That's the bit from "Grapes of Wrath" that I wasn't able to recite off the top of my head as I was recording my podcast yesterday and got to the item about the historian Jon Meacham, who'd helped write Joe Biden's victory speech. Meacham has a book titled "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels" and Biden's speech expressed a desire "to rebuild the soul of America."
Here's the post I was reading in the podcast, and here's the podcast. At 21:40, I begin speaking extemporaneously:
"I want to get into this idea of 'the soul of America'.... What do you think of the idea that a country has a soul?... I like to think of the idea that individual human beings have a soul, and when I hear of this composite soul of an entire country, I'm skeptical.... That's what makes me think of fascism.... especially if you're not acknowledging the soul of individual people, and so often, from the Democratic side, I get the sense that they view their opponents as being soulless... and I feel that they're also antagonistic to individualism. Everyone needs to think the same thing, and people should be cancelled if they don't all say the same thing.... I read that as a rejection of the sense that individual people have a soul, and then you come at this with the idea that America has a soul. There's just an Oversoul to America. I know you can go very deeply into that. It reminds me of that speech in 'The Grapes of Wrath'... and I know there's some Emerson stuff you could put there. But I'm not writing a post. I'm doing a podcast. So I can't get into the research and come up with stuff. But if I were reading and writing right now and not talking — and this is the advantage of reading and writing — I would research those things, and I would add a few little things, but why don't you go do it? You go read that."
Here's the Ralph Waldo Emerson essay, "The Over-Soul." Excerpt:
When I watch that flowing river, which, out of regions I see not, pours for a season its streams into me, I see that I am a pensioner; not a cause, but a surprised spectator of this ethereal water; that I desire and look up, and put myself in the attitude of reception, but from some alien energy the visions come.
The Supreme Critic on the errors of the past and the present, and the only prophet of that which must be, is that great nature in which we rest, as the earth lies in the soft arms of the atmosphere; that Unity, that Over-soul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other; that common heart, of which all sincere conversation is the worship, to which all right action is submission; that overpowering reality which confutes our tricks and talents, and constrains every one to pass for what he is, and to speak from his character, and not from his tongue, and which evermore tends to pass into our thought and hand, and become wisdom, and virtue, and power, and beauty. We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE....
पोस्ट्स
९८ टिप्पण्या:
An unaccomplished lifer politician with no principles is going to rebuild the soul of a nation? How's he going to do that? Oh I see! By implementing left-wing political policies!
Do not look to politics or politicians to have your soul rebuilt. That's a fool's errand.
How to Rule Souls (from "The Fountainhead")
another take on the topic of souls
The only real interest that Biden has in the “soul of America” is what kind of price it will fetch from good old Mephistopheles, whose purse is never light.
@Narayanan
Thanks. Will read later. I'm extremely interested in the propaganda of soul.
What about Collective Soul?
That's the one thing we all belong to.
The American Soul is still going strong. It is Scottish Clan loyalty system among equals. It first arrived here at Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the winter of 1620 and it has survived by accepting its peaceful neighbors ever since. And fighting all its attacking neighbors.
A man is a man for all of that.
Ha! A few days ago I asked when we would start getting transcripts of the podcast.
A recap of the more extraneous riffs is nice.
I am Laslo.
If you needed to be convinced Biden is a man without a soul read the following. Blaming Trump for the "systemic racism" in the Democrat-run big cities that sparked the riots, while relying on those same Democratic machine cities to stuff the ballot box for his election, underscored with the implicit threat of protracted violence if he didn't win. All supported or denied with a vacuous appeal to self image.
The Democratic presidential nominee accused Trump of "stroking violence in our cities" and being unable to "stop the violence because for years he's fomented it," saying, "You know me. You know my heart. You know my story, my family's story. Ask yourself: do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?"
Biden during the speech also promised to make America "safe" as president, asserting that "we'd be seeing a lot less violence" in the United States today were he in office while asking, "Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected?"
I hear lofty rhetoric like that, I put one hand on my wallet and the other on a rock.
He sounds like one of those 'that's not us' guys.
Hate those guys...so phony.
I couldn't stand Fonda unless he was in a western. Even then he always seemed to be acting.
And he gave us a useless Jane and an even more useless Peter.
Sounds collectivist. Steinbeck was studying marine life with Doc Ricketts, and maybe biological ideas about species and their survival stayed with him. And of course the Depression years were the Golden Age of the Old Left.
When Biden and Meacham talk about the "Soul of America" it sounds a lot like a Ford or Chevy truck commercial, though.
Rubber Soul.
When they showed The Grapes of Wrath in Stalin's Russia to illustrate the evils of capitalism, audiences were amazed that in the US even poor people could have trucks.
Steinbeck was a commie.
Anything Bieden says is as phony as his face.
Just look at his smooth cheeks and see how unlikely it is they are not the product of "work".
Botox certainly, and probably some peeling.
Oversoul is an interesting way to put things. I've not read that before.
You state that "... and I feel that they're also antagonistic to individualism.", speaking of Democrats. You don't feel it. You think it. And your instinct in that thought is brought about by the evidence of your senses. To put it another way, they have come out and said that very thing. They laugh at the concept of individuals, individual rights. I can remember back when Ted Kennedy, that Lion of the Senate, laughed at how Republicans talked about individual rights. Ted was an avowed collectivist. He could stand to be. He was covered. He had his. Hell...he could get away with murder, literally. But I digress...
Democrats are pure collectivists. They've taken over our schools and we have been teaching collectivism for decades now. They seem to not get the very fundamental basis of our country: individual rights- property, to live for your own sake- are what defines us and makes us different than other governments. There is hardly room for the individual soul when one does not even recognize the individual being. In a Prog/Dem mind, we must be put into a category. We are all black. Or white. Or brown. Or trans. Or womyn. Or gay. Or progressive. Everyone else is dirt, souless to our Democrat friends.
So Meacham is writing for himself and his friends at the networks who get goosey listening to such pap. We individuals can spot bullshit from 100 yards away.
Wince said...
If you needed to be convinced Biden is a man without a soul read the following.
Biden is an empty suit. He lacks all courage and conviction. If his political career can be helped by being radical, he will be radical. If it will be helped by his being moderate, he will be moderate. I find that somewhat comforting as the public made clear they want no part of the left wing of his party. He will govern from the center and will in the end be an entirely forgettable president for however long he is president.
Harris will have more energy, but otherwise will not be markedly different.
"and so often, from the Democratic side, I get the sense that they view their opponents as being soulless... and I feel that they're also antagonistic to individualism.
Bottom line- you'll be told what kind of soul you'll have. And there will only be the ones of which progressives approve.
"Progressivism, in its 19th and 20th century versions (and most assuredly in its looming 21st century version as well) is a violent creed that demands the bending the individual human will for the convenience of and to the purpose of the collective. The individual only has value insofar as he or she is part of and participates in the great march of Progress. It may not be as overtly brutal or murderous as fascism or communism, but Progressivism is just as totalitarian, just as reliant on force, just as enamored of the state, and just as focused on the creation of a new kind of human being and a new kind of humanity (and the necessary destruction of the old).
What, after all, is the value of a single human individual life or soul when it’s the promised land we’re marching to? - Charles Featherstone
Biden's speech expressed a desire "to rebuild the soul of America."
Biden's claim that his possible election is bending the moral arc of the universe was a lot funnier.
Funnier--the exchange on PM Question Time on his call with Biden and reference to the "previous president".
Narayanan said...
How to Rule Souls (from "The Fountainhead")
That reads like a modern "Woke" handbook. Very unsettling.
You need to pay attention to what is going on around you.
I fear an honest glimpse of current America's soul would resemble the chest x-ray of a 1900-era coal miner.
And when I'm feeling pessimistic, that same coal miner has butt cancer.
I am Laslo.
Ted [Kennedy] was an avowed collectivist. He could stand to be. He was covered. He had his. Hell...he could get away with murder, literally.
And rape. Let’s not forget his waitress sandwich with Chris Dodd.
Or his flirting with andropov and chernenko
Readering said...Funnier--the exchange on PM Question Time on his call with Biden and reference to the "previous president".
I wonder if Biden knows he's not president yet.
Or his flirting with andropov and chernenko
If Biden truly wants to unite Americans his way forward is simple and obvious. He needs to acknowledge the massive election fraud, disavow it, concede the election to Trump, and urge his voters to unite behind a man who actually cares about this country’s future.
But he won’t.
Pablum: Honky Soul Food
I loved "The Grapes of Wrath" because of how it depicted the misery of the unfortunate people of Oklahoma. And how they were mistreated at every turn. But this "speech" from Tom is wrong. We aren't all a piece of the same soul. That is the core of identity politics, where everyone is supposed to vote based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. And everyone is supposed to come to the same conclusion, that Democrats are good, and Republicans are evil.
Joe Biden's soul is a weather vane. It always points into the Democrat wind. If the Democrat wind says "no fracking", then that's what Joe says. If it says "Joe, you need to approve of fracking to win", then that's what he'll do.
He's not an honest politician. An honest politician stays bought, once he's been paid. Comrade Joe demands continued payment to stay bought.
"....That's what makes me think of fascism...."
Benito Mussolini, arguably the Father of Fascism, was a red-diaper baby, named after Benito Juarez. He began his political career as -- A Socialist! Hooray! Hitler, of course, was a National Socialist til the day he died. The impulse behind fascism and the impulse behind socialism are the same impulse, the desire to take hold of a nation and "put it to good use". The problem is, the nation is composed of individuals, and many of them don't want to be put to good use. But there is a solution to that problem, and as soon as they get power, they implement that solution. Of course, neither Mussolini nor Hitler were anywhere near as bad as Stalin and Mao. Not even close.
Steinbeck went through phases. He was very far left in the late 30s, though not so far as I know a member of the Communist or Socialist Party. After the war he was a Stevenson-LBJ Democrat, and supported Johnson on Vietnam, where his son was fighting in the military.
In my teens, I read Travels With Charlie, Steinbeck's account of a journey across the country in the early Sixties. Parts of it just didn't seem right to me somehow. Sure enough he made up parts of the book.
Biden is a crook.
Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul. James Brown was the Godfather of Soul.
Steinbeck was a realist observing and describing the people he knew. Best damn writer of characters since the the guy from Avon.(Shakespeare.)
ABC news (radio) just call Comrade Joe "the apparent winner" instead of the President-elect. Are they starting to walk back their election results coverage?
Steinbeck was a lefty, of course we have a “collective” soul, and we must submit to its will.
But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public. We see it particularly displayed in all the subordinate distributions of power, where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights. — Federalist #51
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. — President John Adams, letter to the Massachusetts Militia
If there's anything that seems clear about our founding principles as a nation, it's that the founders were entirely clear on political collectives lacking a soul, or if political collectives could be said to have a "soul," perhaps metaphorically, that soul is inevitably and inelluctably evil.
The collective soul is just the default evolutionary operating system we are born with.
When the novel opens, Tom Joad has just been released from prison...for committing murder. We are told it was in self-defense.
When the book ends, Tom Joad is a fugitive. He watches attackers murder Casy, the novel's Christ figure. (His initials are J.C. This is a helpful clue for high school readers.) Then he kills one of Casys attackers, after the fact.
Self-defense?
I don't recall any of the apostles murdering anyone after the crucifixion.
So much for Oversoul.
I’m disgusted hearing Joe talk about the soul IV the nation. Nations don’t have souls. People do. Yet Democrats routinely mock and marginalize people who actually live as if they have concern for their eternal souls. Countries don’t make decisions. People do. Time for mush mouth Joe to shut up about souls. I don’t believe he understands anything about the subject and every statement he makes confirms my belief.
Did HAL 9000 have a soul? If so, was it a part of the Collective Soul?
Roy Batty: same question.
The Americans spirit from which our character stems. The American soul, brown, black, blue, and green clusters of matter, from which we construct our homes, manage our crops, tend our animals, raise our Posterity, and satiate our thirst.
That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one: individual dignity, individual value (e.g. conscience), inordinate worth.
"I was an Irish Catholic and I had to quit the Catholics because they were after my soul. It was as simple as that and they had announced it to me. 'It's all we want...your mortal soul.' And I had heard about my soul. Most people have heard about a soul before they heard about 'Catholic'. I'd heard about soul. And I'd been told almost every time they mentioned soul they were saying 'Save it! Save your soul! Save your soul!' And the Catholics were after mine. I said, 'No good, man! I'm savin' my soul.'" -- George Carlin
Outside of the musical genre, "soul" is a theory, a social construct if you will.
I don't think people have souls, but I KNOW nations don't have souls, and don't want to be part of anyone's collective soul. My attitude to all such talk is the same as I have towards importunate Christians-- I don't want to spend an hour with you on Sunday morning, what makes you think I went to spend forever with you?
Nations and people do have characters though; national characters are products of and also causes of a nation's history.
I just got to the blog, and this is all I've seen since last night; before I catch up, a few thoughts on others' comments so far.
Jupiter is right that the red fascists well-outstripped Hitler and Co in body count totals, but the worst thing about Hitler, and why he was the bigger danger at the time, is that he hadn't the sense only to pick on countries he could beat.
If Hitler had confined himself to purifying and improving his own people and left everyone else alone, he would barely be remembered today.
The Hitler-ascribable death count is high because it reflects worldwide combat; Stalin, and still more Mao, despite internationalist dogma, were much more concerned with squeezing their own people than acquiring lebensraum, and were not the gambler Hitler was.
Finally, it just struck me, from that John Adams letter (thanks Paul Snively), that the US constitution's "separation of powers" is cognate with an international "balance of power," and that the Framers were attempting a preemptive divide and conquer strategy against tyrannical authority.
Narr
Thanks to all veterans here today!
What do you think of the idea that a country has a soul?
That kind of talk can descend into mawkishness very quickly. But if soul is a metaphor for character--that grouping of values, beliefs, customs, and traditions that differentiates a people from others--then I think undoubtedly a nation has a soul. I don't see any real difference between saying a nation has a soul and saying a nation has a culture. It's the answer to a question such as, "What's Japan like?"
However, I disagree with conceptualizing culture or society as merely an amalgamation of individuals or some kind of summation of all individuals divided by their number. Rather, I see culture as emergent from social interaction. That is, it can't be understood just in terms of its constituent parts but rather in the myriad ways its constituent parts interact and organize with each other. These patterns are then transmitted to children through the family.
I wrote in another thread, "You can observe the same dynamic in chimp communities, one set of rules for in-group members and another set for out-group members based on kinship. But because humans have symbolic communication, we can create through cultural symbols a kind of pseudo-kinship between people who are otherwise distantly related and not personally known to each other. That mixture of kinship and cultural symbols is the source for ethnic and national identity. And a myriad of other subcultures."
"There are no individuals in the world, only fragments of families." -Carl Whitaker
It's all really quite offensive, to deny your opponents their humanity because reasonable minds cannot disagree.
They say this time it's really really different not like last time with Chimpy McBushitler or Ronald Ray-Gun.
Well they can bite me.
Anyway, who was it came up with the General Will. Rousseau. I thought that was all rather creepy.
yes that was the inspiration for the terror,
I'm in the middle of Walden. So far, it ranks among the greatest of my disappointments in reading. (Sitting there with Asimov's Foundation series.)
A collective soul sounds like someone's idea of an easy path to cheap virtue. Nothing so good, nothing so bad, a gelatinous sea of mere fellow-feeling.
That Steinbeck quote triggered my memory of "Ekwilism," a political theory invented by VN in Bend Sinister.
I wonder if he was deliberately mocking Steinbeck?
Narr
I'd like to think so
Even in "The Grapes Of Wrath" when the Joads ended up at a government camp, with flush toilets! Which they had never seen before! The government camp did not reflect appropriate social values, if I recall correctly. They had to keep the instigators out or something like that.
Steinbeck’s books haven’t aged well.
He beat the drum a lot.
This Soul Stuff is cliched
Spinoza’s philosophy about monads borders on the collective soul.
"An unaccomplished lifer politician with no principles is going to rebuild the soul of a nation? How's he going to do that? Oh I see! By implementing left-wing political policies!"
If you're credulous enough to believe establishment politician Joe Biden is going to implement any "left-wing" political policies, it's no mystery how you can (presumably) believe Trump is anything other than a self-interested flim-flam man.
"Anything Bieden says is as phony as his face."
In this, he and Trump are twins, with this difference: anything Trump says is as phony as his hair.
J. Farmer @11:23 AM:
In other words, it's a figure of speech.
There. See how easy that is?
"I’m disgusted hearing Joe talk about the soul IV the nation. Nations don’t have souls. People do."
In a metaphorical, poetical manner we may be said to have souls, but in any literal way: NO, we do not.
Political correctness, racial division, government supremacy over religion, capitalism as Fascism, Founding Fathers were flawed so everything they created (Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc.) is flawed and needs to be fundamentally transformed (living Constitution theory), wokism, socialism as love, opponents as Hitler, silence is violence, ANTIFA exists to counter fascism, and on and on.
This is what Biden and the Left mean by American Soul. It's doesn't seem like leftist fascism if you use a religious metaphor, does it? But it's just another approach to the socialist revolution by all mens necessary which now includes use of brainwashing techniques by the media, control of information, street thugs to intimidate, black lists to threaten body and job prospects, etc.
If Biden is so concerned about souls, why has he done nothing to help his son, Hunter? Why did old Joe cheat with his current wife while she was married? Why did he sell his offices? Of course, these are not problems for the American should because Joe is on the right side. All morality is relevant (post-modern theory). Biden is a threat to people of all good faith.
@Roughcoat:
In other words, it's a figure of speech.
There. See how easy that is?
Yes, thank you for telling me what I acknowledged in my second sentence: "But if soul is a metaphor for character..."
Also, if someone asks what the sentence "the wind howled" means, the answer isn't "it's a figure of speech."
I generally dismiss ANY political speech clothed in religiosity and soaring rhetoric. It’s a good rule. The more a hack’s speech “soars” the more unmoored he is from a grounding in reality.
And when I'm feeling pessimistic, that same coal miner has butt cancer.
And if the the Dems seize power he'll be getting it good and hard up the ass. Gotta hurt.
Ann "I feel that they're also antagonistic to individualism. Everyone needs to think the same thing, and people should be cancelled if they don't all say the same thing.... "
They are trying to make everyone think the same thing and they start in elementary school. My kid is in 6th grade in CA public school. For ELA besides literature they sometimes read news articles from Scholastic on ipads - all of them are snippets from leftist media like CNN and others. A couple of weeks ago they had pretend elections on Ipads and were presented info ( presented by Scholastic) in two columns:Trump vs Biden. Zero achievements of Trump listed and Biden sounds like an angel. Here is for e.g. what was written about Trump " he condemned peaceful protests for racial justice"... They are not developing critical thinking by presenting only one side of the story.
School district also sent a survey to parents asking us if we want more events at school promoting social justice and diversity... This is how they are creating the " soul" of the nation and young people are voting for Biden. Since kids learn a a lot on electronic devices, parents have no way to check what they are being taught.. unless the kid actually shows it to me.
But if soul is a metaphor for character--that grouping of values, beliefs, customs, and traditions that differentiates a people from others-
That idea doesn't seem to comport with the Steinbeck excerpt in context, which is pretty silly, er, I meant mystical, er, I meant spiritual. FWIW. Also FWIW the excerpt posted here is slightly incorrect; it's speculation rather than a statement of belief.
"Jupiter is right that the red fascists well-outstripped Hitler and Co in body count totals, but the worst thing about Hitler, and why he was the bigger danger at the time, is that he hadn't the sense only to pick on countries he could beat."
He did not always get to choose which countries he "picked on".
Why not?
I am fond and respectful now of the Presbyterian model of organization, because it depends on their understanding that each Christian has a distinct, intimate and individual relationship with/to Most High God in Jesus Christ. They depend on that individual discernment from their parishioners, elders and leadership. It is not nothing, and impressive in practice, like the 2 year process for finding a new minister, very dependent on deep reflection and devotion to be members of the finding teams.
I say all that because back of all of our idea of America is like that, declaring Most High God has designated each individual with inalienable rights...No?
Our woke folk will regret growing old in a revised system where that isn't assumed anymore
"Upright and simple men are difficult to deceive precisely because of their simplicity; stratagems and clever arguments do not prevail upon them, they are not indeed subtle enough to be dupes. When we see among the happiest people in the world bands of peasants regulating the affairs of state under an oak tree, and always acting wisely, can we help feeling a certain contempt for the refinements of other nations, which employ so much skill and effort to make themselves at once illustrious and wretched?"
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
That's what makes me think of fascism.... especially if you're not acknowledging the soul of individual people, and so often, from the Democratic side, I get the sense that they view their opponents as being soulless... and I feel that they're also antagonistic to individualism.
The Left cannot simply defeat Trump - he might run again in 2024, or someone with less political baggage might pick up his mantle.
No, they must defeat Trumpism. And to do that they must first dispatch with the 70 million people who recognize its appeal.
As Trump rightly pointed out, they're not coming for him. They're coming for you.
@Fernandinande:
That idea doesn't seem to comport with the Steinbeck excerpt in context, which is pretty silly, er, I meant mystical, er, I meant spiritual. FWIW. Also FWIW the excerpt posted here is slightly incorrect; it's speculation rather than a statement of belief.
I agree that the two quotes aren't using "soul" in the same regard. Steinbeck's sounds like garden variety pantheism, but I haven't read him since high school.
Robert Cook said...
"If you're credulous enough to believe establishment politician Joe Biden is going to implement any "left-wing" political policies..."
Biden is the ultimate weathervane. He's never had an original thought, he's utterly cynical and unprincipled in addition to being not very bright. He probably thinks he became president due to his political skill or likeability. But he is president in the same way Trump became president - he had the good fortune of running against a highly disliked opponent. In the end, he will do whatever he's told to do simply because he doesn't have anything else to offer. So, yes, if a left-wing menu is put in front of him, Joe will sup on it.
Also, if someone asks what the sentence "the wind howled" means, the answer isn't "it's a figure of speech."
Yes, that is a perfectly good answer. Unless the person asking the question has the cognitive abilities of a turnip.
Or, unless you're the type who feels a need to over-explain everything....
That idea doesn't seem to comport with the Steinbeck excerpt in context, which is pretty silly, er, I meant mystical, er, I meant spiritual. FWIW.
You meant dogmeat. That may be the worst thing I ever read.
"...other nations, which employ so much skill and effort to make themselves at once illustrious and wretched?"
That's a pretty concise description of the last 200 years of American history. Rousseau's defense of the "simple men" is admirable but doesn't really solve the problems with his "general will" concept. Plus, he was writing in the mid-18th century, before the advent of industrialized society. Hard to imagine a government as envisioned by Rousseau surviving in such an environment.
He jes stuck ah knafe in a feller at a dance.
@Roughcoat:
Yes, that is a perfectly good answer. Unless the person asking the question has the cognitive abilities of a turnip.
Or, unless you're the type who feels a need to over-explain everything....
Oh brother. The question was what it means; figure of speech is what it is. For example, if someone asked what howled means, the answer isn't "a verb."
Apparently, some people need to be overexplained to. But there's always that super simple solution of not reading what I write.
The soul of America was James Brown.
Jupiter, I like to give the benefit of the doubt, especially to registered Democrats, but Suvorov? That's all you got?
Suvorov is good on his (asserted) personal service in Spetsnaz, but no real historian takes him seriously on this.
I might go into more detail later, but here are a few issues, based on the link you gave.
Since Hitler had been very clear that his ultimate goal was Lebensraum im Ost, of course Stalin would do all he could to distract Hitler and goad him into mistakes. Is that wrong?
When Barbarossa opened, the Wehrmacht motor-pool was a sorry hodgepodge of old buggies looted from all over Europe; Stalin used the time to build T34s (which had a downside of its own) and biting off pieces he had some prospect of swallowing and which had been agreed beforehand (Baltics, Finland, Rumania).
Looting the economies of Western Europe of their cars and trucks and driving them East does not suggest a defensive plan.
On the other side of the coin, Hitler chose his own overstretch, to wit 1 Poland, 2 Denmark-Norway, 3 France et al, 4 The Balkans (ignoring Bismarck's advice, never a good idea), the USA u.s.w., and Stalin observed the wisdom of not interrupting his enemy while he made a mistake.
Would Stalin have struck West if, say, Fall Gelb had ended like 1914, or if all three Kraut services had been thoroughly thrashed playing at 1066 instead of just the Luftwaffe? If, metaphorically speaking, Hitler was strapped over a barrel with his butthole wide open?
Of course he would. He was clever that way.
The linked description calls the Vozhd a "diabolical genius." Good metaphor (I don't buy the "mean ole Debbil" theory.)
As it is, your link barely addresses the historical reality. The Hitler of History (book title by a real historian) was a gambler and loser, doomed by his own hubris.
Narr
You and VS should take your "poor widdle Fuehrer" tripe where people don't know better
I'm meditating daily and reading things along a secular Buddhist line for a while now. The idea of transcending the ego or illusory self or whatever, and realizing that you are part of a greater creation/soul/universal life is becoming comfortable to me. But, I don't think we become first part of our town, state, country, or NATO soul as we transcend. It seems that you are either stuck in your false self or you transcend your self and become part of a universal or infinite something. Maybe if there were a soul of the nation, we would all actually be an expression of it or it would live in us rather than the USA soul being a collection of our little souls. Someone should ask Joe is there are good people on both sides of the battle for our national soul.
the Wehrmacht had been trained in Soviet Russia, ironically under the aegis of the likes of Tukhachevsky, which Stalin used as a pretext to purge his general staff, this was something the Soviet defector Krivitsky pointed out,
Spooky.
The soul is that faculty or power in humans that allows them to experience the beauty and awe of Nature.
"Biden is the ultimate weathervane. He's never had an original thought, he's utterly cynical and unprincipled in addition to being not very bright. He probably thinks he became president due to his political skill or likeability. But he is president in the same way Trump became president - he had the good fortune of running against a highly disliked opponent. In the end, he will do whatever he's told to do simply because he doesn't have anything else to offer. So, yes, if a left-wing menu is put in front of him, Joe will sup on it."
The people Biden works for, those who comprise the corporate/financial/military complex, are not going to put a "left-wing menu" in front of him to implement. Claims to the contrary are knowingly deceptive propaganda or the figments of hysterical minds divorced from reality.
My above comment is also true of the Democratic party as a whole, notwithstanding a (very) few anomalous examples, e.g., AOC. Until that anomalous few grows into more than a few, until they become a substantial voting bloc within the party, the Dems will remain essentially a Republican-party-in-"liberal" guise.The party faithful are eager and willing to believe their party is good and true, which shows they are as self-deluded as Trump's base, who think him good and true.
I like the connection of Biden and Henry the Hack Fonda. I have never for a minute believed either one of them. Fonda is the rare Classic Era actor whose performances simply aren't believable today. He was the Anti-Jimmy Stewart.
Oh, and screw that Collective Soul bullshit.
"My above comment is also true of the Democratic party as a whole..."
You are delusional.
During the debates every single candidate raised their hand and said they'd give free health care to illegals.
That's not left wing?
Farmer:
You bear a strong resemblance to Colin Robinson.
One of my (few) favorite memories from my undergrad English major days is the prof who used to get all coked up (it sure seemed that way) and dramatically recite Ralph Waldo. It worked!
AS much as I liked that movie (and the book) that speech always felt creepy to me. It felt frankly...well Communist.
The rebuilt soul of America will use the Hunter Biden blueprints.
Joe the Idiot
Is gonna perform
Lobotomy
on us Deplorables
SCALPEL PLEASE
Demos get to claim "morality"
Imagine if a Republican claimed to save our souls
back in the 1980s
Now Idiot Joe the incompetent father
will put us on the right side of history
like it or not
Robert Cook writes: The party faithful are eager and willing to believe their party is good and true, which shows they are as self-deluded as Trump's base, who think him good and true.
One must assume Robert Cook holds himself to be not among the self-deluded, which begs the obvious question: If not self-deluded, who or what has deluded Mr. Cook?
Maybe it's all that flouridated ice cream?
"A Nation’s Unity" by Ayn Rand : Ayn Rand at the Ford Hall Forum - Lesson 13 of 19
"A Nation’s Unity" by Ayn Rand
Steinbeck wrote "Grapes" during his early, leftist period. Later on, I understand, he grew some brains.
"Unknown said...
Joe the Idiot
Is gonna perform
Lobotomy
on us Deplorables
SCALPEL PLEASE
11/11/20, 7:10 PM"
Don't think a scalpel is involved. A stainless martini stirrer through the eye socket is used.
Democrats are the party of slavery, the Klan, ANTIFA & BLM riots, segregation, big statism, collusion with organized crime & labor unions, voter fraud and the party of the holy grail abortion. There are more crimes.
They call me racist, Nazi, fascist, Deplorable, chump, bible & gun clinger, uneducated, etc. for the last fifty years. Actually ever Republican presidential candidate since Ike was called fascist by the Dems.
I'm supposed to make nice with corrupt toads like Biden & Harris?
Jupiter, where art thou?
Narr
LOL!
"One must assume Robert Cook holds himself to be not among the self-deluded, which begs the obvious question: If not self-deluded, who or what has deluded Mr. Cook?"
There are two obvious errors in your comment. The first is your incorrect use of the term "beg the question."
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