Lessons from killing fields of Cambodia - 30 years on (noticed on Power Line . Prof. Hinton seems to argue that the US is (or is becoming, or can be) very much like the Khmer Rouge. The liberal elite believes that they are intelligent and conservatives are not very bright. This article is so full of holes that one wonders about the wattage of the leading lights of academe, or is it simply "tell outrageous lies often enough and the masses will believe?"
Prof Hinton misses a few minor points:
-The Khmer Rouge collectivised the country and moved folks from the cities to work. Is he saying that we are doing that, if so, where?
-The KR abolished religions. I thought the complaint was that the Bush Administration was going to make us into a theoracry.
-The KR committed genocide by outright murder or by starvation, disease and neglect. Over 20% of their own people died. I must have missed mass murder in the US.
-The KR set up torture of its own citizens. He also mentioned Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Wonder how many of us are being imprisoned and tortured? It is convenient to forget that months before Abu Ghraib became a media fest, the US Military had an ongoing investigation. As an aside, how does one get a pulitzer for "discovering" something announced in a press conference?
Prof. Hinton really has to strain the bounds of reality to come up with a comparison of the US with the Khmer Rouge that passes any tests of logic and sense. Apparently, Cambodia is his area of academic interest. His classes must really be a trip. I would have to take very careful notes because the "facts" presented in his classes may not bear much resemblence to anything I could find in established texts or other writings. Maybe not, it could just take several pages on how bad the US is, no matter the subject or timeframe covered.
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