As predicted, there was a pushback from the Palin fans to my support of Aung San Suu Kyi. Leading to this exchange on my comment section.
The Iceman wrote:So what has Aung San Suu Kyi done for the world lately? Evidently being under arrest itself does not warrant any kind of achievement on the scale of quitting your job to write a book. I would list her Nobel Peace Prize, had that award not lost its distinction in recent years, but that award didn't happen in 2009 either.
"Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics to work for democratization, helped found the National League for Democracy on 27 September 1988, and was put under house arrest on 20 July 1989. She was offered freedom if she left the country, but she refused.
One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins, "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
Anonymous wrote...
"tops 20 years of house arrest"
Again, is the poll about 2009 or the last 20 years? Because Palin's record breaking success in the literary world happened completely in 2009, not over a period of 20 years.
I guess the question is what has Aung San Suu Kyi done SPECIFICALLY in THIS YEAR ? If we're going for freedom fighting in '09 I would rather support one of the women active in Iran right now because its a current, 2009 event.
Because had I known we were allowed to nominate on going success for things that happened years ago I will switch my vote to Mary, mother of God.
So what happened this year? 2009 marked the 20th Anniversary of her placement under arrest for advocating democracy under an oppressive military dictatorship. Over that entire detention she had the option of complete and total freedom if she simply decided to leave the country. For all 20 years, she refused to leave while her people were suffering under the rule of the sick, twisted Knights of the Roundtable running the country.
Just how sick is the government of Myanmar, errr, Burma? Well rewind to 2008 when Cyclone Nargis was bearing down on the coast of Myanmar. Storm watchers in neighbouring countries warned the Burmese military junta of the danger of the approaching storm, which would cause massive destruction along the densely populated Irrawaddy Delta. Not only did the junta refuse to evacuate, they refused to even warn the people of the coming danger. Why might they do that? That region is among the most supportive of the pro democracy movement. What happened? The cyclone slammed into the coast and 150,000 people died. Nargis dwarfs Katrina in every category imaginable.
As we move along to 2009, an American tourist breached the perimeter of her home with the desire of meeting the Nobel Laureate. Since the term of her imprisonment was due to end, the junta seized on this as an opportunity to extend her house arrest. Why would they want to extend her house arrest? They plan massive federal elections in 2010 to firm up their grip on power, and the last person they want walking the streets is my favourite lady. This is the first such election in nearly 20 years. Aung San Suu Kyi won the last one. So in 2009, on the 20th Anniversary of her original house arrest, she faced trial by a military tribunal for allowing someone to invade her property. The term of her sentence, by miraculous coincidence ends soon after the election.
She did not merely sit in detention for the entire term of 2009. What is heroic about that? She in fact faced prosecution by one of the most tyrannical governments on the planet for someone else invading her property. The courts sentenced her to 3 years of forced labour, but the junta was kind enough to scale that back to 18 months of house arrest. Again, she has the option of leaving her country, going vogue, to an international audience where she would unquestionably elicit incredible fame and wealth on the speaker’s tour like Sarah Palin. But no, she refuses to leave her detention while her people are suffering.
Where is the nobility in that? How anyone can have the audacity to argue that Sarah Palin deserves more acclaim for quitting her civil service job to make millions of dollars than a brave warrior of democracy who willingly chooses to endure detention and refuses to leave while her people suffer? To me that is a hero. Not the 'Sarah come lately' who goes vogue and abandons the people who elected her so that she herself can attain incredible wealth.
Who is my woman of 2009? Aung San Suu Kyi. Who is my woman of the decade? Aung San Suu Kyi.
I don't care if I ever read Going Vogue, but here are 3 books that unquestionably have more to teach you about the nature of the Planet Earth. Whose life experience do you think is a more valuable message for the citizens of this planet? The folly of Kyi is that Gandhism only works when your oppressor is a true democracy. When the oppressor is a military junta, you end up dead or in jail... sometimes for several decades.
Sometimes to make breakfast, you need to crack a few eggs. Get over it Iceman. Stalin did what Stalin needed to do.
ReplyDeleteAnd how is the Burmese junta able to commit these atrocities? Support from China, who also wants to see Suu Kyi under arrest. The last thing they want is this lady running around the World telling its citizens why Asia needs democracy. Dealing with the Dalai Lama is headache enough. But if Iggy has his way, we will stroke China over their atrocities to increase our standing in the world?
ReplyDelete"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right; here I am, stuck in the middle with you"
ReplyDelete-Stealer's Wheel
Hello Iceman:
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a merry Christmas and wish you well in the new year & decade. I enjoy your blog. It is edgy enough to stir up mild controversy without sinking to the level of over-the-top conspiracy theories and slander. I particularly like your polls. This latest one regarding woman of the year was a tough one. I had to narrow my selection down to women that affected Canada.
That winnowing left Sarah Palin out of my considerations, although she certainly caught a lot of attention in North America and the blogosphere. I like her, but I'm still ambivalent on her ability to lead the U.S. I'm not sure whether she is more interested in celebrity or politics.
If I had been totally parochial I would have voted for Daniel Smith. She has certainly stirred up politics in my home province and she has a good chance of being our next premier. She didn't get my vote because she hasn't been around long enough to show me any results, but I'm hoping 2011 will be her year.
That left me with Michaelle Jean. Her politics are not mine, however, I do think that she has handled her duties with dignity and an honest desire to take her role as Canada's representative seriously. She could have let the idiotic unholy coalition take control of the country, but she chose the path that would cause the least disruption to the body politic. She seems to have made Stephen Harper squirm a bit since it was his actions (much as I agree with them) that led to the panic in the opposition. Her eating of the raw seal heart was a fine gesture toward the people of the far north and a slap in the face to the nanny-state-loving Europeans. And, her appearance in full military dress at the Remembrance Day ceremonies was exquisite. This lady has always shown tremendous affection, compassion, and support for our troops and their families. I think she does us proud. She got my vote.
Of course, had my mother still been living, she would have won my ballot hands down.
Keep up the good work.
Nice, somebody cheated on the poll and voted for Palin several times. People, I track hits with cookies.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I got 3 dozen hits from the University of Toronto while I was sleeping.
ReplyDeleteThanks for disqualifying Palin.
Its kind of ignorant to deride a book without bothering to read it and nice title, "Going Vogue", it has all the sexism and dismissiveness one would expect while being completely absent of facts.
ReplyDeleteHas Palin appeared in Vogue? Has she mixed it up with fashionable elites? Is there anything wrong with making money, I didn't know being a novelist was somehow a dishonourable proffesion!
As far as I can tell she went on a book tour and talked to regular people. She hit the pavement and did retail politics the way everybody else does.
I would implore you to be more reasonable, less petty, and more balanced in your discussion of Palin.
What is nuts is that I like Sarah Palin! What I am pushing back against are the people advocating her to be the Republican nominee for President in 2012. That discussion should not even be taking place. At 45, she still has 20+ of window. Go get some experience, and let's maybe talk about Palin 2020 or 2024. She should run for the Senate at the next available opportunity. Go sit in the legislature and experience how it works.
ReplyDeletePalin 2012 can't and should never happen. That's what I am pushing back against. For the right here, right now, we need Rudy Giuliani to finish off Al Qaeda.
RUDY 2012!
I won't argue whether Rudy should be elected, just that it appears he can't.
ReplyDeletePassing up the gov and senate race in NY isn't helpful, even if it is to do security consulting for the government of Brazil.
And I don't see where his base is. The Florida strategy cannot be repeated, Iowa remains off limits, and New Hampshire will probably split between Tim Pawlenty (the new rockstar for fiscal conservatives!) and Mitt Romney (yetch).
P.S. - About Palin, people quit political jobs non-stop. Obama and Biden quit being senators during their terms. Most of their cabinet come from people who quit being senators or govs during their terms. When Canadian MP's, MLA's "retire" its often during a term.
Quitting a job for greener pastures is not a vice, its a virtue if it improves the circumstances for your children.
As for the people of Alaska - there is a reason for the LT. Gov position.
Iceman - bet you and countless others did not think even for a fleeting moment that Obama who, I think is in his early forties, was unfit for the mandate he has won, although the man hardly had any experience to speak of.
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck ... you want Palin to be an old woman of 65 before she gets elected to the presidency ? Your macho colors are showing Iceman. Hide them quick in the guise of "Palin the quitter" and "Palin does not have the experience".
Sounds to me like people who say they love Israel but hate Zionism. That statement boils down to : "Hates Jews"
Iceman - do you hate Palin because she is a woman and you think only a man can do the job of taking care of the biggest nation on earth?
The testicular fortitude necessary to prosecute the heads of the five families require balls of steel. Balls of steel produce more testorone, thus making the man hornier than your Average Joe. I won't begrudge him for that.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way a "Palin 2012" campaign should even exist. We need Rudy to hunt down Bin Laden to the gates of Hell. I said Obama was too inexperienced during the campaign, and I was accused of being a racist. That's what you are doing here Dodo. I know you like to call yourself Dodo, but the irony is that species was woefully inefficient and went extinct.
My mom is a feminist and even she thinks Palin is far too inexperienced to be President. But I suppose my mother is also a male chauvanist?
ReplyDeleteIceman cometh or goeth;
ReplyDeleteThe Iceman doest not know
And never will;
Till he is sixty-four
And don't bring your mom into this - this is between you and me. Unless you want her to hold the wet towel for you in your corner.
The only thing your Rudy would be able to hunt down would be a woman's soiled panties left a mile away from his nose. That would make him into a panty-hound and not Osama bound.
What proof do you have that the Dodo went extinct? Just because some lousy scientists say so does not make it so? Think hockey stick graph. Was that real?
So ..... just because someone has put it about that the Dodo is no more, does not really mean it is extinct and the same can be said for the myth, YES MYTH, that the dodo was stupid and "inefficient" (you actually meant to say stupid, didn't you?) does not mean that it was really stupid and "inefficient"?
The truth could be something that you and those who think Dodo was a stupid bird that has gone bye bye would never use your pea-sized brains to think about. That would be a strain and you might get a king-size migraine and explode altogether into nothingness.
The very fact that the word "Dodo" has found a place in the English language and can be used as a descriptive noun and what have you, proves that out of billions of species that have gone extinct for good (without a single soul remembering what they looked like or what they were named) DODO will live on.
Iceman - go chill out in the frozen tundra of Vancouver.
Perhaps the Dodo still exists in your world, however lost in space your world might be; but they no longer occur on Earth. Ironic, I know.
ReplyDeleteLook, I expect a hero like Rudy with giant balls of steel to be horny. Deal with it. As DA for NYC, he secured over 4000 criminal convictions with only 25 reversals. He is arguably the most effective prosecutor in the history of the United States on fighting organized crime. Is Al Qaeda not organized crime? Should we not have this modern day Wyatt Earp hunting down one of the deadliest criminal enterprises the world has ever known?
And speaking of Wyatt Earp, he did leave his wife for a new woman. When you have giant balls, you need to clean the pipes more often than mere mortals. Do you know who else evidently has big balls? Levi Johnston...
And my mom could kick your ass!
Actually it is raining in Vancouver right now.
ReplyDeleteYou are an ahole Iceman. I will come back to you tomorrow as I am a little tipsy enjoying good drinks and good company.
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't know what good company means anyway.
Funny you should say that, because I have always maintained that if they ever make a movie about my life, the song "Asshole" by Dennis Leary will play during the final credits.
ReplyDelete"I use public toilets and I piss on the seat. I walk around in the summer time saying how about this heat?"