by Harley Sorensen, San Francisco Gate [US] Monday, August 19, 2002 Hermann Goering, onetime president of the Reichstag, was commander of the German air force during World War II. Perhaps no one alive at the end of the war understood manipulation of a nation as well as Goering. Arrested at the close of hostilities, he was put on trial at Nuremberg as a war criminal. Sentenced to death, he committed suicide hours before his scheduled execution. Here, according to several Internet sources, is what Goering had to say in Nuremburg about going to war: "Why, of course the people don't want war ... but, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship ... voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." One of my regular readers believes our democracy is being dragged into an ever-expanding series of wars by corrupt leaders, specifically the Axis of Idiocy: Bush, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft. He is fed up. He feels, as the character Howard Beale felt in the 1976 movie "Network," "as mad as hell." And, like Howard, he's "not going to take this anymore." He's making plans to leave the country. He now hates America, he says. That's hard for me to believe. Oh, I believe it, all right, but it's hard to believe. Most of us, no matter how critical we might be of the direction our leaders move us, continue to love our country. In any case, this reader has written an essay titled "Why I Hate America." Because it reflects the despair many of us feel, I'd like to quote from it. (I've omitted the writer's name to protect him from retaliation.) "I've been asking myself why I hate America, why the anger rises up when I hear words about America's triumph over terrorism. Why am I so perverse, when America is doing so much good and is being successful in making the world a better place? "When the news media and solemn politicians say that we must stand united, bless America and support its wars, why do I feel just the opposite? Why do I feel unpatriotic, cynical and disgusted with this country?" Then he goes on to say he's not mad at the beauty of America, the "'rocks and rills ... woods and templed hills.'" He's disgusted, rather, with the attitude of Americans. "If one can believe the mass media, civic leaders, religious leaders and politicians, the overriding attitude Americans have about America is that it is the best place in the world, with superior citizens, superior leadership and superior morality. "In and of itself, this arrogance, bragging and smugness would not seem so hateful, except that it is based on falsehood and deception. It is based on the deprivation and diminution of people in places that are not the U.S.A. "Arrogance and bragging are not in themselves major hateful qualities, but when they are coupled with cruelty, hypocrisy, cheating and savagery, they become almost unbearable. "It is the glaring contradiction between the 'greatness of America' and the depredations and barbarity of America that leads one into despising the country in which one was born. "Perhaps this is what many foreigners see -- the lie, the ugly lie, that is so infuriating. Perhaps they see the democracy that elects [!] venal fools, the media that controls the citizens' minds, the arrogance of the rich, the degradation of the poor, the racial hatred, the religious intolerance, the debased environment .... "Perhaps many people in the world see, as I do, the evil hand of America that allows the cruelest, most repressive of regimes to survive if it serves the purposes of America .... Look to the recent history of Central and South America, Asia or Africa, if you do not know to what I refer. The catalog of hideous American intervention is very long. "And what is one to think of the slaughter of innocent civilians, the looting of natural resources, the exploitation of labor, the insults and humiliations that countries that are not America or its chosen friends have to endure in the face of taunting arrogance of the superiority of American democracy, American freedom, morality, wealth and intelligence? "And let's talk about culture, the culture of America. The mass culture, the culture that is enjoyed by the overwhelming numbers of Americans, is of the worst degraded quality imaginable. In popular music, art (television and movies), cuisine, style and literature, we find the trashiest, lowest and most depraved is also the most popular .... "Is it any wonder the country is awash in mind-numbing drugs of [both] illegal and legal [varieties]? "Is it possible that a country can look into the vacuous face of George W. Bush and see greatness and goodness? "What kind of country kills thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and admits to nothing, that looks the other way? What kind of country takes advantage of a national tragedy to take away citizens' rights, give more money to the rich, spread fear throughout the land and at the same time engage in the most boastful and self-satisfying rhetoric? "That's what I see: lies, hatred, savagery, stupidity. Maybe that is what some other people like me see ... but apparently they don't live in America." The man who wrote all that is more pessimistic than I am, more pessimistic than most of us. But I can understand his feelings. We do live in a land so rife with contradictions that one has a choice of going along or going a little crazy. Historically, America's saving grace has been its flexibility. We've gone down a lot of wrong paths, but sooner or later we always seem to get it right. Or less wrong. It's clear to anyone not wearing blinders that we're going down many wrong paths now. My hope is that we find our way again -- that we become the people we say we are -- before we fall into the abyss. There's hope. Just last Friday, The Chronicle had a story by Edward Epstein on the redemption of Dick Armey. Armey, majority leader of the House of Representatives, is retiring. And now that he's on his way out, and doesn't have to polish apples to stay in favor, he's suddenly shown a characteristic he's kept hidden the past 18 years: decency. Instead of endorsing the administration's worst excesses, he now opposes them -- like the threat of war against Iraq, for example, or that creepy Operation TIPS (the plan to have citizens spy on one another). One swallow does not a summer make, but if a chronic obstructor of the well-being of the American people can suddenly start working for the people, there might be hope for us. In the meantime, it's a good idea to remember the words of the Nazi, Goering: "[To get people to accept war,] all you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."
an angel gets its wings.
Like being audited by the IRS?