analysis, and wild fantasizing, all with the aim of painting the U.S. as a horrible monster, far in excess of what the facts of his article can support.
For example, he says "Why do you think we hate Cuba so much? They got out from under that thumb in the 1950s." But he gives no countenance to the possibility that we hate Cuba because the socialist/communist Cuban government allowed the Soviet Union to station short-range ballistic missiles on the Island.
Finally, Myrrander's willingness to see conspiracy theories everywhere extends only so far as the Bush Adminstration, it seems. He would have us believe the laughable proposition that in the 1970s the Soviet Union had no interest in supporting a socialist revolution in the western hemisphere, and no desires or plans to co-opt it for their own ends.
He would also have us believe that the CIA had no legitimate reason to take action in Chile. I can only assume that Myrrander doesn't think the Soviet Union would ever bother sending agents and instructors to a fellow socialist regime, to establish a foothold in the west for easier access to the U.S.
But no, "socialism and communism are different" so of course the CIA concern was unjustified.
In the end, the misrepresentations, wilful ignorance, and unjustified holier-than-thou lecturing tone adopted in the article far outweigh any benefit brought by Myrrander's reminder of our past sins.
It's enough to make me question his motives for reminding us in the first place.
Could it be that Myrrander has personal reasons--possibly even mean-spirited ones--for bringing this up?
On Edit: Cleaned up the formatting a little bit. Fixed some spelling errors. Gave Myrrander's full name, instead of the "Myrr" abbreviation. Added this blurb. Added the invite to Myrrander (below).
Myrrander, you're welcome to debate my points, call me names, or even just flame me to your heart's content. No blacklisting going on over here. Mi comments es su comments.
