From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sat Jun 12 2004 - 20:47:20 BST
Mark Steven Heyman said to Platt:
In NC's speech, I see no mention of Marx, or Communism, or
Bolschevism, or anything other than the admirable strength and
courage of the Vietnamese people in their struggle for self-
determination.
dmb says:
Exactly. Rather than showing Chomsky to be a Marxist, Platt has only managed
to put his own ignorance on display. (Using the word "socialism" or
"proletariate" does not make one a Commie, you knee-jerk ignoramous.) I
mean, anyone who thinks the Chomsky speech reflects Marxism surely does not
know what the word means. (I'm sure Chomsky knows about and understands
Marx, who did actually contribute some important ideas.) But this is not
surprizing in the least. Platt drinks up the patriotic rhetoric of the right
regardless of how cruel or foolish it is. The cruelty and foolishness of
that war was predicated on a huge lie. The Vietnamese were not fighting for
Marx, China or the Soveits. They were fighting to get their country back.
This happpened repeatedly during the cold war. What was characterized as the
fight against global communism was actually a series of struggles with
anti-colonialists who simply didn't like being exploited and oppresses by
distant nations.
To prevent national independence is so very, very UNamerican. Helping the
Vietnamese to throw off French rule and gain independence for themselves
would have allowed to USA to avoid being murderous hypocrites. Instead, we
crushed their declaration of independence despite the fact that it was
modeled after ours....
William Blum on Vietnam, 1950-73:
The slippery slope began with siding with the French, the former
colonizers and collaborators with the Japanese, against Ho Chi Minh
and his followers who had worked closely with the Allied war effort
and admired all things American. Ho Chi Minh was, after all, some
kind of Communist. He had written numerous letters to President
Truman and the State Department asking for America's help in winning
Vietnamese independence from the French and finding a peaceful
solution for his country. All his entreaties were ignored. Ho Chi
Minh modeled the new Vietnamese declaration of independence on the
American, beginning it with "All men are created equal. They are
endowed by their Creator with ..." But this would count for nothing
in Washington. Ho Chi Minh was some kind of Communist.
Twenty-three years and more than a million dead, later, the United
States withdrew its military forces from Vietnam. Most people say
that the U.S. lost the war. But by destroying Vietnam to its core,
and poisoning the earth and the gene pool for generations, Washington
had achieved its main purpose: preventing what might have been the
rise of a good development option for Asia. Ho Chi Minh was, after
all, some kind of communist.
dmb says:
Platt Holden is, after all, some kind of fascist. And before he dismisses
this as an ad hominem attack, I'd like to point out the my insulting remarks
are just gravy and the meat has substance with or without it. The gravy also
helps to explain how anyone could connect the MOQ with Ayn Rand or Rush
Limbaugh. This move could only be made by a right-wing ignoramous. Entire
books have been written about the logical and factual errors made by Rush
and Rand holds the title of "worst novelist of all time". (I'm not making
this up and its not a joke.) Platt reminds me of the neo-Nazi who appeared
here a year or two ago thinking that Pirsig is a fan of Hitler, except that
the Nazi had enough sense to eventuall figure it out and no longer
participates in the forum.
I've long ago given up on the idea of changing Platt's mind, but I hope to
prevent others from being persuaded by his foolishness. I mean, show me a
ditto head and I'll show you a person who can not think for themselves. I
mean, its not a co-incidence that Platt is so full of cliches, inane
platitudes and otherwise makes assertions we've all heard 1000 times before.
It is not a surprize at all because stupid and boring go together like
coffee and cigaretttes. YAWN!
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