RateItAll: The Opinion Network

The Commitments (1991) : "Jimmy! Jimmy! Mickah Wallace wants to see yeh. He's in the pub." "Mickah Wallace?!" "- I hired him to do the door. Security." "- You're mad, Jimmy! He's a savage!" "- I know he is. But he's our savage."

Absolutely true, whether you like it or not.

Orwell was a fascinating intelligent man, whose personal politics and world view went through several evolutions. He had the wit and the eloquence to understand and explain them.

This is one of my favorites, albeit a disquieting one.

The trouble with this quote is that it's...a misquote, it's actually "those who abjure violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf," and here's the context :

"If one harbours anywhere in one's mind a nationalistic loyalty or hatred, certain facts, although in a sense known to be true, are inadmissible. Here are just a few examples. I list below five types of nationalist, and against each I append a fact which it is impossible for that type of nationalist to accept, even in his secret thoughts: BRITISH TORY: Britain will come out of this war with reduced power and prestige. COMMUNIST: If she had not been aided by Britain and America, Russia would have been defeated by Germany. IRISH NATIONALIST: Eire can only remain independent because of British protection. TROTSKYIST: The Stalin regime is accepted by the Russian masses. PACIFIST: Those who abjure violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf. All of these facts are grossly obvious if one's emotions do not happen to be involved: but to the kind of person named in each case they are also intolerable, and so they have to be denied, and false theories constructed upon their denial."

Which is not arguing for violence somuch as pointing out that every ideology, particularly those which veer towards extreme statements, are prone to having blind spots. It's more complex than that misquote would ever admit. And it has to be viewed in the context of the times, which is a world still coming to terms with the political, economic and social aftermath of World War Two. I get a bit sick of seeing this quote parrotted by those to justify war as an action within itself, because frankly it misses the point.

Truer words never spoken. If only people could see how thin the veneer of "civilization" is over the world.

This quote so eloquently reminds us that every night when we go to bed without harm there is someone to thank for that freedom. It also reminds us that freedom comes at a price that we must be willing to pay.

Quite a glib comment and perhaps a sad fact of life as much as anything else. But do people always deserve to sleep peaceably when violence is carried out on their behalf?

A quote every cop-hating lefty ideologue needs to read over and over again,'til they finally scream UNCLE.

I used to have this on my user page until I replaced it with some dumbo Offspring lirics, but I still have a bumper sticker with this phrase on my car. It fits us Jarheads brilliantly.

The best reason in the world to support the troops.

He's right about this one, and you gotta admire his courage, going to Spain himself in the 1930s to fight the fascists and getting shot in the neck (his essay about it is quite unforgettable)