McCain's Reading List Because I'm too lazy at the moment, I've decided to paste this little piece from Chris Kelly over at the Huffington Post. I don't agree with it 100%. I don't agree with his belief that McCain was a hero. As Tim O'Brien wrote in The Things They Carried, "I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to war." I'm just not sure whether or not I think it's heroic to fight on the side of imperialism in an illegal war. I mean, should German soldiers, fighting for the Nazi regime be remembered for their heroism? I'd rather we stigmatized it as cowardice so that the same crimes aren't repeated. But regardless, interesting take on McCain's reading list and subsequent comments about Hemingway.
And I'll copy and paste it below. Isn't it funny how logic goes right out the window for those who simply don't care about truth? I harken back to the way they managed to paint John Kerry as a cowardly vietnam swiftboater when Georgie Porgie didn't even leave Stateside. Of course the assault on logic is a very basic orwellian concept. A practice well exploited by Rove and his spinster underlings. And now we have to listen to a douche like McCain marginalize the bravery and service of Ernest Hemingway? These ambitious bastards are so smart and stupid at the same time. Stupid because what they say is pure drivel. Smart because they know it's drivel and that Americans have never been taught how to think critically. This would also explain the hype for books like The DaVinci Code, a bestseller, which, as far as I could tell by reading the first chapter, was written with 4th graders in mind. But they remain in power, which ultimately speaks to the sheep-like obeisance of a zombified electorate.
READ THE BELOW ARTICLE:
by Chris Kelly
If you wonder why everyone who knows John McCain hates his guts, a good place to find out is last Saturday/Sunday's Wall Street Journal. In the Pursuits section, he lists his five best "books about soldiers in wartime."
They are:
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness
Hell in a Very Small Place
All Quiet on the Western Front
Here's what you have to admit about John McCain: That's not a stupid list. Three classics, one semi-classic, one obscurity. Two novels, three histories. The author of the obscure one politically reliable, the other four securely dead. Not one of them Battlefield Earth.
Here's the spooky thing about McCain: Out of the entire literature of men and arms, he's chosen five books, all of them told from the side of the losers. The Republicans in Spain, the Germans in World War One, the French in Vietnam, the Americans in Korea, the Romans everywhere. It's not important to McCain what you're fighting for, just as long as you're trounced. No wonder he loves Iraq.
And here's the nettlesome thing about McCain: He's an actual hero - he suffered heroically -- but he talks like one of those hateful legion hall blimps who strongly believe no one who wasn't in their platoon really served. Here:
"Hemingway himself was not a veteran, but he saw war up close..."
Hemingway's not a real veteran because ambulance drivers don't count. (Even if they get blown up.) And neither does fighting in Spain. Or sub-hunting with a dopey sailboat. Or being in a landing craft on D-Day. Or liberating Paris. If Papa's so tough, why didn't he bomb Vietnam from an airplane? If John McCain thinks Hemingway isn't a real veteran, how can he hug George W. Bush?
It's almost like he's crazy.
They are:
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness
Hell in a Very Small Place
All Quiet on the Western Front
Here's what you have to admit about John McCain: That's not a stupid list. Three classics, one semi-classic, one obscurity. Two novels, three histories. The author of the obscure one politically reliable, the other four securely dead. Not one of them Battlefield Earth.
Here's the spooky thing about McCain: Out of the entire literature of men and arms, he's chosen five books, all of them told from the side of the losers. The Republicans in Spain, the Germans in World War One, the French in Vietnam, the Americans in Korea, the Romans everywhere. It's not important to McCain what you're fighting for, just as long as you're trounced. No wonder he loves Iraq.
And here's the nettlesome thing about McCain: He's an actual hero - he suffered heroically -- but he talks like one of those hateful legion hall blimps who strongly believe no one who wasn't in their platoon really served. Here:
"Hemingway himself was not a veteran, but he saw war up close..."
Hemingway's not a real veteran because ambulance drivers don't count. (Even if they get blown up.) And neither does fighting in Spain. Or sub-hunting with a dopey sailboat. Or being in a landing craft on D-Day. Or liberating Paris. If Papa's so tough, why didn't he bomb Vietnam from an airplane? If John McCain thinks Hemingway isn't a real veteran, how can he hug George W. Bush?
It's almost like he's crazy.
