Former Vice President Dick Cheney may find out. Then again, publicly supporting Kamala Harris might redeem him. Anyway, he's dead at 84.
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld are meeting in the Oval Office. Rumsfeld says, "Mr. President, the Pentagon estimates that if we go into Iraq, it will lead to the deaths of a million Iraqis and a cocker spaniel." Bush says, "Wait a second, why would invading Iraq kill a cocker spaniel?" Cheney turns to Rumsfeld and says, "See? I told you no one would care about a million dead Iraqis."
I took that as a funny joke since Cheney wasn’t young. On the other hand there are a few of us no longer young types hobbling around the forum that might take offense.
A very different perspective: I always believed Saddam’s downfall was inevitable — he brought calamity upon Iraq himself. Throughout history, those who turned against the Jewish people or Israel have eventually met ruin. Their leaders fell, and their nations suffered the consequences — Iraq, Syria, Gaza, even Iran to some extent. And of course, Hitler is the ultimate example. The same pattern can be traced further back: the fall of the Russian monarchy began after it persecuted and expelled Jews from Moscow and other cities during the pogroms. It seems that leaders, whether they realize it or not, become instruments in the hands of higher powers — their choices set in motion forces far beyond their control.
This is ethnocentric pareidolia. One of the lessons of history is that eventually everyone meets ruin, whether they oppress Jews or not.
I propose a new weekly award for DegreeInfo posts with fun phrases in them. I nominate "ethnocentric pareidolia" for the first weekly award!
