Statue of Limitations
24th August 2017
Steven Hayward at Powerline has some fun.
I see Trump has said some outlandish things lately. Like this: “I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing, and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed.” More: “Germans of future generations will honor Herr Hitler as a genius, as a brave man, a matchless organizer and much more.”
Wait—did I say Trump? Sorry—these comments came from Gandhi. The first quote was made in May 1940, as Hitler was readying to roll over France, and the second quote was made on June 22, 1940, the day France capitulated. Time magazine seriously considered Gandhi to be “Person of the Century” back in 1999 before settling on Einstein as a safe and uncontroversial choice.
I guess Trump is the New Gandhi, except that he’s not.
Time had to tap dance to explain why they didn’t re-up with their “Man of the Half Century” from 1950, who was Winston Churchill. Here’s how Time explained it then:
Well, the passage of time can alter our perspective. A lot has happened since 1950. . . In his approach to domestic issues, individual rights and the liberties of colonial subjects, Churchill turned out to be a romantic refugee from a previous era who ended up on the wrong side of history.
In other words, Churchill was politically incorrect.
Whups, there’s that Wrong Side of History again. Like the boogey-man, it’ll get you if you don’t watch out.
Now Timereports that the African nation of Ghana is taking down a statue of Gandhi because of his condescending views of Africans (long known by anyone who studied Gandhi even casually), because why should the U.S. have all the fun:
Ghana has said it will remove a statue of Mahatma Gandhi from a university campus in the nation’s capital where it had sparked protests over the leader’s allegedly racist attitudes.
I love that “allegedly.” I note that Trump’s supposed racism is never considered to be “alleged.” In any case, I think Time has some old editors to erase from their collective memory for their bad judgment about Gandhi.
Maybe Hitler was the New Gandhi, except when he wasn’t. Gandhi can’t be the New Trump, because Hitler came first, or something.