“We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds: we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Germany, 1943
If there ends up being another war memorial on the DC mall, this time to the never-ending “war on terror,” this quote (the Goering one) MUST be included prominently. In fact, it should just be this quote and nothing else. The wall of dead soldiers perfectly memorializes Vietnam, as it was about nothing more than death (no war ever truly is), and this war is about nothing more than government lies and propaganda. The only thing more fitting would be to have statues of sheep in military garb saluting a television somehow incorporated into the design.
Mr. Liberty,
As a professional illustrator and cartoonist and one who despises the State your idea would make a great editorial cartoon. With your permission and full credit being given I would someday love to work that one up and share with you.
Who knows maybe we can post regular toons to TBP ridiculing this most immoral institution for all the world to see ?
Actually, my idea was somewhat ripped off from a cartoonist in St. Louis (never been able to find the cartoon online, sadly). It was his concept of an Iraq War Memorial, and it showed a man, curled up in the fetal position, someone in terror, “sitting” in front of his Television. On the side of the memorial was the quote by Goering. It came out shortly after the outbreak of the atrocities in Iraq they call a war. Clearly the sheep present a different and more than appropriate take on it. Would be happy to see in the future.