Friday, October 21, 2011

Combatwords, October 21, 2011: The Enemy Paradox

Combatwords, October 21, 2011: The Enemy Paradox

I got in an argument with a friend of mine about America copying the Fascist political economy to defeat the Nazis during WW2. He said I was wrong & that America is its own thing. I argued that when you compare the rates of state spending with both nations & their allocations/purposes that they are actually shockingly similar & merely differ in terms of national ideology. He's a great writer & a smart guy, but basically his argument was 'because America doesn't have death camps, it's not Nazi.' Well the Palestinians use a patina of Democracy to justify their governments & that in turn has spread across the Middle East. Likewise, the Israelis use religious and ethnic nationalism to justify their foreign & domestic policy. He who fights monsters, becomes monsters, etc. One seeks to destroy one's enemy and yet the act of destruction transforms one into one's enemy.

This principle is applicable in most circumstances I think. Battle it out.

Combat Expiration: 12am PST 10/24/2011

Critique Expiration: 12am PST 10/26/2011

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 12am PST 10/22/2011, +1 if posted by 3am PST 10/22/2011, -1 if posted by 6am PST 10/24/2011, -2 if posted by 12pm PST 10/24/2011

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html



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3 comments:

  1. the above mentioned argument could be equated to corporate competition ie diet coke and diet pepsi or Mc Donalds and Burger King, the statistics of suffering in humanity might transfer nicely. Where as coke and or pepsi are inadvertently responsible for countless dental problems, obesity, and other health issues. The tricky part might come in pinning one label to anyone side (with the exception of Germany) of the war. Coke and Pepsi both as corporations are legally bound to share holders and take the natural course of vying for selling the most product it can. As world war 2 goes the the motivations for America to join the "Allies" against Germany and the "Axis powers"( pretty damn comic book sounding) were probably not motivated by the genocide of the Jewish nation that being, I assert more of a convenient atrocity for public support. But could it be as simple as Mellow yellow and Montain dew? My overall reaction is this that our individual experience of life is such that influencing factors of ideas and persuasions carry as much weight maybe more in the determination of the experience or judgement of the experiencer as our senses and or common sense and lack there of. To sum it up mountain dew and mellow yellow pretty much have the same taste but each has a different idea behind motivating our subconsciousness(which is as yet being defined) to pick one or the other. Germany and America both had concentration caps ours for Japanese there for the Jewish not to mention many other similarities that most developing and developed countries and economies go through. In conclusion I agree with the disagreer. That while it may taste remarkably similar it's still completely different the idyllic dreams that come with the label are what paint the experience.

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  2. The battle ground
    The field before them lay square
    opposing sides on the same dimension
    whispering justifications, aware
    there price of justice, immolation

    In this world of 50/50
    her grace the scale
    is somewhat shifty
    her swinging arc a tale

    myth,lies, and truth
    despoil with inaction
    or smote all the uncouth
    enemy mine in traction

    in-vain search for peace
    ideas and castles built
    with a foes carapace
    and the banner of change will wilt

    and we carry the seeds of the fallen
    blindly meeting ourselves down this path

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