Leftish Munchausens

Jeremy Brown at Who Knew? has a terrific question on his blog and asked question of a "troll" on Michael Totten's blog where he has been guest hosting (and doing an excellent job by the way). The question is this:

How is it that people can claim that the newly elected Shiite Majority in Iraq is a surrogate for the Iranian Mullahs while at the same time claiming that Iraq is now governed by a puppet democracy installed by the U.S.? Why would the U.S. want to install an anti-American Iranian theocracy in Iraq? Is this supposed to be some sort of geopolitical Munchausen syndrome? I'd really like to understand that better.

If you click on the Munchausen link above, you will get an entry from Wikipedia. That's fine as far as it goes, but let's take it just a tad farther. Munchausen's Syndrome is a mental disorder in which the individual "fakes" or "feigns" illnesses or symptoms because being attended to for an illness is quite comforting for some. Some have even demanded surgery for their illnesses. Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy is similar, but is usually a parent inducing or complaining about symptoms of their child. The DSM IV diagnosis is Factitious Disorder.

But the fun part is where the "diagnosis" came from. And here goes.

Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Baron (Freiherr) von Münchhausen (the English title Baron comes from the German "Freiherr") was born in 1720 and died at the age of 77 in 1797.

From Books And Writers comes this little bit of history:

"Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr v. Münchhausen (also known in England as Baron Muchausen) was born in Bodenwerder, Hanover. He was sent as a page to the court of the Duke of Braunschweig. At the age of seventeen he joined the army. He served in a Russian regiment and gained in 1739 the rank of Lieutenant and later he became cavalry captain. It is possible that he fought in two Turkish wars in 1737-39, although there are not much documents about his military career from this period. After resigning in 1752 he retired to his country estate. Münchhausen loved the company of his old friends, and storytelling, although he was not happy about his sudden fame as a liar, Lügerbaron. His straight-faced narrations of his supposed adventures as a soldier, hunter, and sportsman were based on his skillful improvisations..."

Indeed, the good Baron's tales were so fanciful and impossible, they were comedy. A sample:

"I made a balloon of such extensive dimensions, that an account of the silk it contained would exceed all credibility; every mercer's shop and weaver's stock in London, Westminster, and Spitalfields contributed to it: with this balloon and my sling I played many tricks, such as taking one house from its station, and placing another in its stead, without disturbing the inhabitants, who were generally asleep, or too much employed to observe the peregrinations of their habitations. When the sentinel at Windsor Castle heard St. Paul's clock strike thirteen, it was through my dexterity; I brought the buildings nearly together that night, by placing the castle in St. mGeorge's Fields, and carried it back again before daylight, without waking any of the inhabitants; notwithstanding these exploits, I should have kept my balloon, and its properties a secret, if Montgolfier had not made the art of flying so public." (from The Surprising Adventures of Baron Muchausen, 1895 by R.E. Raspe)

One of his more "outlandish" tales, that of riding "half a horse."

Well, now that doesn't sound like what Jeremy Brown was saying, and yet, it does. Oh it does indeed. Because Jeremy is absolutely right - oh, not that the troll he was talking about is feigning illness, but that there is an element of "liar" in the question he asks: Specifically "How is it that people can claim that the newly elected Shiite Majority in Iraq is a surrogate for the Iranian Mullahs while at the same time claiming that Iraq is now governed by a puppet democracy installed by the U.S.?" The claim that the many on the left, especially the leftist trolls that inhabit some blogs make is that Bush is the liar, about everything, yet, if the President can be discredited by making claims, even when those claims are contradictory ("The sun so hot I froze to death, Suzanna don't you cry" see what I mean) then they accomplish what they want. But, there is a consequence for that type of argument, and the consequence is this. They begin to look foolish, just as the good Baron did. JUST as the good Baron did!

Posted by GM Roper at February 15, 2005 09:33 PM | TrackBack