CounterPunch -- Dr. Werther: George Will and the Collapse of Historical Knowledge

It is not surprising that crackpot analogies like Mr. Will's have gained traction in the United States anno 2002. A recent National Geographic survey found that in the dumbed-down post-literate age "only about one in seven--13 percent--of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military warriors, could find Iraq" on a world map. (3) The adage says that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king. Accordingly, a half-educated discourse on the Weimar Republic by a kennel-fed establishment literatus like George Will sounds like real erudition to people who can barely find Canada on a map.

Will comparing Iraq to Weimar Germany is less accurate than comparing Will to Goebbels. "Goebbels and George Will never served in the military, and both wrote tirelessly in favor of war, and both practiced the lower forms of journalism"