What are you currently reading?

[piece-itpete]

I FINALLY finished Over There with the Australians, been a bit busy.

The 1st 1/2 was interesting, but a bit slow. The second half started with a description of his Ranger days. Awesome stuff, crossing no mans land in ones or twos, going behind enemy lines to reconner and destroy. Crawling across the putrifying dead to do so. Talking about the stone cold rush, the thrill of danger.

Near the end, he writes this gem:

'What a splendid opportunity it is for us to be able to personally pay the price of liberty. How easy to forget that freedom has either to be earned for ourselves or enjoyed because some one else has paid the price for us. Had we not forgotten in our countries that the democracy that we boast of is no credit to us because it was won by the blood of other men? Men died that we might be able to govern ourselves! Women carried heartache and loneliness to the grave that we might make our own laws!

Liberty! Such an easy word to mouth, but how precious in the sight of God! Liberty is one of the treasures of heaven and only committed to men at great cost, lest they should undervalue it.

In these great and wonderful times there has been given to us the glorious opportunity to earn our own liberty, to prove our own right to citizenship in a free country."

He goes on. It was a good book.

Pete

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

I FINALLY finished Over There with the Australians, been a bit busy.

. . .

Near the end, he writes this gem:

'What a splendid opportunity it is for us to be able to personally pay the price of liberty. How easy to forget that freedom has either to earned for ourselves or enjoyed because some one else has paid the price for us. Had we not forgotten in our countries that the democracy that we boast of is no credit to us because it was won by the blood of other men? Men died that we might be able to govern ourselves! Women carried heartache and loneliness to the grave that we might make our own laws!

Liberty! Such an easy word to mouth, but how precious in the sight of God! Liberty is one of the treasures of heaven and only committed to men at great cost, lest they should undervalue it.

In these great and wonderful times there has been given to us the glorious opportunity to earn our own liberty, to prove our own right to citizenship in a free country."

He goes on. It was a good book.

Pete

And yet the neocons are convinced that we can give liberty to other people. Sorry but they will bloody well have to earn it themselves. Our own history should have taught them that.

[piece-itpete]

We did liberate Germany.

He had a Canadian nurse for a while, he said if there was more like her Canadian men were thrice blessed

Pete

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

We did liberate Germany.

He had a Canadian nurse for a while, he said if there was more like her Canadian men were thrice blessed

Pete

Different situation, they had previousl had, and known, liberty, those benighted savages in Iraq and Afghanistan would prefer their mullah ridden oppression.

[piece-itpete]

[ATTENTION: YOUR PC PASS HAS NOW BEEN REVOKED. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ACT LIKE A DEMOCRAT. THAT IS ALL.]



Pete

[piece-itpete]

Started on 'The Holy Terror, by Wells, already caught one very funny line, something like 'She got a college education, but it didn't mess her up too bad'

Pete

[piece-itpete]

Finished it a coupla days ago.

Funny timing. For years my overall goal was to figure out what the founders meant by freedom (you'd think after 12 years of schoolin' I'd know). Since then I've been drifting reading wise, and it was good to have an aim, to fit different facts from different books together, very thought provoking and entertaining.

I gave it some thought. Perhaps I should try to figure out how such a highly civilized society as Germany should fall under a monster like Hitlers' spell (with the commie takeover of the USSR in the background as a sibling). I thought I'm already halfway there, why not.

Then, my SO came back from shopping and handed me the above referenced book, The Holy Terror. I had no idea what it was about, the title didn't sound like an old Sci Fi story.

And it sure wasn't. Written in 1939, it was an allegory playing on current events, the depression, Hitler, Stalin, etc. I can't believe it was a pop fiction book, I had to keep an old college dictionary out, and I read a lot of old books!

It played directly to my new aim! God is good. It's difficult to condense my thinking to date, but I'll try...

The full effects of the industrial revolution were still coming to a head. The depression added to regular folks already pretty bleak life, making them ripe for unrest.

At the same time society overall had more funds and free time at the middle/top, compared to life previous to the ind. revolution, even during the depression to a degree. So, more kids getting higher education, being exposed to different ideas.

A general trend to the de-Christianizing of society, most obvious at the middle/top.

Scientific and technological marvels becoming normal at a time when most folks in the world still had a pretty intimate knowledge of horses!

Other stuff, I'm writing as I go. But offhand those seem important.

Mashing grapes into wine, the, um, 'natural leader class'? 'progressives'? (called the intellasia at the time, related to but not identical to what we think of the term) believed that our entire system, the evolution of cultures and governments over time into their then-current form, was completely done, past its' expiration date, and further a leech upon society. They believed, with sincerity, that with the modern marvels of science/technology and their superior education, unfettered with both the morals and views of another age, they could build a new world, where no one goes hungry, utopia, etc, the original New World Order.

We like to think we're smarter than that. But we are used to marvels and have long been overeducated.

Particularly brighteyed college kids are still prone to those beliefs. But back then, the aftereffects of WW1 and the ongoing depression had brought many governments/societies practically to their knees. Even if seemingly outwardly strong, they were generally in real trouble.

Plus, the masses of people were ready to do something, ANYTHING. So they were willing to toss in with the radical educated class and in some ways half believed their talk. At least, they wanted it to be true.

Along comes Schicklegruber. (I know it's not historically accurate. But the man deserves revuperation and ridicule. And disgust.)

Hitler was no newcomer, and it was not inevitable that he'd become the supreme god of Germany and one of the biggest monsters we've ever seen. He (and his compadres) had been working towards power for YEARS.

Planning, working, refining speeches and gestures, growing their organization. Literally and intentionally building a shadow government, so they'd be able to step in when the time was ripe.

Even then it was not predestined. But, here was a man who can be the point guy, here's someone we can use! We'll fix his faults later, and besides, we do need to smash the old system before we rebuild it our way. The ends justify the means.

We know where that went. It turns out, not only could they not 'fix his faults', the ends were not theirs either, and after he had used them he destroyed them. Along with everything else.

Because they fooled themselves, they justified the bad - in their hubris, that they knew better, sincere as they may have been - they convinced themselves the ends were worth the means.

Pete

[merrylander]

You need to look up Clemenceau of France, his demands for reparation destroyed the Weimar Republic and set off wild inflation in Germany. If you were a stamp collector you would have seen 100 Mark stamps surcharged 10 Billonen. They said you went to work on payday with a wheelbarrow to bring home your salary, but by the time you got it home it would not buy a loaf of bread.

Many men have no work in the cities would go to the farms and work the farm just for room and board, a few potatoes were better than starving. The whole climate was ripe for Hitler and his brownshirts. Then with still no work the army looked better than starvation, the rest is history.

The Utopians (we had ours, there was a group in New York the Oneida Community, my former wife's father was mixed up with them). They thought they could form a perfect society and they were only one of many - all failed. People still persevere, witness hippy communes.

[piece-itpete]

We are so fortunate to live in our time.

My SO 'babysat' an elderly German lady many years ago. The lady told her stories of the time between wars, when her and her mother had to travel for work/food, everyone treated the Germans like dirt, with scorn and derision. She remembered stocks, beatings, being literally thrown out of towns.

She also believed all the bad about Hitler was lies.

Oneida sounds REALLY familiar. Must've been interesting to talk to a participant!

Pete

[merrylander]

Only got to talk to her mother, her father was dead by the time we met.