What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

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Montegriffo
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Montegriffo » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:05 pm

Smitty-48 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:23 pm
heydaralon wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:44 pm
Max Hastings' Vietnam book is also great.
Rly?

I found it to be a pedestrian rehashing of the same old same old tropes, Imperialist French, Arrogant Americans, Stalinist North, Corrupt South, oh what a tragedy, blah, blah, blah.

Boilerplate liberal media narrative 101
I've not read the book but Max Hastings is no liberal (not in the American sense of the word).
He's a pragmatic centrist who supported Blair and New Labour in '97 and '01 but supported the Conservatives under Cameron in '10.
He was editor of the Daily Telegraph and wrote for the Daily Mail.
If anything he is a Tory wet.
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
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Smitty-48
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Smitty-48 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:37 pm

Montegriffo wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:05 pm
Smitty-48 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:23 pm
heydaralon wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:44 pm
Max Hastings' Vietnam book is also great.
Rly?

I found it to be a pedestrian rehashing of the same old same old tropes, Imperialist French, Arrogant Americans, Stalinist North, Corrupt South, oh what a tragedy, blah, blah, blah.

Boilerplate liberal media narrative 101
I've not read the book but Max Hastings is no liberal (not in the American sense of the word).
He's a pragmatic centrist who supported Blair and New Labour in '97 and '01 but supported the Conservatives under Cameron in '10.
He was editor of the Daily Telegraph and wrote for the Daily Mail.
If anything he is a Tory wet.
The liberal media narrative is embraced by Tories, all are want to make war into a parable, there is a conservative wing of the Vietnam parable as well.
Nec Aspera Terrent

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Montegriffo
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Montegriffo » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:41 pm

Smitty-48 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:37 pm
Montegriffo wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:05 pm
Smitty-48 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:23 pm


Rly?

I found it to be a pedestrian rehashing of the same old same old tropes, Imperialist French, Arrogant Americans, Stalinist North, Corrupt South, oh what a tragedy, blah, blah, blah.

Boilerplate liberal media narrative 101
I've not read the book but Max Hastings is no liberal (not in the American sense of the word).
He's a pragmatic centrist who supported Blair and New Labour in '97 and '01 but supported the Conservatives under Cameron in '10.
He was editor of the Daily Telegraph and wrote for the Daily Mail.
If anything he is a Tory wet.
The liberal media narrative is embraced by Tories, all are want to make war into a parable, there is a conservative wing of the Vietnam parable as well.
Which part of ''Imperialist French, Arrogant Americans, Stalinist North, Corrupt South'' do you have an issue with?
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
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Smitty-48
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Smitty-48 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:47 pm

Montegriffo wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:41 pm
Smitty-48 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:37 pm
Montegriffo wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:05 pm


I've not read the book but Max Hastings is no liberal (not in the American sense of the word).
He's a pragmatic centrist who supported Blair and New Labour in '97 and '01 but supported the Conservatives under Cameron in '10.
He was editor of the Daily Telegraph and wrote for the Daily Mail.
If anything he is a Tory wet.
The liberal media narrative is embraced by Tories, all are want to make war into a parable, there is a conservative wing of the Vietnam parable as well.
Which part of ''Imperialist French, Arrogant Americans, Stalinist North, Corrupt South'' do you have an issue with?
It's simplistic, as I say, it's all just an attempt to make war into a parable, with the media in the role of Jesus.

The media want to tell a story, they bend Vietnam to fit that story, the nuances are what make Vietnam interesting, the liberal media parable is not actually analytical, it's a fairy tale.

Everybody is supposed to learn the lesson, the media as instructors, except, they are vacuous, and their narrative is mostly bullshit.
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heydaralon
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by heydaralon » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:53 pm

In a lot of ways, Brexit mirrors the Vietnam war. In that way the war is a parable. The EU is Le Duan. Stalinist, anti-freedom. The UK is the Thieu regime. It is corrupt, also anti freedom and pro acid attacks and rape gangs+shariah law. In the Vietnam War, the losers were the Vietnam citizens, same as the pro-Brexit citizens. They are doomed either way. Much like the Vietnamese, they will be subject toa cruel tyrannical government full of jihadis and anti-freeom bureacrats, but perhaps they can become boat people like the Vietnamese who brave the Atlantic for a more liberty based experience. I truly feel for anyone who has to live in a shithole where you cannot have a barbeque without a permit and locks folks up for tweets. I would rather drown in the Atlantic trying to get to a land of liberty like America than stay in a brutal lose/lose shithole like the UK though. No question about that. The Remain faction represents the Stalinist ant people living in Hanoi and hating freedom. It really is eery how similar Vietnam and Brexit is.

We know how Griffo Chi Minh allies himself in this conflict. He might not agree with Le Duan on everything, but is perfectly contect watching those who don't agree with the party line or Carbon emitting landlords get executed or put into re-education camps. Perhaps Uncle Griffo has good intentions (whatever that means) but he is still an American enemy through and through.
Last edited by heydaralon on Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Smitty-48
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Smitty-48 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:59 pm

heydaralon wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:53 pm
In a lot of ways, Brexit mirrors the Vietnam war. In that way the war is a parable. The EU is Le Duan. Stalinist, anti-freedom. The UK is the Thieu regime. It is corrupt, also anti freedom and pro acid attacks and rape gangs+shariah law. In the Vietnam War, the losers were the Vietnam citizens, same as the pro-Brexit citizens. They are doomed either way. Much like the Vietnamese, they will be subject toa cruel tyrannical government full of jihadis and anti-freeom bureacrats, but perhaps they can become boat people like the Vietnamese who brave the Atlantic for a more liberty based experience. I truly feel for anyone who has to live in a shithole where you cannot have a barbeque without a permit and locks folks up for tweets. I would rather drown in the Atlantic trying to get to a land of liberty like America than stay in a brutal lose/lose shithole like the UK though. No question about that. The Remain faction represents the Stalinist ant people living in Hanoi and hating freedom. It really is eery how similar Vietnam and Brexit is.
The media only has two stories, Vietnam and/or Watergate, every story must fit within one or both of those parables.

The truth however, is that war is the force that gives us meaning and Nixon got a little too drunk one night, so no need to read the book
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heydaralon
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by heydaralon » Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:04 pm

so now that Monte is Griffo Chi Minh, I would say Smitty is either Smitthard Nixon or Smitty Le May. Two patriots who wanted to bomb commies back into the early Cretaceous period. Were I president, I would either promote him to Secretary of defense or national security advisor on how to deal with commie fuckery. I consider LeMay to be a fucking national treasure. If I were an airman, I would love to serve under LeMay.
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Montegriffo
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Montegriffo » Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:05 pm

heydaralon wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:53 pm
In a lot of ways, Brexit mirrors the Vietnam war. In that way the war is a parable. The EU is Le Duan. Stalinist, anti-freedom. The UK is the Thieu regime. It is corrupt, also anti freedom and pro acid attacks and rape gangs+shariah law. In the Vietnam War, the losers were the Vietnam citizens, same as the pro-Brexit citizens. They are doomed either way. Much like the Vietnamese, they will be subject toa cruel tyrannical government full of jihadis and anti-freeom bureacrats, but perhaps they can become boat people like the Vietnamese who brave the Atlantic for a more liberty based experience. I truly feel for anyone who has to live in a shithole where you cannot have a barbeque without a permit and locks folks up for tweets. I would rather drown in the Atlantic trying to get to a land of liberty like America than stay in a brutal lose/lose shithole like the UK though. No question about that. The Remain faction represents the Stalinist ant people living in Hanoi and hating freedom. It really is eery how similar Vietnam and Brexit is.

We know how Griffo Chi Minh allies himself in this conflict. He might not agree with Le Duan on everything, but is perfectly contect watching those who don't agree with the party line or Carbon emitting landlords get executed or put into re-education camps. Perhaps Uncle Griffo has good intentions (whatever that means) but he is still an American enemy through and through.
Hey, I'm just a patriot who wants the best for my country.
Nationalists don't have a monopoly on patriotism.
Populists like Farage and Boris just want to be popular. They don't really give a shit about consequences.
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
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Smitty-48
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by Smitty-48 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:12 pm

heydaralon wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:04 pm
so now that Monte is Griffo Chi Minh, I would say Smitty is either Smitthard Nixon or Smitty Le May. Two patriots who wanted to bomb commies back into the early Cretaceous period. Were I president, I would either promote him to Secretary of defense or national security advisor on how to deal with commie fuckery. I consider LeMay to be a fucking national treasure. If I were an airman, I would love to serve under LeMay.
Vietnam was a noble cause and the war had to be fought in the context of the brink of thermonuclear war, America had to show resolve to fight in order to maintain the credibility of the Balance of Terror.

The issue in Vietnam was execution, it was winnable within the context of an economy of force blocking action, LBJ and Westmoreland just botched it, they simply made the wrong calls from the sidelines.

They got baited into Search & Destroy, if the war had been better run, it could have been more economic in terms of blood and treasure, which would have rendered it a non issue in terms of waiting the commies out.
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heydaralon
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Re: What Book Are You Reading at the Moment?

Post by heydaralon » Fri Jan 31, 2020 1:29 pm

Smitty-48 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:12 pm
heydaralon wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:04 pm
so now that Monte is Griffo Chi Minh, I would say Smitty is either Smitthard Nixon or Smitty Le May. Two patriots who wanted to bomb commies back into the early Cretaceous period. Were I president, I would either promote him to Secretary of defense or national security advisor on how to deal with commie fuckery. I consider LeMay to be a fucking national treasure. If I were an airman, I would love to serve under LeMay.
Vietnam was a noble cause and the war had to be fought in the context of the brink of thermonuclear war, America had to show resolve to fight in order to maintain the credibility of the Balance of Terror.

The issue in Vietnam was execution, it was winnable within the context of an economy of force blocking action, LBJ and Westmoreland just botched it, they simply made the wrong calls from the sidelines.

They got baited into Search & Destroy, if the war had been better run, it could have been more economic in terms of blood and treasure, which would have rendered it a non issue in terms of waiting the commies out.
Seems like the ARVN was our Achilles' Heel though. Those guys sucked.
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