Well, there you go again
Al Gore "returns to the national debate" by demonstrating his superior knowledge of the work of Neville Chamberlain. Mr. Gore spews forth: "What we deal with now is today's manifestation of an anger welling up from deep layers of grievance shared by many millions of people." He also notes that [...]it is crucial that the administration show "a more evident respect" for the coalition of allies it has built or that alliance could quickly crumble.

Yes, after the punitive conditions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, millions of Germans manifested the anger welling up from their deep layers of grievances by democratically electing some little Austrian chap and a few of his unsavory, but equally put-upon, partners. Luckily, we were able to achieve a just settlement with the Third Reich in the 1938 Munich Agreement. As Mr. Chamberlain said, The real triumph is that it has shown that representatives of four great Powers can find it possible to agree on a way of carrying out a difficult and delicate operation by discussion instead of by force of arms, and thereby they have averted a catastrophe which would have ended civilisation as we have known it. The relief that our escape from this great peril of war has, I think, everywhere been mingled in this country with a profound feeling of sympathy."

Yes, we had to sacrifice those poor, brave Czecho-Slovaks, but it allowed us to finally get to the root cause of all the misery the Germans faced, namely, those godless Jews. Herr Schickelgruber was able to eliminate the evil root of Zion, and we were able to avoid a Second World War, and any nastiness that might have come from it. And now the trains run on time all across Europe.

Let's face it--the anger welling up among many millions across the world has nothing to do with anything other than blind, willful ignorance. Yes, there is injustice and tyranny in this world, but the larger problem is a powerful few who prey on that misery, who deify themselves and build a delusional tribe of sycophants and bullies. They deny any culpability for their own problems and shift the blame to the nearest target of convenience (especially if they believe such target to be a particularly soft one). Attempting to negotiate with such madmen only leads to more misery for those under their control. Those who believe that it is beneficial to tread lightly around despots rightly deserve to be marginalized and ignored.

As they say around here, putting fur on a rattlesnake don't make it a bunny. Shy away from them what think it does.

(It is here that I must note that I do not consider Godwin's Law to have been invoked in this commentary, in that I never actually mentioned the name "Adolph Hitler" or the word "Nazi.")

posted by Terry at 10:06:00 PM