Thursday, July 31, 2008

Brownback proves Orwell still prescient as ever

This has already been a quote of the day, but given Sam Brownback's inability to see a similarity between the Chinese government paying telecom companies to spy on citizens and the American government paying telecom companies to spy on citizens, I'm quoting it again.

"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

[Edited 8-01-08]: Originally I had written "Brownback's inability to see a difference ..." which is the opposite of what I meant to say.

Update: This too.

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