Tag: Washington DC
The New Totalitarians Are Here
A great piece by Tom Nichols. Have you seen examples of this in your everyday life?
There’s a basic difference in the traditions of political science between “authoritarians” and “totalitaritarians.” People throw both of these words around, but as is so often the case, they’re using words they may not always understand. They have real meaning, however, and the difference between them is important.
Simply put, authoritarians merely want obedience, while totalitarians, whose rule is rooted in an ideology, want obedience and conversion. Authoritarians are a dime a dozen; totalitarians are rare. The authoritarians are the guys in charge who want to stay in charge, and don’t much care about you, or what you’re doing, so long as you stay out of their way. They are the jefe and his thugs in a brutal regime that want you to shut up, go to work, and look the other way when your loudmouthed neighbor gets his lights punched out by goons in black jackets. Live or die. It’s all the same to the regime.
Totalitarians are a different breed. These are the people who have a plan, who think they see the future more clearly than you or who are convinced they grasp reality in a way that you do not. They don’t serve themselves—or, they don’t serve themselves exclusively—they serve History, or The People, or The Idea, or some other ideological totem that justifies their actions.
They want obedience, of course. But even more, they want their rule, and their belief system, to be accepted and self-sustaining. And the only way to achieve that is to create a new society of people who share those beliefs, even if it means bludgeoning every last citizen into enlightenment. That’s what makes totalitarians different and more dangerous: they are “totalistic” in the sense that they demand a complete reorientation of the individual to the State and its ideological ends. Every person who harbors a secret objection, or even so much as a doubt, is a danger to the future of the whole project, and so the regime compels its subjects not only to obey but to believe.
This is what George Orwell understood so well in his landmark novel “1984.” His dystopian state doesn’t really care about quotidian obedience; it already knows how to get that. What it demands, and will get by any means, is a belief in the Party’s rectitude and in its leader, Big Brother. If torturing the daylights out of people until they denounce even their loved ones is what it takes, so be it. That’s why the ending of the novel is so terrifying: after the two rebellious lovers of the story are broken and made to turn on each other, the wrecks left by the State are left to sit before the Leader’s face on a screen with only one emotion still alive in the husks of their bodies: they finally, truly love Big Brother.
Tree Fights Back
A man on a tractor tries to uproot a tree, the tree fights back.
Send this tree to Washington D.C.!
https://youtu.be/V9qnhKYt4f0
This video, allegedly from Slovenia, shows a man trying to pull up a tree using a tractor. The tree is not going to die without a fight. Maybe the man will think twice before taking on another tree.
Marion Barry Quotes
Marion Barry was the mayor of Washington D.C. from 1979 to 1991. His term ended abruptly when the FBI, acting on a tip, got video of Barry using crack cocaine. Indeed, that led to one of his most famous quotes: of the FBI informant who set up the sting operation, he complained: “Goddamn bitch set me up!” Well, yeah. He was charged with 3 felonies and 11 misdemeanors, but managed to get all but one charge dismissed; he was sentenced to six months in prison for that one remaining charge.
Once he was released from prison, he proved the adage that voters “get the politicians they deserve” — he was elected to the Washington City Council and, two years later, again elected as mayor of the District.
He died November 23, 2014 at the age of 78.
With that background, we present quotes by the duly elected mayor himself.
“If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where’s Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“The contagious people of Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of increment weather.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“I promise you a police car on every sidewalk.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I’m a night owl.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist.”
~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“I am making this trip to Africa because Washington is an international city, just like Tokyo, Nigeria or Israel. As mayor, I am an international symbol. Can you deny that to Africa?” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“People have criticized me because my security detail is larger than the president’s. But you must ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill me than who want to kill the president? I can assure you there are.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“People blame me because these water mains break, but I ask you, if the water mains didn’t break, would it be my responsibility to fix them then? Would it!?!” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“I read a funny story about how the Republicans freed the slaves. The Republicans are the ones who created slavery by law in the 1600’s. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and he was not a Republican.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
“What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
and…
“I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man.” ~ Marion Barry, Mayor of Washington, D.C.
Load More