An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan by Winston Spencer Churchill: ‘They were a condensed mass: 2,800 yards from the 32nd field battery and the gunboats. The ranges were known. It was a matter of machinery. The mind was fascinated by the impending horror. I could see it coming. In a few seconds swift destruction would rush on these brave men … It was based on a fatal underestimation of the effectiveness of modern weapons. Within the space of five hours, the strongest best armed and savage army yet arrayed against a modern European power had been destroyed and dispersed with hardly any difficulty, comparatively small risk and insignificant loss to the victors. Thus ended the Battle of Omdurman, the most striking triumph ever gained by the arms of science against barbarians … only a sporting element in a splendid game. ibid.
The United States, a capitalist imperialist state. And having more arms allows more expansion. More expansion means more wars. For which you then need more arms. A profitable chicken and egg would ensue in a totally incestuous relationship between military, industry and governments. ibid.
The symbol of all evil: it is something odd, hidden deep behind two words: Hiroshima, Nagasaki. It was said that it was a war against fascism. It was said it was to prevent further American deaths, but hundreds of thousands died, the accounting is irrefutable. In a chess game, the objective is to checkmate the opponent’s king. All of the pieces then become collateral. Their respective value depends on the strategic value you assign to them. In the present case the King is an emperor, and Japanese death will provide the collateral. Shock and awe. A massacre determined by an algorithm. It came at eight o’clock on August 6th 1945. Nobody was expecting it. They were pawns in a sordid game. Killing at a distance had just taken on a new meaning. No explanation required, no cries tolerated. No pity. ibid.
Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness was influenced by the Battle of Omdurman. ibid.
A new era in the history of racism. Europeans started mistaking military superiority for intellectual and even biological superiority. That’s when things turned nasty. No-one had to pretend any more. ibid.
Baden-Powell writes to his mother: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed the outing. Except for want of a fight. Which I fear will preclude our getting any medals or decoration’. ibid.
Lord Salisbury, Albert Hall 4th May 1898: ‘One can roughly divide the nations of the world into the living and the dying. The weak nations become increasingly weaker and the strong, stronger. It was in the nature of things that the living nations would fraudulently encroach on the territory of the dying.’ ibid.
The Germans did not think that as a higher race they had any need to abide by treaties they made with the natives. As in north America, the German plans for immigration presupposed that the natives were to be relieved of all land of any value. When the Hereros resisted … every Herero found within the German borders with or without weapons was to be shot … 80,000 Hereros died in the desert. ibid.
Eugenics: The over-infatuation with genetic impurity, an impressive amount of energy put into the classification of people. A pathological obsession for the concept of race that scientifically doesn’t exist. ibid.
The Myth of Pristine Wilderness: a land with no people does not exist. The idea that America was virgin land, a wilderness inhabited by non-people called savages, is a myth. Only through killing and displacement does it become uninhabited. Before the arrival of the British, north America was a continent of villages, of nations, of confederations of nations. Exterminate All the Brutes IV: The Bright Colours of Fascism
The Navy Seal team members who carried out the assassination of Osama bin Laden on May 2nd 2011 were reporting in real time to President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other officials in the sealed Situation Room. Following the operation, The New York Daily News commented, ‘Along with the unseen pictures of Osama bin Laden’s corpse and questions about what Pakistan knew, intelligence officials’ reasons for dubbing the Al Qaeda boss ‘Geronimo’ remain one of the biggest mysteries of the Black Ops mission.’ ibid.
Kill anything that moves. Take no prisoners. In California, hunting Indians was both legal and profitable. $5 a head, 50 cents a scalp. In 1849 the American government paid more than a million dollars to Indian hunters. ibid.
Make America Great again, he said. When exactly was it great? I mean really great? And for whom? ibid.
In the beginning, the slaves had to clean the cotton with their bare hands. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney would change everything. But Cotton also destroyed the soil, while using slaves’ bodies like a commodity became the most lucrative enterprise around. More profitable than all lands, banks, railroads, factories and gold products put together. Slaves were used as collateral for mortgage, a newly developed tool of commerce. ibid.
By 1890, disarmed, held in concentration camps, their children taken away half-starved, the Lakota and Dakota survivors found a new resistance: ghost dancing. ibid.
Wounded Knee Massacre: East Indians killed: 300; Survivors: 51 (4 men, 47 women), Army casualties: 25 dead. ibid.
Frank Baum: The pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends on the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better in order to protect our civilisation follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the Earth. The fact is, the Native Americans are still here, and this is still their home … The real fight remains the fight for self-determination and restitution. ibid.
As writer James Baldwin says, ‘There is scarcely any hope for the American dream. Because people who are denied participation in it, by their very presence will wreck it.’ ibid.
Lost souls on a pile of human confusion. The absence of any trace of empathy and genuine humanity is unbearable. The nightmare is buried deep in our consciousness. So deep that we do not recognise its ghosts. ibid.
The limits of superiority: privilege makes you vulnerable, and panic blended with ignorance and bigotry creates anger. Limitless and blinding anger. Everyone else becomes the enemy. The fortress becomes a prison. Everyone else looking in at you. ibid.
So educated Europeans today know how children die when the whip of debt and bombs whistle over poor countries. It is not knowledge that is lacking … Imperialism is a biologically necessary process that according to the laws of nature leads to the inevitable destruction of the lower races. ibid.
This knowledge is a fundamental prerequisite. That is why the narrator can tell his story as he does in Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness. He has no need to count the crimes Kurt committed. He has no need to describe them. He has no need to produce evidence. For no-one doubted it. ibid.
‘When migrants were blocking the road in Calais in France I wrote, Just run the fuckers over.’ The Internet Warriors, internet troll, 2017
Who are the people who spend their lives debating online and when did the discourse become so polarised? Why do so many use the internet to threaten, harass, and stretch freedom of speech to its limits? And are they as angry in person as they are online? ibid.
‘It [Islam] has the same agenda as Hitler.’ ibid. troll
‘I hope Isis kill David Cameron.’ ibid. troll
‘Fuck you Obama u worthless motherfucker! ibid. troll
When you express yourself in here, you expose yourself out there to hate. Say your piece on social media and you might incite a war. Make your mark online and you might make yourself a target. Dark Net s1e7: Provoke
Trolls post how-to guides. They praise each other’s work and look to one another for inspiration. ibid.
On June 16th 2015 Donald J Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States. Since then, he has been considered a master of classical rhetoric, galvanizing his supporters and scaring his opponents. Due to his controversial communication strategy, many people thought he would lose by a landslide. Trumphobia: What Both Sides Fear, Amazon 2021
I feel this election has given a voice to hateful people. ibid. woman
Why shouldn’t I hate her? She did the worst thing to me that anyone can do to anyone else. Let them believe that they’re loved and wanted and then show them that it’s all a sham. Agatha Christie, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
I thought something was going on. I sort of sensed it. And you notice little things, oh silly little things but they all add up. When I knew I hated you. With that blind sort of hate. Fox VIII: If It’s Good Enough for New Orleans, It’s Good Enough for Clapham, Connie to Billy’s mistress
One cannot overestimate the power of a good rancorous hatred on the part of the stupid. The stupid have so much more industry and energy to expend on hating. They build it up like coral insects. Sylvia Townsend Warner, diary 26th September 1954
You’ll still feel the hate in the morning. House of Cards US s2e2: Chapter 15, Claire to Frank, Netflix 2014
They’re built on hatred. The gang has one goal: they’re Volksfront. Gangland s6e4: Skinhead Assault, History 2010
The UK is one of the most progressive countries in the world for LGBT rights. But last summer, hate crimes against LGBT people increased by 147%. One in four LGBT people have experienced violent hate crime. Is it Safe to be Gay in the UK? BBC 2017
I hate this office. Most of all I hate this desk. The Destructors aka The Marseilles Contract 1974 starring Michael Caine & Anthony Quinn & James Mason & Maurice Ronet & Alexandra Stewart & Maureen Kerwin & Catherin Rouvel & Marcel Bozzuffi et al, director Robert Parrish, Quinn to secretary
I hate people who use the word anomaly. Red Dwarf s12e6: Skipper, Rimmer, BBC 2017
Outrage is one thing, hatred is quite another. Hatred is when your heart is filled and blinded by such rage that it starts to act out in ways that are even detrimental to the interests you seek. The Corbett Report, Radio Report 277, Hatred is the Heart of the New World Order, 2012