NOOOO!! I'm not talking about the girlish trio of boys who MMM-bopped their way into the hearts of Delftsman and Frank J... I'm talking about a pure political genius. Victor David Hanson. If you've never heard of him, it's never too late to start experiencing a truly wonderful political mind.
I like to write. When I wrote on a regular basis (many years ago), I was a pretty decent writer, but even at my best, I'll never be a 1/4th of the writer VDH is...
Here is but a taste of his brilliance:
Do we now remember the impassable peaks, the snowy haunts of the Taliban that were too high for us, or Kabul, the dreaded graveyard of all imperial expeditions? It was just a few months ago, it seems now, that we were admonished about the fury of retaliation to come for daring to fight during Ramadan, the impossibility of working with a nuclear and Islamic Pakistan, and the Wild West nature of Afghanistan's tribes so impossible to forge into the stuff of consensual government. And it was worse still than all that: the cries on the hard left of millions of refugees to come; the European warning about thousands of dead from indiscriminate American bombing; the need to adjudicate 9/11 by jurisprudence rather than arms; and the crazy conspiracy theories of pipelines, neo-cons, 'Jews,' Likuds, and CIA plots.
Yes, we remember all of it...preach on brother!
Have we forgotten what foul and cowardly folk the Taliban were — thugs who lynched women, shot homosexuals, blew up civilization's icons, destroyed a century of culture in Afghanistan, promised us death and worse, and then ran out of town in the clothes of women with what plunder they could carry? Do any of us recall the brave Afghans and Americans, both the planners in Washington who were libeled and the soldiers in the field who routed these butcherers?
You can sure as hell bet some of us never will.
Now, get yer buttz over to there and read!
Posted by Darth Monkeybone at December 3, 2004 09:02 AMReading such brilliant writing tends to make one want stop trying to pretend to be able to write. Thank you for pointing me to Mr. Hanson's work. I see that he is nominated (and, so far, is winning) in the best essayist category in the 2004 Weblog Awards. Not surprising at all.
Posted by: Jim - PRS at December 3, 2004 10:52 AMGlad you posted this, I always enjoy VDH's writing, this is one way to get him broader "syndication". Thanks Darth.
Posted by: Jack at December 3, 2004 11:20 AM"Hanson - Pure Genius
NOOOO!! I'm not talking about the girlish trio of boys who MMM-bopped their way into the hearts of Delftsman and Frank J..."
Ya take em in and treat them like a son, and still they do nothing but fling poo at you!
Still, to be reminded to check out VDH on a regular basis makes the experience almost worthwhile....now if only Darth would stop playing those Donnie & Marie albums full blast!
now if only Darth would stop playing those Donnie & Marie albums full blast!
Who?!?
No old people references please...*duck*
Posted by: Darth Monkeybone at December 3, 2004 03:22 PM