28-03-2010, 11:09 AM
Peter,
I'm delighted you acquainted yourself with Father G, SJ. His demolition of the official version of the Cecil Gunpowder Plot is not merely a great work of historical research, but a key to understanding the formation of the modern British state, its American successor, and any number of world-historical covert ops. I've often wondered about his life and career, and thought what a good idea it would be to put together a script for a doc on his take on the CGP. Another project for which I lack both time and money.
I like very much Young on the spooks: The terrible truth is that even the most conscientious of us can turn into vehicles of disinfo, for the best possible reasons. The spooks have no such defence, as practically everything they do is in bad faith.
We have several weapons to wield against them. By far the most under-rated is satire. We should also seek to form ad hoc groups to subject as much of their self-serving lies to savage scrutiny as possible. Anglo-American spookery has worked tirelessly to destroy the role of the public intellectual to prevent precisely this kind of organisation, but we can - must - find ways round it. They are morally insane, and if left unchallenged, are guaranteed to wreck our descendants' futures.
Paul
I'm delighted you acquainted yourself with Father G, SJ. His demolition of the official version of the Cecil Gunpowder Plot is not merely a great work of historical research, but a key to understanding the formation of the modern British state, its American successor, and any number of world-historical covert ops. I've often wondered about his life and career, and thought what a good idea it would be to put together a script for a doc on his take on the CGP. Another project for which I lack both time and money.
I like very much Young on the spooks: The terrible truth is that even the most conscientious of us can turn into vehicles of disinfo, for the best possible reasons. The spooks have no such defence, as practically everything they do is in bad faith.
We have several weapons to wield against them. By far the most under-rated is satire. We should also seek to form ad hoc groups to subject as much of their self-serving lies to savage scrutiny as possible. Anglo-American spookery has worked tirelessly to destroy the role of the public intellectual to prevent precisely this kind of organisation, but we can - must - find ways round it. They are morally insane, and if left unchallenged, are guaranteed to wreck our descendants' futures.
Paul