The Lion of Lucerne, The Swiss and a EuroSeptic rant from Mary Ellen Synon
Or anyway light a candle or two. They will one day pay an awful price for the lunacy they’ve adopted and the policies they wrap themselves in. All self defeating.
Reminds me of how the world in general is unworthy of a nation like America.
If Barack Hussien The Muslim Obama has his way, we will be just as fucked up
as the rest of the world. Here is something the world at large needs to be
aware of: Lefty Democrats and socialists care what the world thinks of
the USA, The USA and the people who live here couldn’t care less what the world
thinks of us. We know who we are and what we have, and thank god every day that
we wake up here in America. The Swiss should tell the EU to piss off.
America should tell the rest of the world to piss off. We’d be fine on our own.
this doesn’t include the Brits, the Aussies, or the Israelis. I’d like to include
Canada, but They’re kind of flakey and don’t like us much.Sorry, but I have a great issue with this. The Swiss Guards were hated for some very damn good reasons- including their odd habit of going on raping trips in the Parisian suburbs, their general refusal to follow the law, and their otherwise appalling behavior-, and they weren’t any kinder to the dissidents/revolutionaries they captured, even PRIOR to the outbreak of all-out war. What the Revolutionaries did was inexcusable, but they were hardly without reason or justification in their actions towards the Swiss Guards. To be blunt, the Swiss Guards in the service of the Bourbon Monarchy were an ill-behaved, atrocious group of thugs who considered themselves above the law and who (let me make this very clear) violated the very oath we are supposed to congratulate them for staying true to (which included clauses demanding that the Guards respect, uphold, and obey French law at all times). Hardly the shining example of dutiful soldiers the article makes them out to. If anything, the French Revolutionary National Guard were more truly admirable than they were, often placing themselves directly in harms way (often right into the middle of the Rabble at Arms) to save the lives of these “gentlemen.” THAT is duty. The Swiss Guards were certainly brave and loyal, yes, but they were not dutiful or honorable.
And what makes this even MORE galling is that with even a cursory knowledge of Swiss history, one could find better examples than the Swiss Guard. Take, for instance, the citizen soldiers of the Cantons who fought for independence from Hapsburg tyranny for almost two centuries, and who secured such a reputation that a mythological one of their number is still used as a metaphor for sacrifice in the pursuit of liberty and victory for one’s comrades on the field of battle (I am of course speaking of Arnold von Winkelried, who supposedly threw himself onto the Austrian pikes in order to open a gap in their lines for the Swiss to advance) and they have been referred by by such luminaries as Washington, Truman, and Churchill as examples of citizen soldiers preforming honorably and dutifully in the face of a tyranny’s superior forces. And then there is the Swiss intelligence of WWI and WWII, who preserved Swiss independence from subversion by the vastly superior resources of the Reich’s intelligence bureaus throughout the years, rending a vast if indirect service to the Western Allied cause.
Those are the true counterparts to the Swiss today: proud, lawful, honorable soldiers- both in arms and not- fighting to defend their homeland and liberty from the specter of a foreign oppressor- albeit one far less inhumane than either the Hapsburgs or the Nazis were. Synon needs to do her bloody homework to avoid future missteps like this.
Other than that, I agree.
Posted by Turtler
03/19/2010 at 01:49 AM
T.
Could be that Synon doesn’t even know there’s any more homework to do. I never made a great study of the Swiss other then (shame faced) skimmed the surface of their history. I read about the Guards but had not come across this. Perhaps had I read more I’d have found it.
03/18/2010 at 04:11 PM
