Over at the Pokersoft Diary, Andy Ward asks us who said the following:
"Why of course the people don't want war... That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or 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. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
I don't know for sure. I won't cheat and look it up, so I'll give you my best guess, which is that it is by Josef Goebbels. I look forward to being told the correct answer in due course.
I wouldn't mention it on this site, were it not for the fact that he describes this quote as being 'apposite'. I take this to mean that he sees some parallels in the US-led war in Iraq and of course totally disagree. What's obvious in this day and age is how difficult it is to persuade some people to wake up out of their slumber and accept that there is a war going on! A disturbingly large number of people prefer to believe that the war is some scheme cooked up by Bush and Cheney to make profits for Halliburton, despite the sight of embassies falling down in Africa in 1998 (about 300 killed, mostly Africans) and about 3000 killed in New York and Washington, D.C. in 2001.
I could widen this by including the killing of about 200 in Bali in 2002, in which Islamic fundamentalists killed Australian and British surfers and backpackers with not a Zionist Israeli or registered Republican American in sight. But what's the point? The seductive appeal of the 'blame Bush' view is that it gives you a cheap way out. Simply vote Bush out and the problem is solved. Brilliant!
So I want to ask Andy this question: 'What do you make of someone who goes around telling the public that they aren't being attacked when they very obviously are?'
He's welcome to tell me that he doesn't see Iraq as being the main threat to the US and the UK. But I want to know first whether he actually accepts that someone is attacking us.
_ DY
at 4:51 PM BST