They Thought They Were Free
by Dr. Pants on Jan.02, 2008, under Politics
I was over at reddit and discovered something written in 1955 my Milton Mayer. Reading this excerpt from his book, They Thought They Were Free, should send an icy chill through the spines of anyone living in the USA right now.
I still have faith that the US will come through. It might be messy, but a mess is required in order to appreciate the clean-up. Ligi might describe the mess as ‘the bomb’. Others may describe the mess as a revolution of citizen involvement and change. Things like impeachment and changing laws would be included. Others may call the mess a real violent revolt against the government. In any case, a mess will have to be made and then be cleaned up.
I urge even the most reluctant readers to read this excerpt. It foretells of what it was like in Germany as fascism took hold of the country. Now, most Americans, myself included, think that that could never happen in the good ‘ol USA. But remember, the Germans were a lot like us. They were a democracy, dealing with problems and regain its status as a great country.
The excerpt: But Then It Was Too Late
January 3rd, 2008 on 8:21 am
Hey Pants —
Did I ever tell you about the time my parents were called into the principal’s office to deny that they owned the copy of Tobacco Road I wrote a book report on? I suspect that was about the same time this book appeared, about the time the NOMF embarked upon the insane path that led to Goober and the current Mongolian Clusterfuck that is considered so vital to preserving democracy, whatever the fuck that is. I really liked the concept behind the comments of Benezir Bhuttofucco’s dimwit of a son this morning or yesterday: “Democracy is the best form of vengeance.”
Think about that for a second. Democracy is based on the ability of the worst to convince the lowest common denominator to perform the stupidest and most unnatural acts for the promise of being victorious! I wrote a poem the night the man who invented the Rockefeller salute launched the massacre at Attica about how the werewolf is never killed because the curse is in the bullet. There is nothing mysterious about life. Anyone with eyes can see how things work.
I recognized in grade school that this place was not worth saving and that voting or otherwise participating in civil discourse simply encouraged the assholes who are currently in power to thank everyone for keeping them there by appreciating the sacrifices of the people they killed without even a thought during occasional sad holidays. Bring it on!
Fascism IS what the NOMF embraced decades ago. It simply hasn’t needed to open showers locally to annihilate its enemies yet.
January 5th, 2008 on 4:45 am
Check my site
January 7th, 2008 on 6:59 am
how the fuck do you follow that!?
Hopefully I wont be around in theFuture.
January 7th, 2008 on 7:33 am
Forgive me for repeating myself, but there we were, static in the latter half
of the twentieth century but it might as well be the Middle Ages, there’ll have to be some changes but how they’ll come about foxes me. I want the future now, I want to hold it in my hands; all men equal and unbowed, I want the promised land, but that doesn’t seem to get any closer, and Moses has had his day…the tablets of law are an advertising poster, civilisation here to stay
and this is progress? You must be joking! Me, I’m looking for any kind of hope.
I want the future now, I want to see it on the screen, I want to break the bounds that make our lives so mean. Oh, blind, blinded, blinding hatred of race, sex, religion, colour, country and creed, these scream from the pages of everything I read. You just bring me oppression and torture, apartheid, corruption and plague; you just bring me the rape of the planet and joke world rights at the Hague. Oh, someday the Millennium! But how far is someday away? I want the future now I’m young, and it’s my right. I want a reason to be proud. I want to see the light. I want the future now, I want to see it on the screen, I want to break the bounds: make life worth more than dreams.
BTW I’m still in print and on iTunes!
Pass me the bong and the vandergraaf generator please.
January 14th, 2008 on 9:48 pm
Gee, I wanted those very things when I was young too. Now I’m old; er, ma-turd.
I’ve worked hard all my fuckin life(just like most ya’ll), and there aint a light bulb on in the fuckin House, except for the one that shines on DC.
I never wore a suit and never wanted to, ever since I became aware/awake of the plot against the ?middle class. I never wanted anything to do with politics/govt., and did everything I could to work against it.
Then I got a “suit job”(?promotion) and saw all the advantages that it brings to people who stay in that bag. All the people that “know their place” and work within the system.
These people dont wake up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror and say, “You know, I’m a miserable motherfucker and I should be ashamed of myself.” No, the system disguises; and gives them an attaboy; and convinces them that they’re OK(doing good) because they’re “helping” people- with their back stabbing, fuck you in the ass behave. The system enhances the greed vibe(rewards) and makes them comfortable in their pathetic rationale-as long as they stay “inside.”
Read something by Chomsky once to the effect of, ” You make a rule/law/decision thats good for you; make it good for all. If it aint good for all, it aint good for you.”
The conditioned Suits(Rats) laugh at that assertion.
‘The rat race is over…’, indeed.
January 15th, 2008 on 3:03 am
I used to write love songs
But that was before
I understood how much true lovers ignore
They meet on the rebound
They bump in the night
Hum some sweet tune
Then they’re tied up for life
I never gave it a thought
I never thought I should think
I would go along with anyone and anything
Yes I would - living in sin
And there’s nobody else
makes me feel how I feel
If I said I love you
It would have to be real
And I cannot lie to you
Love is too rare a thing
And romance is fine
When it’s hard on your heels
But like the fashions you’ve abandoned
When it’s run out of lines
I never gave it a thought
I never thought I should think
I would go along with anyone and anything
Yes I would - living in sin
I used to write love songs
But that was before
I understood how much true lovers ignore
They dance through the music
They don’t watch the film
What was the point of your picture Mr. De Mille
I never gave it a thought
I never thought I should think
I would go along with anyone and anything
Yes I would - living in sin
Of course, potato-headed bobby wasn’t a friend of mine.
Chomsky is S.I. Hayakawa without a nuclear tan. You ever hang out a ZNet or those other dismal liberal horseshit feedbags? I love to hide myself amongst them and create multiple personnae until I can toss in something that riles them into a feed and fuck frenzy and record it for no reason at all.
I really never wrote love songs. In fact, love songs are beneath my contempt.
You see what love has done for people lining up for soap and soup and sincerity.
Osama bin doing all right and getting good grades cause the future’s so bright he wants to wear shades
January 17th, 2008 on 10:53 pm
Only thing I remember about hiawatha was the look on his face as he ripped the wires out of the pa in cali. He was just as determined looking as the sds.