a quote from George Orwell, from his essay "Reflections on James Burnham"
"the immediate cause of the German defeat was the
unheard of folly of attacking the USSR while Britain
was still undefeated and America was manifestly
getting ready to fight. Mistakes of this magnitude can
only be made, or at any rate they are most likely to
be made, in countries where public opinion has no
power. So long as the common man can get a hearing,
such elementary rules as not fighting all your enemies
simultaneously are less likely to be violated."
the same essay contains a quote that Jonah Goldberg is quite fond of, which goes along the lines "always extrapolating present trends into the future is not just a minor vice, like exaggeration. it is a major mental disease, which has its rooots in cowardice and power-worship" I think Goldberg uses it whenever he's bashing the silliness of our mainstream media.
posted by Anonymous at 11:22 AM
