"What struck me most about the palace was the completely self-referential character of it," one American diplomat later recalled. "It was all about us, not about them. People would walk around the palace with a mixture of venal and idealistic motives. None of them knew Iraq." All about us, not about them: the great imperial cliche. "Spartacus" may not be a historically fastidious movie, to put it mildly, but in one respect it does accurately capture the ancient Roman state of mind. Right after the campy bath scene, in which Laurence Olivier's Crassus is washed by the slave boy Tony Curtis, Olivier takes Curtis out to the balcony and shows him the legions passing by. "There, boy, is Rome," Crassus intones. "There is the might, the majesty, the terror of Rome. There is the power that bestrides the world like a colossus. No man can withstand Rome, no nation can withstand her -- how much less a boy?" The historical Crassus would one day lose an army in the desert sands. Coming upon those words from the movie not long ago, it was hard not to recall a remark made by a Bush administration official to the reporter Ron Suskind: "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." Boston Globe
All about us, not about them: the great imperial cliche. "Spartacus" may not be a historically fastidious movie, to put it mildly, but in one respect it does accurately capture the ancient Roman state of mind. Right after the campy bath scene, in which Laurence Olivier's Crassus is washed by the slave boy Tony Curtis, Olivier takes Curtis out to the balcony and shows him the legions passing by.
"There, boy, is Rome," Crassus intones. "There is the might, the majesty, the terror of Rome. There is the power that bestrides the world like a colossus. No man can withstand Rome, no nation can withstand her -- how much less a boy?" The historical Crassus would one day lose an army in the desert sands.
Coming upon those words from the movie not long ago, it was hard not to recall a remark made by a Bush administration official to the reporter Ron Suskind: "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
Boston Globe
That is a famous quote of mind boggling arrogance.
Has it ever been revealed, definitively, who made the quote?
The Hubris Syndrome Bush, Blair and the Intoxication of Power David Owen A powerful analysis of Bush and Blair's style of government, from a respected politician and medical doctor, offering revealing personal insights and a devastating critique For many politicians, power seems to go to their head, and becomes a heady drug affecting every action they take. The Greeks called it hubris, where the hero wins glory, acclaim and success - but it is often followed by nemesis. David Owen suggests George Bush and Tony Blair developed a Hubristic Syndrome while in power. He provides a powerful analysis, looking at their behaviour, beliefs and governing style, in particular the nature of their hubristic incompetence in handling the Iraq War. Both of them, and in her last year in office, Margaret Thatcher, developed many of the tell-tale and defining symptoms. A statesman, politician and medical doctor, with personal knowledge of the war in the Balkans, David Owen has unique insight into Blair's premiership, including several meetings and conversations with Blair from 1996-2004. With his long political experience, Owen has written a devastating critique of the way that Bush and Blair manipulated intelligence and failed to plan for the aftermath of taking Baghdad. Their messianic manner, excessive confidence in their own judgement, and unshakeable belief that they will be vindicated by a 'higher court', have doomed what the author believes could have been a successful democratic transformation of Iraq. http://www.politicospublishing.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/178
The Hubris Syndrome Bush, Blair and the Intoxication of Power David Owen
A powerful analysis of Bush and Blair's style of government, from a respected politician and medical doctor, offering revealing personal insights and a devastating critique
For many politicians, power seems to go to their head, and becomes a heady drug affecting every action they take. The Greeks called it hubris, where the hero wins glory, acclaim and success - but it is often followed by nemesis.
David Owen suggests George Bush and Tony Blair developed a Hubristic Syndrome while in power. He provides a powerful analysis, looking at their behaviour, beliefs and governing style, in particular the nature of their hubristic incompetence in handling the Iraq War. Both of them, and in her last year in office, Margaret Thatcher, developed many of the tell-tale and defining symptoms.
A statesman, politician and medical doctor, with personal knowledge of the war in the Balkans, David Owen has unique insight into Blair's premiership, including several meetings and conversations with Blair from 1996-2004. With his long political experience, Owen has written a devastating critique of the way that Bush and Blair manipulated intelligence and failed to plan for the aftermath of taking Baghdad. Their messianic manner, excessive confidence in their own judgement, and unshakeable belief that they will be vindicated by a 'higher court', have doomed what the author believes could have been a successful democratic transformation of Iraq.
http://www.politicospublishing.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/178
