The power of the malicious misquote

Get email from journalist asking whether I've ever said the following:

Hitler never had to ask permission before invading any country, and the United States will never have to either.

Sounds like something I'd say, doesn't it?

EXCEPT I WROTE AN ENTIRE CHAPTER IN MY SECOND BOOK DESCRIBING A GLOBAL RULE SET THAT DETERMINES WHEN AND UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS AMERICA INTERVENES MILITARILY IN OTHER COUNTRIES!

But other than that tiny technicality (a mere canonical idea for me that I've briefed the world over for years, so embedded in my world vision that Robb includes it in his book) ... yeah, I'd buy that quote as coming from me.

I mean, I remember when Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, put up a bigger wall!"

May be somewhat untrue, but I'm paraphrasing a ... bit.

This is an essential reality of my success in spreading the vision: the malicious misquote is an asymmetrical counter-attack you regularly encounter.

Don't want to face it? Don't engage as a visionary, because if you do, you will be subject to this sort of thing.

There is no turning back, just more transparency.

For the record (and I paraphrase), I said the following:

If America is an "empire," then we're a pretty strange one. I don't remember Hitler or Stalin ever asking anyone's permission before invading another country. But we go around to every little member of the UN asking for permission repeatedly before we go anywhere. That's not an empire.

Slight, esoteric difference, I know, but I like to put my own words in my own mouth.

Comments

[Eric Chen]

No surprise. Propaganda and misinformation have always been front-line tactical tools for guerilla fighters. Moreso in the current competition for tomorrow - kinetic warfare in the information age.

Your vision is threatening indeed for folks who want a different kind of world and a different kind of role for the US in that world.

Congratulations. The enemy considers you a threat.