4th July 2006
Today is Tuesday, 4 July 2006.
Your author’s thanks to “anonymous/name withheld” for the comment of 2 July which provides a launching pad for today’s column.
“HH would show some class if he would discontinue the practice of referring to the USA as the United States Empire/United and Subject States. There are other countries for which he shows disdain; however, I do not recall him referring to them by other than their proper names. I submit that HH should show a modicum of respect by referring to the USA as The United States of America. He chooses to use HH as his name; that is his choice, as it is my choice to sign my comments anonymously. Choosing to call the USA by, what HH apparently believes is, an inflammatory, contorted name is also his choice and his right under the 1st Amendment. However, referring to a county with its proper name would give a little more credibility to HH's words. "Naming calling" reduces the impact of his words.“
Here at the Museum of the Bourgeois, we try to practice “truth in advertising”, as it were, and so refer to The United States of America as “the United States Empire/United and Subject States”, or USE/USSA for short.
Today, the MoB adopts the usage, “USA/USE/USSA”.
USE/USSA “contorted”? Who’s to say? There are no standards. Isn’t “The United States of America” contorted compared to “George’s”?
“Inflammatory”? In the eye of the beholder. Crying “Fire!” in a crowded fire isn’t inflammatory, but “just the facts, ma’am”.
It’s not “name calling” to call the sky blue, or water wet, if in fact the sky is blue and water is wet.
“Empire”? The USA/USE/USSA was created by genocidal conquest of sovereign nations (Native American nations, First Nations).
The task or project of an empire is to base a large segment of its prosperity on stealing from other nations. “Naturally”, these ill-gotten gains are inequitably distributed. As an empire, the chief accomplishment of the USA/USE/USSE as compared to other empires is that more of “the little people” participate in sharing the spoils of empire. While "good" for “the little people”, it is not in any degree an ethical justification for theft, genocide, dictatorship, and exploitation.
“Subject States”? The USA/USE/USSA conquered Iraq, foisted former S. Hussein death-squad commander Ayad Allawi on it as Prime Minister, and so tightly controls the government that Warlord W. Bush recently visited, and the supposed top Iraqi government executive didn’t know George had sneaked into the country without authorization until minutes before the meet. (Talk about “broken borders”!) Counts as “subject” in my book, and international law.
So it’s not “name calling”, but truth telling.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
(And even if it were name calling (which would be something like “weenie” and not political terminology), it wouldn’t affect the validity of the reasoning. But that’s a course in logic for another day.)
As to showing “class”.
First, telling the truth is “class”, in the sense intended.
Second, as to “class” in the socioeconomic sense, HH is a member of the intelligentsia, and proudly a “rootless cosmopolitan”, as Stalin would say.
Water is wet,
Sky is blue,
US is an Empire,
Happy Fourth to you!
_______________________________
On this day in history:
1845 – Henry David Thoreau takes up residence at Walden Pond
Your author’s thanks to “anonymous/name withheld” for the comment of 2 July which provides a launching pad for today’s column.
“HH would show some class if he would discontinue the practice of referring to the USA as the United States Empire/United and Subject States. There are other countries for which he shows disdain; however, I do not recall him referring to them by other than their proper names. I submit that HH should show a modicum of respect by referring to the USA as The United States of America. He chooses to use HH as his name; that is his choice, as it is my choice to sign my comments anonymously. Choosing to call the USA by, what HH apparently believes is, an inflammatory, contorted name is also his choice and his right under the 1st Amendment. However, referring to a county with its proper name would give a little more credibility to HH's words. "Naming calling" reduces the impact of his words.“
Here at the Museum of the Bourgeois, we try to practice “truth in advertising”, as it were, and so refer to The United States of America as “the United States Empire/United and Subject States”, or USE/USSA for short.
Today, the MoB adopts the usage, “USA/USE/USSA”.
USE/USSA “contorted”? Who’s to say? There are no standards. Isn’t “The United States of America” contorted compared to “George’s”?
“Inflammatory”? In the eye of the beholder. Crying “Fire!” in a crowded fire isn’t inflammatory, but “just the facts, ma’am”.
It’s not “name calling” to call the sky blue, or water wet, if in fact the sky is blue and water is wet.
“Empire”? The USA/USE/USSA was created by genocidal conquest of sovereign nations (Native American nations, First Nations).
The task or project of an empire is to base a large segment of its prosperity on stealing from other nations. “Naturally”, these ill-gotten gains are inequitably distributed. As an empire, the chief accomplishment of the USA/USE/USSE as compared to other empires is that more of “the little people” participate in sharing the spoils of empire. While "good" for “the little people”, it is not in any degree an ethical justification for theft, genocide, dictatorship, and exploitation.
“Subject States”? The USA/USE/USSA conquered Iraq, foisted former S. Hussein death-squad commander Ayad Allawi on it as Prime Minister, and so tightly controls the government that Warlord W. Bush recently visited, and the supposed top Iraqi government executive didn’t know George had sneaked into the country without authorization until minutes before the meet. (Talk about “broken borders”!) Counts as “subject” in my book, and international law.
So it’s not “name calling”, but truth telling.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
(And even if it were name calling (which would be something like “weenie” and not political terminology), it wouldn’t affect the validity of the reasoning. But that’s a course in logic for another day.)
As to showing “class”.
First, telling the truth is “class”, in the sense intended.
Second, as to “class” in the socioeconomic sense, HH is a member of the intelligentsia, and proudly a “rootless cosmopolitan”, as Stalin would say.
Water is wet,
Sky is blue,
US is an Empire,
Happy Fourth to you!
_______________________________
On this day in history:
1845 – Henry David Thoreau takes up residence at Walden Pond
posted by HH at 8:13 AM
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