Archive for the ‘Medicalising The Opposition’ Category
The “Pathology” Of Anti-US Feeling
A favourite argument among apologists for American hegemony, manifest destiny, adventurism and militarism is that critics “know nothing about the United States” and so are not entitled to have any opinions. One reason for knowing nothing might be because, like Lars von Trier, we have never visited; in which case it ought logically to follow, […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
Our Victims Are Nuts
If Hamas and al-Qaida suicide bombers did not obviously have a religious affiliation, the West would have been obliged to invent one for them. Indeed, this was actually done for the inventors of the suicide vest, the secular-nationalist Tamil Tigers, whom Madeleine Albright described as “Hindu fundamentalists”. It is very much in the interests of […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
“Anti-Americanism” As A Causeless Disease
The suffix on the word “anti-Americanism” shows that potent memetic warfare is being conducted. For, while people may be worried about the rise of China, no one is blaming them for “Sinophobia”. Not even during the Cold War did anyone coin “anti-Russianism”, although Moscow itself made industrious use of the expression “anti-Sovietism” for the complaints […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
The Treasury Of Merit
We in the West have been taught to think in terms of Bad Guys and Good Guys, in part because our underlying cognitive model for understanding international relations is the Allies versus the Nazis. It would be difficult for us to construct a model in which the Nazis were the good guys, nor am I […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
The Cosmic Significance Of White Picket Fences
The reason why a culture generally portrays its opponents as monsters is not solely a matter of demonisation in order to justify the measures taken against them. It is also a defensive manoeuvre: “Bad guys have no human virtues whatsoever; we demonstrably have a virtue or two; ergo we cannot be the bad guys.” You […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
An Underexamined Evil Meme
As David Irving discovered, in certain countries the repetition of certain lying memes is a criminal offence. In his case, you are not allowed in Austria to say that the Holocaust is a myth. This is, of course, a violation of free speech, but the Austrians think it a defensible exception. There is another evil […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
Portrait of a Middle American
Is it possible to diagnose the afflictions or folly of a nation from a single individual? Or at least, might one gain additional insight from in-depth study of such an individual in such a way as to supplement the dry statistics? If so, I hereby nominate a certain middle-aged woman from the Upper Mid-West as […]
In: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!, Medicalising The Opposition
