by Lupin
Wed Jul 4th, 2007 at 05:27:56 AM EST
Redstar thought I should crosspost here this diary I posted yesterday on Kos.
Many years ago (c. 1975), I was privileged to briefly work with the great Irish comic Spike Milligan who told me a story which I never forgot.
I should mention that Spike had served in North Africa during WWII (and wrote about it in his memoirs Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall and Monty: His Part in My Victory). Spike was a gentle soul. He disliked the military, couldn't function within it, but had a healthy respect/fear for the power of brute force that he knew could crush him in an instant.
I am very much like Spike and I have no doubt that, in a truly fascist regime, I'd be first in the mass grave. But I digress.
So I remember discussing comedy with Spike -- he was a great admirer of French comedian Jacques Tati and knew a lot about comedy in general. My friend Marcel Gotlib had worked as a gagman for Tati so we had a lot to talk about.
Anyway, Spike mentioned that, before the war, Berlin had some of the best comedians in the world, stand-up comics who, in the night clubs, mercilessly mocked and ridiculed the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
Then Spike concluded, with his bittersweet smile: "They sure showed him."
I never forgot this quip, because in the end, it is the perfect summary that against naked power, brute force without conscience, all our wit, humor, intelligence and, yes, the Law itself, will not prevail.
The Libby incident is another dark mark for America, on a path that is increasingly darker.
