Making Light :: History is a machine for the generation of irony :: comments

History is a machine for the generation of irony

Today is Franklin D. Roosevelt's 125th birthday. Presumably in commemoration, Blood and Treasure links to FDR's message to the Maghreb...

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #1 from ethan

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:05:04 -0500

Wait just a second here...I thought they hated freedom!?!?

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Posted January 30, 2007 3:05 PM by ethan

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #2 from Chris

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:19:00 -0500

Wow, imagine Dubya saying that today.

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Posted January 30, 2007 3:19 PM by Chris

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #3 from Dave MB

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:44:59 -0500

Wow, imagine Dubya saying that today.

Although about the one positive thing you can say about the scoundrel is that he did his bit to dampen anti-Muslim hysteria in the immediate wake of 9/11. (Probably a legacy of Rove's and Norquist's outreach to Arab-Americans as an electoral bloc, but whatever.)

What would it have taken to form a coalition to go after Osama and the Taliban as desecrators of Islam? The Iranians and Saudis were both rather negative on the Taliban -- could that have led to fatwas? Not in this timeline, I suppose, and even President Gore probably couldn't have pulled it off.

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Posted January 30, 2007 3:44 PM by Dave MB

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #4 from Michael Walsh

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:51:10 -0500

Here's a link to the March 2000 Middle East Quarterly article about the origins of FDR's speech: linked text

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Posted January 30, 2007 3:51 PM by Michael Walsh

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #5 from Xopher

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:45:42 -0500

"We are Humanity's scythes to cut down her enemies.

"We are the flame to burn them to the finest ash.

"We are the wind to blow the ash away, as if it had never been."

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Posted January 30, 2007 4:45 PM by Xopher

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #6 from Fragano Ledgister

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:02:27 -0500

Does anyone else remember the scene in Reds where John Reed's call for class warfare is translated into a call for jihad?

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Posted January 30, 2007 6:02 PM by Fragano Ledgister

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #7 from Tania

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:39:19 -0500

Here's the fixed link from Mr. Walsh - Middle East Quarterly March 2000

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Posted January 30, 2007 6:39 PM by Tania

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #8 from MD²

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:13:08 -0500

Behold. We the American Holy Warriors have arrived. We have come here to fight the great Jihad of Freedom.

Why am I reminded of the scene in Maurice G Dantec's Babylon Babies where a mercenary raid, unable to find a proper warcry, finally rallies to the cry of "Allah Akbar !" before launching an attack on Bosninn populations (a quick check in my library tells me it was "International Brigades" and not mercenaries) ?

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Posted January 30, 2007 10:13 PM by MD²

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #9 from Dan R

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:44:25 -0500

Is the thread heading original, or does can you cite a source? Either way, it belongs in the list of Commonplaces (RHS).

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Posted January 31, 2007 8:44 AM by Dan R

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #10 from Sean Sakamoto

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:51:12 -0500

Didn't Dubya say this kind of stuff to the Iraqis? I recall him saying that God gave men the will to be free and so forth in the runup to the invasion. That was the neocon line, right? We're liberating them, as God intended?

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Posted January 31, 2007 11:51 AM by Sean Sakamoto

History is a machine for the generation of irony -- comment #11 from Michael Walsh

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:23:10 -0500

To Tania @ #7 .... Thanks! Just shows how little I know about this here blog thing.

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Posted January 31, 2007 3:23 PM by Michael Walsh