Monday, January 26, 2015

Denying History

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Charlie Brown has a DEJA VU experience with Lucy and a football – she’s REALLY going to hold it for him this time so he can kick it. Was Charlie Brown insane? Or just naïve? He hesitates, definitely remembers how often Lucy has failed him, but HOPES that things will be different.
Of course, when Charlie Brown trusts Lucy and she once again tricks him, Charlie is the only one hurt. The rest of the Peanuts community doesn’t come crashing down as jobs disappear. The comic strip isn’t filled with a mushroom cloud. They don’t lose their heads. Charlie Brown falls on his butt to give us a lesson in resilience, and faith – showing us how we should all be in a PERFECT WORLD – what we should strive for. Lucy reminds us that there are people out there in the REAL WORLD who don’t have our best interests at heart.
Departing from Mr. Santayana’s statement, Charlie Brown DOES remember the past – he just chooses to try again and hopes for the best. 
Why would someone be unable to remember the past?
  • ·        Blocked because too unpleasant – or would rather not think that it could happen again?
  • ·         Never learned it, either through neglect or revisionist history?
  • ·         Relativism – the past isn’t THEIR past – it was someone else’s and they are disassociated from it?

This last seems the most likely in the continuing strange case of the supreme narcissist Barack Obama and where he has taken U.S. foreign policy (and the world along with it.) He doesn’t seem to have any regard for history, and those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
The North Korean nuclear program is a remarkably clear template for how not to handle Iran’s ambitions. Our leaders at the time thought they could convince an evil regime - through talking - to not pursue their evil aims, and two liberal, Democrat Presidents (sorry, but that’s what Carter and Clinton were) left the doors open for Beloved Leader to get the nukes he wanted – even with a little help from us.
But this is not a learning experience for Mr. Obama, because:
  • ·         It just hasn’t been tried by the right people yet.
  • ·         It was only impossible because I wasn’t been here before.
  • ·         Carter and Clinton just didn’t have my personality or charm.
  • ·         Neville Chamberlain had nothing on me.

Albert Einstein is attributed with giving a definition of insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” 
You can’t argue with crazy people; to win an argument with anyone, you must first have some common ground. Sometimes the talking has to end, and YOU JUST HAVE TO STOP THEM.
Just saying…
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William Mangieri’s writing (including his latest ePublication “Dredging Things Up”) can be found in many places, such as:

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