Yes, once again I was the victim of another right-wing hate machine email from my relative. This one was titled:
How Long Do We Have?
and mixed the failing of a democracy, the 2000 election, xenophobia and raciscm. What does this have to do with 2-ply toilet paper you ask? The answer is...ahem...below the fold....
Here's the original email:
FYI
HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?
This is the most interesting thing I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming.
I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it.
How Long Do We Have?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government."
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."
"From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years"
"During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
- From bondage to spiritual faith;
- From spiritual faith to great courage;
- From courage to liberty;
- From liberty to abundance;
- From abundance to complacency;
- From complacency to apathy;
- From apathy to dependence;
- From dependence back into bondage"
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
Number of States won by:
Gore: 19
Bush: 29
Square miles of land won by:
Gore: 580,000
Bush: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:
Gore: 127 million
Bush: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore: 13.2
Bush: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..." Olson believes the United State s is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty-million criminal invaders called illegal and they vote, then we can say good-bye to the USA in fewer than five years.
If you are in favor of this then delete this message if you are not then Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
And, my repsonse, replying to "All", naturally.
- There was never a book, publication, pamphlet or scratch paper written by a "Alexander Tyler" with "Athenian Republic" in the title. In fact, out of all the publications by "Lord Woodhouselee, Alexander Fraser Tytler" (yes, even the name was wrong), none of them mention anything from the email below.
- Although Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota exists, he had nothing to do with any of the information in this email. A quick google search resulted in his profile page at Hamline University:
http://law.hamline.edu/...
Which says, quite clearly:
"DISCLAIMER: There is an e-mail floating around the internet dealing with the 2000 Bush/Gore election, remarks of a Scotish philosopher named Alexander Tyler, etc. Part of it is attributed to me. It is entirely BOGUS as to my authorship. I've been trying to kill it for 3 years. For details see: http://www.snopes.com/...
- Even the stats mentioned in the email are wrong.
- The number of states = wrong. It was 30 for bush and 20 for Gore.
- The county by county murder rate is wrong. It was 3.3 for bush and 5.2 for Gore.
- The population of counties and square miles = mostly accurate
source: http://www.snopes.com/...
Considering the author of this email is just as full of crap as my toilet was earlier, I have no reason to believe anything else he/she would have to say.
What I don't believe in: Xenophobia, racism, hate. If you believe in this, please stop forwarding crap like this. You're only dirtying up the internet.
What I do believe in: Apple pie, the American flag, OSX and, after this morning, 2-ply toilet paper. If you believe in this, please forward this email to all the people that forwarded the original email to you.
You know, at some point in the near future, you will have to realize that the people originating these emails are liars. I also have to assume that the people that believe and forward these types of email have something horribly wrong with them :)
And there you have it. The 2000 election directly linked to 2-ply toilet paper using right-wing propaganda as the glue.
David