4 ms·
The fight against totalitarian communism is full of great examples of the principle that if you fight against an enemy there's a tendency to become that enemy.
by api 6y ago
The fight against totalitarian communism is full of great examples of the principle that if you fight against an enemy there's a tendency to become that enemy. COINTELPRO is only one example. Another is the fact that we placed much of the US economy under at least indirect state control via the Cold War national security state in order to battle the evil of state controlled economies.
I saw the same thing after 9/11 when there seemed to be a strong push for some kind of theocracy in the USA, albeit of a far lighter variety than was found in Afghanistan, and a general revival of ultra-right reactionary ideologies that somewhat resemble those of the 9/11 hijackers. We also surrendered a great deal of freedom (especially privacy) to battle those terrorists who supposedly hate our freedom.
Edit: I can keep going... during WWII we put Japanese Americans in camps.
- voodootrucker 6y agoNot sure why the down votes. I've been joking for a while I'd like to see a sitcom where the main characters are an Islamic and domestic terrorist living together in New York while they execute their plots. A terrorist "odd couple" if you will. I think the characters could bond over a lot of shared ideals, despite their superficial differences. (And of course they'd have to be incompetent or it wouldn't be a funny.)
- mhh__ 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Lions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Lions
- virgulino 6y agoThis is a great movie. Odd but great.
- mhh__ 6y agoThat describes most of Chris Morris's work Brass Eye is his most outlandish creation but before that he did Jam which is (to quote the comments of the following YouTube video) "absurdly poignant" https://youtu.be/LhKla4MEstY https://youtu.be/LhKla4MEstY
- virgulino 6y agoThanks for the tip, I will try to watch these two. Anyways, you made me look for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_(satirist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_(satirist) , and I'm shocked to learn that he is Denholm Reynholm, from the IT Crowd!
- buckminster 6y ago"My Wrongs 8245–8249 & 117" is weirder than Brass Eye. And brilliant.
- voodootrucker 6y agowow, that is weird.
- leetcrew 6y agoI wonder if you might enjoy the first couple seasons of homeland? there are a lot of problems with the show, but in some ways it's a surprisingly charitable portrayal of islamic terrorists.
- Alupis 6y agoSounds like the TV show "The Americans", although that focuses on KGB sleeper agents in America during the Cold War.
- voodootrucker 6y agoI was thinking more like "damn it, we failed to blow up the government again", and "you got your bacon in my tagine" and "you woke me up with your call to prayer", "you might worship a different god than me, but at least we both hate women's rights". The domestic terrorist could be a coal-rolling hick. That kind of shtick. I'm scared to even type that. You'd need writers legitimately from each culture to keep it funny, balanced, and self-deprecating.
- Alupis 6y agoIt's not a full show, but Key & Peele have a hilarious skit where they are terrorists in a cave, plotting to overthrow America, only to be thwarted by TSA's rules. You might get a kick out of it. https://youtu.be/IHfiMoJUDVQ https://youtu.be/IHfiMoJUDVQ
- Mister_X 6y ago"I can keep going... during WWII we put Japanese Americans in camps." Good reminder, but don't stop there, it wasn't only those of Japanese decent, to a much lesser extent it encompassed other ethnic groups, this should never be forgotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans "Internment of German resident aliens and German-American citizens occurred in the United States during the periods of World War I & World War II. ...a small proportion of Italian nationals and Italian Americans were interned... Unlike Italian Americans and Japanese Americans, German Americans have not received an official apology for these events."