Given the subject matter of the previous few posts, I thought it fitting to reuse the following previous Quote of the day.
"All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side ... The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." - George Orwell, "Notes on Nationalism"
Edit - And in the context of the conservative movement, one might read Chapter 3 of The Authoritarians with this Orwell quote in mind.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
A very timely and on target quote considering some of the discussion on Massimo's post on Chomsky at Rationally Speaking. Don't you think?
I kinda skimmed through the discussion at Rationally Speaking, so I'm not sure, but I did have specifically in mind the last week of posting at Greenwald's blog where Chomsky has been coming up in the discussion.
And of course, one of Chomsky's primary criticisms of US foreign policy is the failure to apply to universal principles.
Post a Comment