b07ecce8   
   XPost: can.politics, can.taxes, edm.general   
   XPost: calgary.general   
   From: doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca   
      
   In article <5904a6ce-bd7f-4d89-a4cc-238d97746de1@v13g2000pro.googlegroups.com>,   
     wrote:   
   >“The problem for me is that the world wars set in granite our   
   >definitions of who was good, who was bad; who was an oppressor, who   
   >was a victim; what was lawful behaviour, what was criminal behaviour.   
   >For most of the 20th century these definitions appeared defensible,   
   >but now they are obviously inverted: The victims of the Nazi holocaust   
   >are perpetrating their own holocaust on Palestine; The U.S. republic   
   >that led the free world after the war, is now a degenerate gangster   
   >state reduced to doing Israel’s wet work; Bush did to Iraq what Hitler   
   >did to Poland; and Censorship of Nazi atrocities has been superseded   
   >by censorship of zionist atrocities.   
   >   
   >“The whole cost of WWII is still being added up since, as I said,   
   >fascism was not defeated in 1945. Therefore, Remembrance Day   
   >celebrations are at best premature and at worst hypocritical, so I   
   >want nothing to do with them.”   
   >   
   >Remembrances of things past present an ethical dilemma   
   >   
   >Canadian Arab News   
   >November 10, 2008   
   >   
   >(THE SCENE: A coffee bar on a university campus. A group of friends   
   >from a history class are having lunch and discussing Remembrance Day.)   
   >   
   >Reg: “I don’t know about you guys, but I sure could use the extra   
   >day’s rest on Monday.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “Typical. The one day a year when we’re expected to honour our   
   >veterans and reflect on their sacrifices and all you want to do is   
   >sleep…probably watch football, too.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Why not? I’m beat, and you’re just as tired as I am. Look, it’s   
   >not that I don’t respect what they did. I just don’t see why I have to   
   >get up early and freeze my tail off at some ceremony.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “I bet Stan doesn’t agree. His family has a long military   
   >tradition. Isn’t that right?”   
   >   
   >Stan: “Yeah. My father was a company commander in the Korean War. My   
   >grandfather was an artillery sergeant in World War II and was   
   >invalided home after a losing a leg at Anzio. His two brothers both   
   >died during the Battle of the Ardennes. My great-grandfather fought in   
   >the trenches in World War I. He won the Victoria Cross during the   
   >Second Battle of the Somme and the Distinguished Service Cross at   
   >Passchendaele. You could say Remembrance Day was a day I wasn’t   
   >allowed to forget.” (Reg rolls his eyes and shakes his head)   
   >   
   >Judith: “I could but I won’t. Say, do you want to go to the memorial   
   >together?”   
   >   
   >Stan: (takes a deep breath looks blankly at his cappuccino). “Thanks,   
   >but I’m not going.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Great! You can watch the game with me! Bring chips!”   
   >   
   >Judith: “What do you mean you’re not going!”   
   >   
   >Stan: “I can’t do it any more. I can’t lie to myself.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “Lie about what?”   
   >   
   >Stan: “About Remembrance Day being meaningful.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Wait a minute! You just rattled off your family’s history of   
   >military service. Have you chosen to ‘forget’ them.”   
   >   
   >Stan: “Of course, not. That’s why I’m not going. (Reg and Judith stare   
   >blankly.) Look, I didn’t wake up this morning and tell myself. ‘Gee, I   
   >think I’ll give Remembrance Day a miss this year.’ I’ve been   
   >considering it for a couple of years.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “What brought about this sudden change?”   
   >   
   >Stan: “Actually I haven’t changed—the world has.”   
   >no more poppies   
   >   
   >Reg: “Riiiiiight! And this is something you just realized? Time does   
   >move forward, you know?”   
   >   
   >Stan: “You ever watch those old black-and-white Twilight Zone or Outer   
   >Limits episodes? My favourites were the ones that played with time and   
   >reality. One day, Mr. So-and-so is enjoying life in some idyllic   
   >suburb like everybody else. He has a good white-collar job, a wife,   
   >2.5 kids and a dog. All’s right with his world. He wakes up the   
   >following morning to discover that everything looks the same, but the   
   >values and moral outlook supporting that reality have reversed   
   >polarity.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “You mean he goes to bed in a democracy but wakes up in a   
   >police state?”   
   >   
   >Stan: “Exactly.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Look. You are not Rod Serling and we are not characters in a TV   
   >show.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “How do you know? You ever see Pleasantville?”   
   >   
   >Reg: “(to Judith) Cute. (to Stan) Are you having an out-of-mind   
   >experience? Maybe you should rest, too.”   
   >   
   >Stan: “I’m perfectly sane.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Convince me.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “I’d better get refills. This could take a while.” (She heads   
   >for the coffee counter.)   
   >   
   >Stan: “First of all, Reg, Remembrance Day, like any observance, must   
   >maintain its historic relevance to have any value. The message of the   
   >initial event must at least appear to be incorporated into society and   
   >generally accepted. When I look at the atrocities that the U.S. has   
   >committed, and continues to commit, in the Middle East and Afghanistan—   
   >with Canada’s support—I see no vestige of my family’s honour and   
   >sacrifice.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Stan, whatever you think of Harper, Bush or the wars in   
   >Afghanistan and Iraq the fact remains that your family and thousands   
   >of other families fought against the fascists in WWII and we came out   
   >ahead thanks to them. The good guys won. Isn’t that worth   
   >celebrating!”   
   >   
   >Stan: “No, Reg, the good guys didn’t win—not really. That’s the   
   >point.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “We were the bad guys??!”   
   >   
   >Stan: “No. I mean that we didn’t actually defeat the enemy; it   
   >escaped.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “So, Hitler didn’t die in his bunker?! The Allies didn’t win the   
   >war?! You have lost your mind.”   
   >   
   >(Judith returns with the cappuccini) “What did I miss?”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Stan was just telling me how we didn’t win WWII and how Hitler   
   >got away.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “Stan?!”   
   >   
   >Stan: “You know, Reg, you wouldn’t hurt yourself so much if you didn’t   
   >jump to so many conclusions. I did not say we let Hitler escape. If   
   >you were paying attention, I said it escaped—‘it’ being the enemy.   
   >Hitler was not the enemy. (Reg and Judith stop in mid sip of their   
   >coffees) He was just a manifestation of it. The enemy was fascism.”   
   >   
   >Judith: “You lost me.”   
   >   
   >Reg: “Me, too.”   
   >   
   >Stan: “The problem for me is that the world wars set in granite our   
   >definitions of who was good, who was bad; who was an oppressor, who   
   >was a victim; what was lawful behaviour, what was criminal behaviour.   
   >For most of the 20th century these definitions appeared defensible,   
   >but now they are obviously inverted: The victims of the Nazi holocaust   
   >are perpetrating their own holocaust on Palestine; The U.S. republic   
   >that led the free world after the war, is now a degenerate gangster   
   >state reduced to doing Israel’s wet work; Bush did to Iraq what Hitler   
   >did to Poland; and Censorship of Nazi atrocities has been superseded   
   >by censorship of zionist atrocities.   
   >   
   >“The whole cost of WWII is still being added up since, as I said,   
   >fascism was not defeated in 1945. Therefore, Remembrance Day   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)