A few weeks ago, a friend posed the following hypothetical: if you could eliminate one country from the face of the earth, which would you choose? I went with Switzerland. I figured they’ve had it too easy for too long, just sitting up there in the Alps all smug and neutral.
Since then, I’ve found myself in some rather dubious company. Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi submitted a proposal to the UN calling for Switzerland to be eliminated as a country and divided between France, Germany, and Italy. (In another disturbing parallel between myself and Gaddafi, his Switzerland proposal is similar to my belief that the states of New Jersey and Connecticut serve no purpose, and should be divided between Pennsylvania and New York and New York and Massachusetts, respectively). Gaddafi then bolstered his credibility with a 90 minute non-sensical speech to the General Assembly.
And now, as referenced in the excellent Kate Harding piece linked to in a post below, Roman Polanski apologist Joan Z. Shore is calling for a boycott of Switzerland because of Polanski’s arrest. (Incidentally, while it was probably meant as nothing more than a stupid column gimmick, Shore’s discussion of her attitude towards Switzerland is an angle for criticism that Harding missed: Shore was willing to put up with Nazi complicity and denying women the right to vote, but arresting a convicted rapist crosses the line!)
In light of these unwanted allies, and some pleasant history with Switzerland on both sides of my family, I retract my hypothetical destruction of Switzerland.
-AR
This from someone who refuses to recognize New Jersey’s ownership of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (despite the line on the map).