or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 17, 2007
No Such Thing As Too Much Kagan
Here's more from Donald Kagan, former Dean of Yale and father of Fred and Robert and father-in-law to Kimberly, in an article in the Yale Daily News:
Tuesday’s Sept. 11 memorial service took on a political edge when history and classics professor Donald Kagan accused Iraq war opponents of being unpatriotic...[Kagan's] keynote address centered on the importance of patriotism and national unity, and Kagan decried those who support withdrawing troops from Iraq in the near future. Referencing a lecture he gave shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, he said Americans have a “moral responsibility” to support the government.
“The war [in Iraq] is not lost,” Kagan said. “[Yet] opponents have rushed to declare America defeated"...
Sept. 11 has been designated “Patriot Day,” and Kagan opened his speech by saying he intended to focus on the concept of patriotism. Citing America’s role in World War II, the fall of the Soviet Union, the conflict in the Balkans and the removal of Saddam Hussein, Kagan painted an image of the United States as a force for freedom in the world.
“America has been a beacon of liberty to the world since its creation,” Kagan said.
As an advocate for freedom, the U.S. has earned its share of enemies, so Kagan said it has a special need for domestic unity and patriotism.
“Few countries have been subjected to as much questioning … as our own,” Kagan said, “There should be a presupposition in favor of patriotism.”
Americans who have questioned the United States’ involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unpatriotic, Kagan said, and are undermining the country’s efforts to win the wars...
Yes, I've always thought the primary message students should get at college is "shut up and stop asking questions."
(Noticed by Mike)
Posted at September 17, 2007 01:28 PM | TrackBackCuriosity killed the cat (but satisfaction brought him back). He's NOT the first dean of a school to quash the idea of questioning authority. (I've seen it in my own life)
Posted by: Mike Meyer at September 17, 2007 02:09 PM“America has been a beacon of liberty to the world since its creation,” Kagan said.
Anyone who bothered to read "A People's History of the United States" knows that's a lie, a lie, a damned lie.
Posted by: MadAsHell at September 17, 2007 03:03 PMDespite experience, anecdotes, and evidence, I'm often amazed - almost always unpleasantly - at the capacity of people to obey when told to shut up and conform.
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MadAsHell, there are a lot more places to learn that than Zinn, but surely you know this already. What's another one you'd recommend ?
Got to love these Zionist Imerican Chicken Hawks. Always happy to pay the price for war with someone elses blood. God bless Isr...I mean America.
Posted by: liberal white boy at September 17, 2007 04:16 PMAny relation to Daryl Kagan of CNN, who was once (I think) betrothed to Rush Limbaugh (or do I mean Newt Gingrich - I really can't keep them apart)?
Posted by: catherine at September 17, 2007 04:17 PMGot to love these Zionist Imerican Chicken Hawks. Always happy to pay the price for war with someone elses blood. God bless Isr...I mean America.
Posted by: liberal white boy at September 17, 2007 04:17 PMGot to love these Zionist Imerican Chicken Hawks. Always happy to pay the price for war with someone elses blood. God bless Isr...I mean America.
Posted by: liberal white boy at September 17, 2007 04:17 PMGot to love these Zionist Imerican Chicken Hawks. Always happy to pay the price for war with someone elses blood. God bless Isr...I mean America.
Posted by: liberal white boy at September 17, 2007 04:17 PMI really love it when yet another American "thinker" argues that dissent and discussion are unpatriotic. Can we pass a law where all conservative think tank "scholars" and all hawks have to successfully pass a high school civics class?
Posted by: Batocchio at September 17, 2007 04:26 PM@Krinn: I'm not sure if you meant good books on American history, or history in general, but here they have a good reading list: http://www.historyisaweapon.org/hiawbooklist.html
To this I would add Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, surprisingly relevant to this day.
Posted by: MadAsHell at September 17, 2007 04:32 PMAs an advocate for freedom, the U.S. has earned its share of enemies.
Well, I... oh, why bother?
Posted by: SteveB at September 18, 2007 09:39 AMThe Kagans are Jews?
I thought they were just Jewish.
(Thank you, Woody Allen)
We had a Quaker prresident. That turned out swell. Is there an Amish candidate? Is America ready? Are any Holy Rollers left? Why was Ike the last one to cast a cold eye on the Military Industrial Complex? He understood, esp. the AF, but it was too late and all others have gone along since. Even the Pentagon reformers (Spinney at al) are a distant memory now.
Posted by: donescobar at September 18, 2007 12:21 PMI'm a navy veteran and my son is a marine veteran who did a tour in Iraq. I have always been opposed to this war. Am I unpatriotic?
Kagan, you and your sons can kiss my ass!
Posted by: bobbob at September 18, 2007 03:33 PMKrinn: Ask, and ye shall receive - reading suggestions, at least - I'm currently going through Jacob Needleman's The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders - someone who sneers at Kucinich's spirituality (was it Kos?) might not like this book either, but on the other hand it will speak to some people
MadAsHell - I had the good fortune (or the fate, at least - who knows if it's good or bad) to read Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War in the fall of 1965, in my first semester of college - the parallels with Vietnam knocked my socks off
may the Creative Forces of the Universe have mercy on our souls, if any
Posted by: mistah charley, ph.d. at September 18, 2007 05:11 PM
