The Real Reason(s) For And My Thoughts on the War - And a Poll!
Entry posted by Ashoka the Great
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With all the nonsense being spread about the reasons for this war, I think it's time to have a serious discussions about its causes, Ragnarok's reaction and the reactions of NSO's erstwhile allies.
In the course of this I will explain in detail all the information presented to me -- as a representative of a Ragnarok ally -- in the hours leading up to Ragnarok's declaration of war upon the New Sith Order.
No, I wouldn't do that to you. I'm not that cruel. Besides, there are more than enough threads and blog posts as it is, and most of these say the same things over and over and over. They're pretty much worthless. If ever someone should create a system in order to calculate a 'size of war':'number of threads/blogs' ratio, the current conflict will surely prove that there's some kind of perverse inverse relationship at work.
Instead I'm going to type about something that is near and dear to the heart of every real man.
I speak, of course, of reading in the bathroom.
Every couple of weeks my wife asks me to clear some books out of the bathroom. For some reason she seems to think that having a selection of volumes in that particular room sends a bad message. I'm not sure who might be offended, though. The kids? The cats?
Anyway, yesterday was one of those days, so off I went to collect the five books that had piled up. I looked them over and thought, "What an odd selection."
With that in mind, I thought I would share with you the books that comprised my, er, 'light reading' over the last couple of weeks. Ordered by author -- with original publication date in square brackets -- they are:
Carsten, F.L. The Rise of Fascism. University of California Press, Berkeley. 1980. [1967]
A simple recounting of fascist and proto-fascist movements in Europe before the Second World War. What happened in Germany and Italy is well known, of course, but Carsten also discusses movements in places like the UK, Belgium, Romania and Austria; countries often overlooked in these kinds of historical reviews. Those sections are what makes the book interesting.
The last twenty or so pages are devoted to a discussion of 'neo-Fascism', at the end of which the author concludes: "The whole political and social climate has changed to such an extent that a Fascist revival, in any way similar to that of the 1930s, seems extremely unlikely."
I would agree, but only to a point. I happen to think we're headed for the kind of corporate, regimented state that Mussolini would be proud to call his own. It just won't be called Fascism. (cf. Jello Biafra's "Shut Up, Be Happy")
Chuev, Felix and Albert Resis (ed.). Molotov Remembers - Inside Kremlin Politics. Ivan R. Dee, Chicago. 1993. [1991]
Vyacheslav Molotov is one of the most influential yet enigmatic persons in modern history. A man who worked beside both Lenin and Stalin, signed the pact that allowed Germany to start the Second World War and, by his own admission, countersigned nearly every execution order that was issued during Stalin's Great Terror.
His comments are a masterful example of justification after-the-fact. However, since what he's often trying to justify is mass murder, the violation of other nations' sovereignty and his own palace intrigues against supposed friends and political allies, the effect can be quit chilling at times.
Leggett, Trevor (ed.). A First Zen Reader. Charles E. Tuttle Co., Tokyo. 1978. [1960]
Not much to say about this one. I am strongly attracted to some of the ideas underpinning Buddhism, while fully aware of the fact that I would make a pretty terrible Buddhist.
A very good introduction to the subject, however.
Miller, Jr., Walter M. A Canticle for Leibowitz. Bantam Books, New York. 1997. [1959]
I don't read a lot of fiction, and the fiction I do read needs to have more than a good story to it. This book certainly delivers.
Taking place over a period of several hundred years, and in the aftermath of a global nuclear holocaust, Miller spins a marvelous story which shows, among other things, that people haven't changed a damn bit since they crawled out of caves.
Ott, Hugo. Martin Heidegger - A Political Life. Fontana Press, London. 1994. [1988]
Heidegger is a difficult philosopher to read. One gets the feeling that one is encountering a deeply profound thinker....or a complete intellectual charlatan.
Ott's focus, however, isn't on Heidegger's thought so much as it is on the relationship between his ideas, his support for the NSDAP, his break with Nazism and, later, his post-war rehabilitation.
The book is badly in need of an editor. Wild tangents run throughout.
For example, Ott begins a discussion of the infamous 1933 "Rector's Address" by talking about Heidegger's post-war justification. Fourteen pages later he says, "But we have jumped ahead of the chronology of events again...."
Yes. Again.
Those familiar with the confusion of German grammar rules will understand me when I say this book appears to be organized according to those same principles. Just as it seems the author is going to reach a profound conclusion, he gets distracted by something shiny and travels down another road.
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You can view this as a recommended reading list, if you like. Or not. You may also use this as an opportunity to share what you keep at-hand in that most holy of household sanctuaries.
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