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Myth America: A Stand-up Tragedy
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy Oct 19, 2008 03:19pm |
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| Category | Speech |
| News Date | Sunday, October 19, 2008 09:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | (To follow is a version of a talk I’ve been giving throughout 2008.)
I'd like to preface my presentation with a little story about September 11. Not September 11, 2001. September 11, 1973. On that date, the U.S. government helped fund and sponsor a military coup in the South American nation of Chile. The democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, was overthrown and killed. They said he committed suicide...with a machine gun. In his place, the U.S. propped up the dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Not surprisingly, under Pinochet taking power, human rights violations in Chile skyrocketed. Surprisingly, someone within the U.S. power structure talked about it.
A man named David Popper was U.S. ambassador to Chile at the time and he sent a cable to the State Department about the human rights issues. The Secretary of State in the mid-70s was none other than Henry Kissinger. His response was short and sweet: "Tell Popper to cut out the political science lectures."
Now, I may not have anything approaching a college degree, but I have taken one political science course in my life. So I get it and, in a rare case of synchronicity with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Henry Kissinger, I promise there will be no political science lectures here tonight. |
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