Saturday, December 8, 2007

George Bush in The Eclipse of the Sun


Substitute George Bush for Paul von Hindenburg in Georg Grosz's "The Eclipse of the Sun" and you have an accurate depiction of America today -- war-profiteering corporations, brainless political opposition, religion and war.

With just two word substitutions, Ian Buruma's description of the Weimar Republic describes who is ruling America today: "autocratic media moguls, disaffected generals, dim-witted elites, Fundamentalist reactionaries and ultra-nationalist schemers."

It was this gang of venal bunglers who handed over the Weimar Republic to Hitler. Oh, but the Weimar Republic was the Germans' first attempt at democracy. We're so much better at it than they were . . . we'll be able to handle it, won't we? Any ideas how?

[The two substitutions: "elites" for "aristocrats" and "Fundamentalist" for "Catholic."]

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