WHY THE WEST WON

jimmoyer

jimmoyer

jimmoyer
Apr 3, 2005
5,101
22
38
68
Winchester Virginia
www.contactcorp.net
"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." : Samuel P. Huntington
----------------------Caracal kid's quote-----------------------------


This reminds me of that Mouseland quote of some Canadian
politician. The speech for all its fame has an achilles heel
of misunderstanding.

It implied the mice were stupid for arguing over which
RAT leader was better or worse than another RAT leader.

It's achilles heel was the assumption that the mice were
morally better than the RAT, and so why not vote for one
of their own?

And so they do.

And then the game of self-discover starts.

And they find out, they are no better. They find out they
are plagued by the universality of their own nature.

And so it is with we humans, always comparing, always
knowing our differences in culture and our attitudes,
and when one group wins over another and gains hegemony
and rulership, they then find out what that hippy dippy
song said...:

Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss

--------------------

And then you look closer at each culture and its own
particular problems, removing the pollution of outsiders
and opponents...
 
F

Finder

House Member
Dec 18, 2005
3,786
0
36
Toronto
www.mytimenow.net
I think the "Greatest Canadian" as voted by Canadians had a better story to tell about mice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mouseland
As told by Tommy Douglas in 1944
Mouseland (1962)
4MB, 6 min.

It's the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.

They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats.

Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of cats, you just look at the history of Canada for last 90 years and maybe you'll see that they weren't any stupider than we are.

Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort.

All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.

Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland needs is more vision." They said:"The trouble with Mouseland is those round mouseholes we got. If you put us in we'll establish square mouseholes." And they did. And the square mouseholes were twice as big as the round mouseholes, and now the cat could get both his paws in. And life was tougher than ever.

And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again. Then they went back to the white cats. Then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats. And they called that coalition. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat.

You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!" So they put him in jail.

But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea.
The Moral of the Story

"Mouseland" is a political fable, originally told by Clare Gillis, a friend of Tommy Douglas. Tommy has used this story many times to show in a humorous way how Canadians fail to recognize that neither the Liberals or Conservatives are truly interested in what matters to ordinary citizens; yet Canadians continue to vote for them.

The story cleverly deals with the false assumption by some people that CCF'ers (NDP'ers) are Communists. The ending shows Tommy Douglas has faith that someday socialism, which recognizes human rights and dignity, will win over capitalism and the mere pursuit of wealth and power.
 
jimmoyer

jimmoyer

jimmoyer
Apr 3, 2005
5,101
22
38
68
Winchester Virginia
www.contactcorp.net
This flawed speech implies the mice were stupid for arguing over which RAT leader was better or worse than another RAT leader.

I can agree with that.

But the speech thinks no further than that point.

It's achilles heel was the assumption that the mice were
morally better than the RAT, and so why not vote for one of their own?

Think about it.

My sequel to this story in that speech is finding out
what the mice discover about themselves after they
removed the rats.

They will find out that they are no better.
But at least its themselves doing it to themselves.

LOL !!

What a prize !!
 
jimmoyer

jimmoyer

jimmoyer
Apr 3, 2005
5,101
22
38
68
Winchester Virginia
www.contactcorp.net
You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!" So they put him in jail.

------------------------finder's post of a speech-----

The problem is that some of those mice
will act just like those cats when they get the power.

You saw it with the Indians getting casinos. Did
they spread the wealth to their fellow Indians ?
They probably made more profit and spread less
wealth than the white man federal government.

We see it with our own Republican Party abandoning
its principles of less government and spending more
than the Democrats did on earmarked pork projects.


Yep, go elect one of your own.

The moral of this sequel to this Canadian fable is
that we are no different from you. The Cats were
no different than the mice.

The moral is that we want to elect one of our own
to do it to us.

The broader moral is this myth that our nature is not universal,
that somehow we are different or better than others.
 
C

cortez

Council Member
Feb 22, 2006
1,260
0
36
what is all this talk of mice and cats
what about the goats

you have learned NOTHING!
 
Sassylassie

Sassylassie

House Member
Jan 31, 2006
2,976
7
38
DarkBeaver with the cold snap we are having, and I see your aviator I picture a nice pair of mittens.
 
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