Friday, August 26, 2005

Stagger on, weary Titan

I read this article, and although I've been saying this really since the midterm elections (well about 2003 really) this sums up what I belive to be the liberal pathos regarding our current political and militaristic state of being:

"If you want to know what London was like in 1905, come to Washington in 2005. Imperial gravitas and massive self-importance. That sense of being the centre of the world, and of needing to know what happens in every corner of the world because you might be called on - or at least feel called upon - to intervene there. Hyperpower. Top dog. And yet, gnawing away beneath the surface, the nagging fear that your global supremacy is not half so secure as you would wish."
Taken from the Guardian.

The article goes on to talk about the historical similarities between the British empire of the Belle Epoch (and the Boer War) and the Modern Day American tentacle-ized military machine(and our current conflict in the middle East). Its as my grand pappy always said,
"if you don't know about where you been, then you'll have to do it again yourself."
or rather more eloquently put bySantayana:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemed to repeat it."
Strange how your grandparents tend to be more right than you want to give them credit for.

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