George W. Fail Comparative Lit? That's Unpossible!

[Recyclerz]

Every time I think that this Administration has completely trashed my outrage gland from prodigious overuse, they pull something that proves me wrong. From poking around on some of the political blogs*, I picked up this nugget of information that the mainstream media failed to report: George Bush tried to coopt Graham Greene's The Quiet American in an attempt to justify sticking with his plan (whatever it is this week) to bring 'Victory and nothing less" to Iraq.

Now I know not everybody on this website has read this book (but I know a few have from the "What are you reading" threads) so let me give you my Cliff's notes version. Greene is a talented British author who had an "End of the Empire" vibe to his work, world-weary might be a good description, especially for The Quiet American. It was written in 1955 and it described to perfection the self-assured naivete of the American political theologians that would get the US into that war to prove their ideology. The scary thing is that it also describes to perfection the NeoCon "experts" who convinced Bush & Cheney to invade Iraq instead of going after binLaden. (In fact, while reading this book I actually felt a twinge of sympathy for W in that it became clear to me that he didn't invent sticking your army's nose into other people's business to prove your superior morality, he's just the latest, most retarded example of it.) The "quiet American" in the book is a naive do-gooder with an Ivy League education who read (and intellectually) fell for a political theorist who wrote some books on remaking the world in America's image. Spoiler:
He's quiet because his naivete gets him killed.

At this point I honestly don't know if W is A. stupid and stubborn; B. insane; or C. Laughing at us and how much we're letting him get away with. To use a fairly well known book to justify continuing a misbegotten military adventure to remake a different part of the planet in America's image where their world-view is completely different from ours WHEN THE POINT OF THE BOOK IS HOW STUPID IT IS TO START A POLITICAL/MILITARY ADVENTURE TO REMAKE A DISTANT PART OF THE PLANET IN AMERICA'S IMAGE WHEN THEIR WORLD-VIEWS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM OURS strikes me as a bold, but odd, move.

If anyone who has read the book disagrees with me please let me know. If you haven't read the book, I encourage you to do so. It has sex, drugs and violence if that helps. :smile:

Links:

Bush's Speech
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070822-3.html
*Blogs
http://www.andrewsullivan.com/
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2007/08/bushs-speech-th.html

Thank you and Good Night!

[cupcakelove]

I haven't read the book, but I love any thread with a Simpson's reference in the title.

[TheMojoPin]

TQA is a brilliant book and a damn fine film.

Uh...that is all.

[Recyclerz]

I haven't read the book, but I love any thread with a Simpson's reference in the title.

I figured I'd use it as bait to drag AJ into the thread.

And the coveted Mojo seal of approval for TQA! GG would be bursting with pride.
Well, maybe not bursting, but I'll bet he would have an amused half-smirk.

[A.J.]

I haven't read the book, but I love any thread with a Simpson's reference in the title.

I figured I'd use it as bait to drag AJ into the thread.

You choo-choo-choose me?

[scottinnj]

I haven't read the book, but I love any thread with a Simpson's reference in the title.

I figured I'd use it as bait to drag AJ into the thread.



You choo-choo-choose me?


OMG! You had me at choo!

[patsopinion]

every day this administration takes another freedom and goes further into our privacy
the movie "the united states v jon lennon" is an excellent depiction of this governments blind capacity to trample on civil liberties and spy on people inside america

the ideology that we should be willing to give up freedoms becuase the government knows best is insanity pure and simple

the other thing i wanted to note is that i am no longer accepting the word terrorist or insurgent
the idea that a person's motives and personal constructs can be broken down into such oversimplified qualifiers such as these two demonstrates how well the war of information is being waged inside American borders
we are on a daily basis being fed information from the people who have been lying to us since they opened their mouths and I refuse to allow them to break this war down to black and white such as this