Bravo Sibylle Hamann
Posted by | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-03-2003
In a review in the 3 March 2003 issue of Austria’s profil magazine, Sibylle Hamann previews and critiques what looks to be another astonishingly simplistic attack on the United States — from a member of Austria’s national parliament, no less.
She reviews Peter Pilz’s Mit Gott gegen alle: Amerikas Kampf um die Weltherrschaft (With God Against Everyone: Americas Struggle for World Domination) which appears today (6 March) in stores. Pilz is a member of the Green Party in Austria’s parliament. I have not read this book, but judging by some of Ms. Hamann’s comments, it seems another example of euro-sophistico-intelligento gone awry.
Hamann quotes a few of Pilz’s opinions of America: “ignorant governments, a naive populace … a police state … [with] Stasi-methods.” (The Stasi was the East German secret police. Funny that a Green Party member would mention the Stasi — instead of the Gestapo.) She responds sarcastically: “It’s a good thing Peter Pilz and Europe have America. How else would they know what they don’t want to be? We have a name for when children go through these tantrums of defiance on the way to developing their own selves: puberty.”
She goes on to ridicule Pilz’s assertion that the US uses super bombs, lasers, computers and Blitzkrieg weaponry in order to spare their own troops. “Because house-to-house, man-to-man battles would be fairer? Does Peter Pilz prefer the good old tank battle?” she asks.
Hamann points out that the question of collateral damage is a legitimate one, but she adds that Europe’s inaction caused the “collateral damage” of 200,000 lives in Bosnia.
“Peter Pilz loves America. That’s nice: nice that he told us on page 261 of 261 pages, because otherwise one could get the opposite impression.”
As good as her criticism of Pilz’s childishness and hate-mongering is, she nevertheless ends with a questionable bit of wisdom of her own: “Peter Pilz is wrong. The hateful, reactionary, weapons-loving, ignorant part of America, which he hates so much, would always rather be isolationist. Never has someone like George Bush Jr. wanted to dominate the world. To him, the world is neither here nor there.”
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