Very cool commentary in Washington Times explaining UN-US relations in terms of Buffy and the Watchers. Very nice point at the end, too, about why the rest of the world will fall in line.
--Nat
then why does the US need its approval at all? I suppose if life were a sitcom this simplistic analysis would suffice but the US thinks far too much of itself and may find out the hard way that there won't be a happy ending to this story. Imagine what 200 billion could do for education in the US to offer hope of brains over bombs in the future. And a generation of writers who could think of something above an 8th grade sitcom level analysis of world politics.
Re:if the UN is so irrelevant
jjohn on 2002-09-27T02:12:41
Imagine what 200 billion could do for education in the US to offer hope of brains over bombs in the future. And a generation of writers who could think of something above an 8th grade sitcom level analysis of world politics.
UR words make me angry! U R a bad bad person. I love the US and George Bush 4EVR! Saddham INSANE is a crazy ROGUE NATION, like HITLER. Those WHINERS in the UN should stay out of the kitchen if they can take the heat of true leadership. What other nation has the moral strength and broad vision to guild the international community? Besides, those women on The View say SODOM Hussein is Al-Queda. I suppose you want to see more planes crash into buildings!
As George Bush says:
Fool me once, shame on, er, shame on you. Fool me, er uh, CAN'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!UNITED WE STAND!
Amusingly (to me, anyway) I saw a printout of it hanging on a bulletin board in a Federal office building. (I would tell you which branch, but the Secret Service might take away my clearance.)
Re:What is it with pundits and Buffy these days?
vsergu on 2002-09-27T14:04:17
Here's the paper (PDF), from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank here in DC.Re:What is it with pundits and Buffy these days?
Fletch on 2002-09-27T20:28:24
You have to wonder how much sleep the people that write that kind of thing don't get . .
. Maybe I won't re-read that copy of The White Plague . *shudder*
You see, Buffy is the chosen one. To each generation, one is born...blah blah blah blah.
I love the way the article assumes that the USA is the chosen one. It alone can stand up against the darkness, and therefore is justified in doing whatever it wants. It doesn't need the aproval of the UN because it is special. Yeah, right. Maybe the US should play by the same rules it expects everyone else to play by
Is this the same logic that means that US Nationals should be excempt from the International Criminal Court? I'm not saying the UK is any different and we don't have our own flaws, or that America is wrong in it's actions, but it has to think about why it is doing it rather than going off on some sort of crusade.
Buffy? Nah, it's being a bit more like Faith atm.
Chomskyn artikkeleita
rafael on 2002-09-27T15:49:34
Related to this, I always find Noam Chomsky publications very interesting. He's one of the few people that makes you feel more intelligent when you read him, because, even when you disagree with his opinions, he forces you to ask yourself why, and to exercise criticism. (And that's true both for his political writings and his papers on linguistics).Re:Chomskyn artikkeleita
jdavidb on 2002-09-27T15:58:46
He's one of the few people that makes you feel more intelligent when you read him, because, even when you disagree with his opinions, he forces you to ask yourself why, and to exercise criticism.
That's why I love this website.
Re:Oz
jdporter on 2002-10-09T20:11:57
Bringing in an Oz analogy in the last paragraph muddled the commentary a bit, especially for people familiar with "Buffy" characters.
No, only for people not familiar with the Oz characters.
(If you're trying to equate those two sets of people, I think you're confused.)
Anyway, Oz is a standard metaphor, in the 20th century, for someone thought to have power who is exposed as having none.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
Re:Oz
vsergu on 2002-10-09T21:49:59
My point was that Oz was the name of a regular character on "Buffy", so those familiar with the series will be the ones susceptible to confusion. Those (like you, apparently) who have never heard of Oz the "Buffy" character won't have a problem.Re:Oz
jdporter on 2002-10-10T16:19:05
Ah!
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