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March 2008
by Michael Ledeen
by Michael Ledeen
by Michael Ledeen Michael Ledeen takes a fresh look at Tocqueville’s insights into our national psyche and asks whether Americans’ national character, which Tocqueville believed to be wholly admirable, has fallen into moral decay and religious indifference. by Michael Ledeen American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Ledeen offers an updated version of the rules for leadership laid down by Machiavelli. Its the nature of humans to do evil, and war is our natural state. Anyone who would wield power in such a setting, writes Ledeen, echoing Machiavelli, “must be prepared to fight at all times.” This is as true in business, sports, and politics as it is on the battlefield.
by Michael Ledeen With the skill of a born storyteller, Michael Ledeen weaves together key moments in the fall of communism. His insider’s knowledge of the interplay of complex personalities and Byzantine strategies makes a compelling narrative, one enlivened by his wry wit and flair for the dramatic. In this call to embrace the worldwide democratic revolution, the author argues that global democracy should be the centerpiece of U.S. strategy. |
March 28, 2008 1:22 PM
The Secretary of State Thinks She's SufferingAfter listening to the (excellent!) weather forecast (mid-seventies) and walking the dog in the woods near us, I made my morning tea and opened the Washington Times to find the secretary of state talking about race again: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national “birth defect” that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country’s very founding. Secretary Rice is a highly educated and sophisticated woman who, like many who have risen from modest circumstances to great heights, sometimes seems to suffer pangs of guilt for her great success. And so, it seems to me, she is vulnerable to one of the more common intellectual/emotional traps of our time, which is the yearning to believe in our own victimhood. I have good standing to pronounce on this subject, being a Jew, for a great deal of Jewish self-identity involves precisely that cult of victimhood. A famous Jewish joke tells of a man complaining about the miseries of his life, to which another remarks, “so look who thinks he’s suffering.” There is now an open competition throughout the Western world for the title of “most victimized.” It’s ridiculous, of course, not least because those truly oppressed and suffering rarely get the same chance for freedom and success that the Western whiners have. She is quite right to say that slavery has relevance to American Blacks’ sense of themselves. How could it be otherwise? Just as the Jews’ slavery, oppression, and genocide are relevant to our sense of ourselves (our constant anxiety about the fragility of our success, whether in Israel, America or elsewhere), so Black slavery, the institutionalized racist oppression of Blacks for a century after the formal abolition of slavery, and the continued negative attitudes toward Blacks among other Americans, is a source of anger and anxiety. But the subject is much more complicated than she seems to think, and she seems unaware that most Americans no longer find it difficult to talk about past and present racism, nor to embrace one another across “racial” lines. For many years now, she has lived in a cultural cocoon, whether on the politically correct campus of Stanford University, or the cubes in the NSC offices in the White House and the Old Executive Office Building, or the State Department. It seems to me that she has little direct experience with the melting pot of America, where “intermarriage” is rampant. This is nowhere more dramatic than the military, and I think she’d be astonished to see the extent to which racial and ethnic distinctions have vanished in our armed forces. We recently had the exhilarating experience of spending five days on a Marine base, where ethnicity is melting away, and it is really quite impossible to define soldiers, and even more so their children, in ethnic terms. And yes, history is a factor in their identities, but it is still history, it is not today and will be less of a weight tomorrow. It would be good to hear an American secretary of state talk along those lines, I wish she had more a sense of the dynamics of American society. Those young men and women in the armed forces are a cross section of America, far more than her peers at the academy or in the government. Instead, she finds it emotionally satisfying to talk about the victimization of her ancestors, and of herself when she was younger. Some of her words are even plaintive, which she does not seem to realize are inappropriate for a person who has risen to great heights. Secretary Rice attracted a lot of attention a while back when she told a group of Palestinians that she understood their suffering, because she came from a people who had similarly suffered under unjust oppression. But that sort of statement is unworthy of a serious person, because “victims of oppression” is not a universal category. We are all victims in one sense or another, and we do not automatically understand one another by slapping that label on everyone who whines, or even on everyone who is really oppressed. It takes serious study and hard thinking to recognize the enormous differences between Palestinians–most of whom are oppressed by other Palestinians, or by “brother Arabs,”–and American Blacks, almost all of whom were enslaved by others. The whole basis for the oppression, and thus its content, is different. Unfortunately, she only looked at one slice of the Palestinians’ woes–their domination by Israelis in Gaza and the West Bank–instead of coming to grips with the more difficult context. Later in the interview, she says that, even in the worst times, black Americans loved America and believed in America. I’ll take her word for it, and if it is true it is because they knew that America, despite slavery, was fundamentally committed to the equality of all. No Palestinian believes that his society is committed to human equality. Unless we get these distinctions right we shall get the policy wrong, as night follows day. She is muddying the waters. “We were slaves in the land of Egypt,” we Jews say every Passover, at the beginning of the celebration of the Exodus. That’s a good model for all those who were oppressed, and eventually found freedom. If she had said “we were slaves in the land of America,” and then gone on to celebrate the abolition of slavery and then the civil rights fight, and now the remarkable rise of a black upper class that is an integral part of the country’s elite, I would have cheered. America is supposed to be about freedom, and the opportunity to excel. No one more fully embodies the American Dream than the secretary of state, and she should lead the celebration instead of whining that discussions of race are sometimes difficult. I doubt it, frankly. But even if it were true, so what? Lots of worthwhile endeavors are difficult. Get on with it. And by the way–just to add one more layer of complexity–I wonder if she would be surprised to learn that there are plenty of Africans who are convinced of the inferiority of black Americans, on the grounds that they were enslaved, and therefore weak. The Africans know that winning tribes enslaved the losers, and some of the enslaved losers were sold to Arabs, Europeans and Americans. Does Secretary Rice think that Africans find it difficult to discuss this matter? Did she raise the subject in her conversations with African leaders? I first heard about this from Africans, and they did not seem to me to have any trouble talking about it. So look who thinks she’s suffering, I would say to her. Try being an Iranian, or any woman in the Middle East (aside from Israel), or a pretty girl most anywhere in the Third World who is an automatic target for the sex traffickers, or a Syrian, or an African threatened with death in various forms (disease, starvation, massacre) every day. That’s real suffering. Today. Not a generation ago. Our mission is not to encourage discussion, but to fight these evils, as we’ve so often done. It’s discouraging to hear the secretary of state sound like Michelle Obama in her more unfortunate moments. Comments (28)R.F.F. :john :Before the United States existed, slavery (of many races) was the norm. It took a Civil War IN the United States to have humanity to say out loud that slavery is wrong and that every human being IS created equal. It may be that without the Civil War in the United States, slavery would still be the norm. Unfortunatley, because slavery was part of the world since the beginning of time, it has taken time to flush away the wrongness. Michael Ledeen has provided a great discussion and has shown how the military is flushing away the wrongness. AGM :Great piece. I have also felt the so called "sting" of discrimination in housing and in social interaction, but my attitude about it was that those that discriminated were missing the opportunity of knowing and exchanging experiences with someone very special; me. ML: And you are so right. Glad to offer you virtual housing here with us. AZR :You have made some good points here Michael. I would add a few of my own. First let me say that slavery was an abomination in this country for far too long. But it drives me crazy how all of America is blamed for slavery. Consider that in 1860, at the height of slavery, 23 of the 42 states in the Union had NO SLAVES. Yep, you guessed it, the non slave states were all in the north. The total population of the US in 1860 was about 30 million, but only about 400,000 were slave owners, again, all concentrated in the south. So less than 1.5 percent of the popoulation were slave owners! And let us never forget our own Civil War fought in no small part to end this horror. And we should all know that many people alive today, like myself, have ancestors who fought in the Union Army to end slavery! We will never get past the racism and resentment in this country until we grasp the truth of the past and learn to let go of any blinding hatred. ML: Or, alternatively, refuse to let ourselves be manipulated by people who have a big career stake the view that things are really terrible. j green :I think that Ms. Rice, as the head diplomat, is supposed to be capable of seeing the common threads running through all the parties in an issue. She's not supposed to be a blind proponent of one side or the other. Yet on the slavery issue she is essentially preaching the mantra that blacks hold a monopoly on victimhood. I expected more from a Secretary of State but, then again, maybe this is why she has been a disappointment as Secretary. I guess rank or title doesn't equate to competence, i.e. Carter, Brziensky, Albright, etc. Rice was sent there to fix the place, and she ended up getting indoctrinated into that disfunctional culture herself. Your piece is a great explanation of the problem regarding "black victimhood". A society blank of racism and victimhood (both sides of the issue) will function just like that Marine base already does function--seemlessly, where the only descriptor is "patriotism" and it applies equally to all of them. Our society overall has endeavored to purge the racism--but no credit is given to us by those who still continue to propagate the mantra of victimhood. ML: Thanks. I tried to stress that I am concerned about the whole desire to be considered a victim by almost everyone in the modern West...it isn't just black Americans, it's Indians (feathers), Jews, Latinos, all manner of Christians, women, gays, indeed most everyone except the lawyers, who rule and are like it (only kidding, hoHO)... M.E. :Condoleezza Rice could start her lamentation over a “birth defect” from the “original sin”, when the first woman took and ate the fruit of the tree of good and evil. The man’s History begins from this “birth defect”. Must we refuse our History because the beginning was imperfect? As a scholar of archaic traditions I know that all origins have some “defect”. It is possible to say that man’s History is a History of the Defect thanks to which History exists. ATA :Wow, I think Ms. RIce was right on the money. I don't think she was arguing for a sense of entitlement due to black Americans' victimization by the rest of America. There is a difference between acknowledging unhealed wounds and going through life with a permanent chip on your shoulder. I don't think America is a place for any kind of victim class, whether black, Jewish or female. It is a place where effort should always be made to ameliorate past injustices to Americans who truly are striving to attain the American dream we all cherish. ML: Thanks. Hope you're right. David :John (Mar 29, 9:24am) says INCORRECTLY that it took the "Civil War IN the United States to have humanity to say out loud that slavery is wrong and that every human being IS created equal." He also says that without the Civil War slavery might still be the norm around the world today. ML: I'm not as sure as you that those beliefs, misleading though they may be, are self-satisfied. Often they are self-critical, and the insistence that america live up to the ideas on which it is founded (which makes the united states a truly revolutionary society) is an important engine of progress, both for us and others. narciso :Yeah, there's a bit of adisconnect, AN :Great response ML. Secretary of State is an enduring job and I think CR is venting some sorrow for herself. Travel fatigue,negotiation fatigue etc. I just hope CR is not trying for the V.P. job in the D-party. ML: she seemed pretty determined to return to the academy...i can't imagine why anyone would want to be vice president, except for a president with two weeks to live... Jeb :It seems to me that she has little direct experience with the melting pot of America, where “intermarriage” is rampant.Rampant? Certainly more common than 50 or even 20 years ago, but hardly rampant. As of the last census ~1.3 million people in the US are of mixed (Caucasian/African-American) race out of ~300 million. If these marriages were rampant wouldn't their children make up more than 0.5% of our population? Before the United States existed, slavery (of many races) was the norm. It took a Civil War IN the United States to have humanity to say out loud that slavery is wrong and that every human being IS created equal. It may be that without the Civil War in the United States, slavery would still be the norm.You apparently don't realize that most nations and all European nations abolished slavery prior to the US civil war and without recourse to war. Michael Ledeen has provided a great discussion and has shown how the military is flushing away the wrongness.The military is today the way it is with respect to race because Truman forced integration in 1948 over conservative outcry. Many of the same arguments about unit cohesion were made then about integration in the military as are now made about homosexuals in the military. ML: Thanks. Yes, I am generalizing from my own experience, and that of our three kids. Plenty of mixed marriages in our immediate circle, and of course our involvement with the military. We are now a military family; all three of our children are either on active duty (marines), at work in the pentagon (civilian) or about to do officers' candidate school (marines again). their friends come for dinner, and the married ones are often mixed. then there's washington, d.c., which is a majority black city, and which, in the thirty years we have lived here, has become a place with very easy relationships involving various ethnicities. i think the society is moving a lot faster than the elites and the intellectuals. when i was a teenager i frequented jazz clubs in new york city, which was the first place i encountered real integration. clint eastwood's movie about charlie parker, "Bird," portrays that society pretty much the way i remember it. what mattered was talent, not color. and yes, there were some racial stereotypes (i had some heated discussions with some black musicians who believed that white guys could not be great jazz drummers, but that didn't last very long. buddy rich was a great jazz drummer (and married to a great black singer), and joe morello had the greatest left hand in his generation... Ed Wallis :I just wanted to add something on a similar idea of AN: that Dr. Rice says this as a simple method to ensure ML: Yes, and also to ensure, or so she likely believes, a modus vivendi with the Black Establishment, including the likes of Rev. Wright. FRED KNOWS BEST :I, TOO, WAS QUITE DISAPPOINTED WHEN I READ SEC. RICE'S WASHINGTON TIMES INTERVIEW. SHE SAID THAT EUROPEANS CAME HERE BY CHOICE, AFRICANS IN CHAINS. SAY WHAT? THIS IS SIMPLY REPEATING AN AHISTORICAL VIEW OF VICTIMHOOD, THAT VIEWS U.S. HISTORY IN OVER-SIMPLIFIED BLACK-WHITE TERMS. FIRST, WHAT ABOUT ALL THE AFRICAN AND CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS HERE BY CHOICE? LIKE, FOR INSTANCE, HER PREDECESSOR'S FAMILY. SECOND, IS THE "CHOICE" SHE MEANS THE ONE MY ANCESTORS HAD BETWEEN BEING RAPED AND PILLAGED BY COSSACKS OR FLEEING PENNILESS TO AMERICA? THIRD, WHERE DO ASIAN IMMIGRANTS FIT IN TO SEC. RICE'S VIEW? FOURTH, WHAT ABOUT LATINOS? MY FEAR IS THAT SEC. RICE'S NEW FOUND VISIBILITY IS A PRECURSOR TO HER BEING THE VP NOMINEE. K. Chaplinsky :There's more to be said about the Jewish experience in America. My grandfather fled persecution in Russia to make a life here, at a time when new immigrants were herded unto abysmal slums and put to work in factories where they were worked night and day in conditions that were not far from slave labor. Learning English from scratch, he put himself through night school and made himself a lawyer, ultimately providing his children with the opportunity to educate themselves and prosper. He embraced the opportunities his new country provided and overcame the obstacles by sheer grit and determination. So what exactly am I supposed to feel uncomfortable about,and what do I owe descendants of slaves who were born free with more advantages than my grandfather ever had? Cindy :I have always wondered if the Civil War was divine intervention. Had we not fought and lost life and treasure for the rights of all humans, what would have happen when the Industrial Reveloution came into play? What would have happened if millions of slaves had become "obsolete" before the nation had made a stand on their humanity as opposed to a commodity? Aglifter :Many Americans ancestors came here fleeing oppression -- certainly many of the Pre-Revolution immigrants. Most of Europe was enslaved by Rome at one time -- I haven't heard many English, Irish, or German people complaining about the Southern Italians... The only reason all this "victimhood" junk exists is that it has become tolerated. jvon :As a friend of Masons I am appalled to see the lore of Masonry brought up in such a way. If you are indeed a Mason, sir, you are not a very good one. Cindy :First, sorry for the horrible spelling, I proof what I want to see instead of what is there. I agree that "victimhood" has been embraced and that few can really claim it. I think the "national conversation" on racism is a bit of a sham because people's prejudices are based more on their personal experiences rather then a large disdain of people based on skin color, religion or national origin. I think 9/11/01 was a perfect example that we don't react as a monolith. Attacks on Muslims were not only few but I think that vast number of American's felt protective of people being blamed for the actions of a few. Now we need to stop blaming a nation for the mistakes of the past. Jeb :Cindy, Most of Europe was enslaved by Rome at one time -- I haven't heard many English, Irish, or German people complaining about the Southern Italians... Perhaps you would if an Italian enforced Jim Crowe style oppression had persisted in Europe until the mid 60s. Oppression of African Americans did not magically end with emancipation and systemic racism did not end with Jim Crowe. People are still alive today that had friends and family members lynched because of the color of their skin. I grew up in Alabama in the 70s and 80s and there were still restaurants that refused service to African Americans. This supposed "culture of victimhood" is not the reason that America is not the post racial paragon that many commenters here seem to think it would be if African Americans would just "get on with it." ML: Far be it for me to claim Americans are totally tolerant and color blind. My complaints are, first, that Secretary Rice should be stressing the amazing progress we have made in the last couple of generations (much of which she seems not to know about), not lamenting a national 'birth defect' , and second, that it is inappropriate for someone who has been greatly favored by this society to seek to be part of a class of victims. And finally, that the quest for 'victim' status is alarmingly widespread and detrimental to our society. tanstaafl :You are far too smart and successful to fall into the victimhood trap. I had the same thought hearing Condoleezza Rice's recent comments on race. Far more on point are the observations of Clarence Thomas or Bill Cosby or even some of the comments of that bombastic (black) preacher Manning who yells at his congregation..."500 years later and you're still whining ?!" A nice counterpoint to the tirades of the Reverend Jeremiah. It would seem Condi is beleaguered because her negotiations in the Middle East aren't bearing much in the way of fruit, as they have not borne fruit in the already decades of "negotiations" on the region. The Korean deal seems like another (bad) wash. Bargains with rogue regimes just don't work out too well, imagine that. These frustrations may bear on her recent sympathetic attunement to victimhood. Jeb :ML, No doubt much progress towards racial equality has been made, but the journey is not complete and we should not stop until it is. I am glad that Truman's actions of '48 worked as well as they did in the military and that racism there is considerably less prevalent there than in society as a whole. When a future president is as brave in their treatment of homosexuals in the military I'm sure the results will be much the same. * surprisingly many were still bitter over the outcome of the Civil War ML: Just about verybody, even I, can lay claim to victimhood. Even legitimate claim. But some are more victimized than others, and while I'm prepared to fight on behalf of people who are suffering and/or oppressed, I have little patience for highly successful people, who are representing my country to the world, who go around complaining instead of celebrating a society that made it possible to rise from racist Birmingham to the offices she has held and will hold in the future. I find it inappropriate. But more important is her tendency to lump all "victims" together. It is not true at all to say that a woman from Bull Conners's Birmingham "understands" the Palestinians, or the real victims in Darfur, or the Tibetan monks, or Iranian women. That is like saying that only Jews can write Jewish history, or only women can teach gender studies, or only Blacks can teach Black history. False, intellectually shallow, demeaning to serious scholars, deadly to honest inquiry.\ Those are the things that bother me about her remarks. Serious people are supposed to be able to rise above their personal biographies and lead us. She is supposed to advance our interests in the world, and a big part of that is speaking on behalf of a very lively, amazingly tolerant, and constantly changing nation. I wish she would do more of that instead of talking about "birth defects." Dontcha think? j green :Your commentary to Jeb turned into another piece all by itself, but you raise numerous important points. This world contains many victims and no one group holds that distinction exclusively as Ms. Rice insinuates. I am not comfortable comparing "levels of victimhood" but they are when they claim the mantle of being the Ultimate Victim. Many groups have it far worse also than the group she described. Think of countries like Iran or Cuba, where the ration of rice is a cup a month. Why do those Cubans take their lives in the palm of their hands and fight to leave the misery of Cuba and live in the U.S.? Why do we haev an immigration problem? Because this is such a great country that evreyone wants to come contribute to its success and share in its wealth. Isn't this what Ms. Rice is supposed to be saying? That is the nature of a world that is always trying to better itself. Ms. Rice's statement indirectly denies that any progress is or ever has occured and, I am personally offended by that. Nothing is ever enough, improvements are never acknowledged, and everyone cries on the black issue as though its still the 1960s. Off-topic somewhat, someone above mentioned North Korea which made me think of Gov. Richardson. Why is this guy taken seriously? yes he's experienced as many beauracrats are. The only bright spot about him is that he's a cigar smoker and a pleasant man in-person (but then again he was a diplomat which means his job is to be pleasant). Besides that, he was Secretary of Energy when the Chinese stole the entire Los Alamos facility, he made the stupid bribery deal with N. Korea which they ultimately admitted to ignoring and devloping their nuclear technology, and he was the U.S. Representative to the U.N. (which counts against him in my book by default) And he was affiliated deeply with the Clinton Adminsitration who's largest failure was not being prescient to the terror threat from the Islamo-fascists--he deserves a good chunk of this credit also. But I digress. ML: Not really. Meanwhile, Ira Zad continues to have problems commenting here, so here's his latest contribution: It seems that Sec. Condi has heard Rev. Wright's battle cries, and has decided to appease (as she is in the habit of 'appeasing' just about all our enemies, esp. the Islamist kind in Iran)and join the victimization/Black Panthers parade before her term is over when she fears finding herself surrounded by hungry black wolves like Rev. Wright without any White House "immunity". Kind of a "white flag" (no pun intended) waving at the radical black lunatics. ML: Maybe McCain's veep, certainly not Obama's. Porkov :Try this on for size: slavery did not (largely) go away because of some transcendental aakening. It went away because cheaper and easier ways of getting the work done became available and then, rapidly, commonplace. Why use human labor to plow the fields when the invention of the horse collar made it possible for a horse to accomplish four times the physical work by a vehicle that eats grain and grass and does not require a roof over its head? Do you keep a scrivener to scratch you thoughts on vellum? And now that the robots and the nanobots are here, what next? ML: haha, great line. and so true. but that slavery-ended-because-of-technology is silly. slavery ended in britain because of a great man named wilberforce, and in america because of a great man named lincoln. Suzanne :Mr. Ledeen, I agree with you 100%. Thank you for this piece on Dr. Rice. I thought better from her as well. Bungalow Babe :Thanks for your insightful piece. While every minority group who has felt the bitterness of persecution has the right and responsibility to honor the memory of it, dwelling in victimhood is a dead-end path. At the very least, it is defeatist and disempowering. It gives a convenient excuse for failing to succeed, which often rings hollow, perhaps even in the ears of those who state it. At worst, playing the victim card breeds hatred of the perceived persecutors. It can also be spun out into an entire national movement, complete with progaganda and PR. One of the most alarming instances of overstated victimhood is the Palestinian nationalistic movement which uses lies, fabricated history and terorrism to build its narrative. What it utterly fails to build, however, is a stable society for itself or create any possibility of rising above the dismal present conditions. The leaders of the Palestinians have deliberately kept their people victims...in an effort to cast an accusing finger at Israel. As a white person in America, I am aware of my privilege but, if I like, I can claim victimhood based on my gender or my religious background. Yes, on Passover, I will recite the history of my people's enslavement in Egypt but the message of the Seder is one of empowerment, not wallowing in the bitterness. dram :playing the viction, wallowing in the past? are you people serious? She was cool, collected and not complaining at all. And for whites, like me, to tell blacks they're not allowed to feel this way is exactly the problem. SO many people simply refuse to listen to views, and experiences, different than their own. ML: "You people?" What is THAT? I'm listening very carefully, that's what this whole discussion--an entirely appropriate discussion, btw--is all about. dram :ok, let me clarify the "you people" statement. Bungalow Babe said "dwelling" not wallowing, but did say "playing the victim." Other posters use the word victim, victimization, 'sorry for herself' and other derogatory terms. A lot of it is similar to Lou Dobbs' take on the whole thing. And it just amazes me how many people don't instead say "gee, I really didn't know that so many african americans, including those who clearly love this country, feel this way. Maybe we do need a discussion on race." Instead they just shoot her down or say because some other race doesn't feel this way, why should Blacks. Until you walk a mile in my shoes...or whatever. ML: I don't think anyone is surprised at a claim of victimization. "Victim" is one of the two big categories of public discourse (the other is "success"). What is surprising, to me at least, is that someone who has been so successful should still insist on "victim" status. As Yuri Slezkine has pointed out in his great book "the Jewish Century," the Jews have accomplished that same feat: they are the greatest successes, and the biggest victims, all at once. I think it's inappropriate for successful people to claim they're victims. And I don't think it's good for our secretary of state to speak as if it were justified. She's an American success story, and we should celebrate her. She should, too. As for that Palestinian simile, it's a major intellectual mistake. dram :Do you not think it would be self centered and unfair of her to only celebrate her success, while not also reflecting on the status of the overall Black population. It might also be like saying, If I can do it there's no reason everyone else can't. from a nyc liberal dem, no fan of Condi's ML: I think her job is to fight our enemies, and not whine about America's "birth defect," and it would be good to hear her take pride in a country that gave her the extraordinary life she has led. She is not just an ordinary American, she's the secretary of state of an amazing revolutionary society. There are times when she has been very eloquent about that fact, but not to the Washington Times' editors. Comments have been archived for this page. |
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Sir: With all due respect, I will readily attest to and agree that there was a "holocost". But I respectfully have to disagree with your [continued] assertion about building the pyrimids. I happen to be a "Mason" and know the "true" history of Masonry [with orignially was called the "Study of Lux/Light].
I also know that a certain group of people came out of the Caucuses cira
740 AD and asked the "original" Jews
[a religion, and not a race] to "teach us the Talmud". If you ask any Libavitcher on Eastern Parkway and Kingston Ave in NYC, they will [being honest and stating "history" and not "his--story] tell you the truth. I have a book, original, written in 1723 with states and I will quote verbatim " At the time of the "Exodus, the native Misriam [true name of Egyptians] expelled the "Hyksos". Try as you may, you cannot change "history [truth] with your continued feeding of "his--story" because there are many who know the truth; and it is said even in the Bible; the truth will set you free.
ML:
Do you keep that stuff in bottles, or do you just drink it all yourself? I never said anything about pyramids, and let's not start in with masonic theories of history. Not here, anyway.
But it's really good of you to aknowledge that there was a Holocaust. Hope it wasn't too difficult...
Mar 28, 2008 11:31 PM