*pauses a moment*

"Um. It is at this point considered to be a truism by anyone familiar with the subject that the American concept of Christmas, as articulated in 1947 by Walter Lippman, and here I'm quoting, 'is that kernel of Occidental history from which cheer happily springs; a shoot of a candied cane'. And it is the notion of the 'candied cane' that actually wound up becoming a euphemism used in State Department internal memoranda--they're available in print for anyone curious to read the full text, which I suggest you do, because they articulate some of the key details of the policy agenda toward Cambodia at the time, which actually has its roots all the way back past late French colonization to Siem Reap--in 1967 to describe the absolutely brutal ritual beatings of what we would later call the Khmer Rouge. The 'candied cane' was, and again I quote the State Department, 'a method of corporal punishment administered by means of a length or switch of bamboo beaten about the back, legs, and buttocks, generally drawing enough blood from the victim to 'candy' the cane'. The memo goes on to describe the CIA's involvement in indoctrination of Pol Pot's Khmer Republic forces into method of punishment, of which a candy cane was one. In fact, it's interesting, because this method of brutalization was not an ad hoc invention by the United States for the region. If you go back to look at similar documents regarding CIA involvement with the Sandinistas, you find--"

*Zizek interrupts, greasy, stained tee shirt, wearing a rope of garland like a necklace, stage right*: "CHPROMSKY EESTH WEESTHOUT HEES TYPICAL CHEER WHEN DEESCRTHIBING ZEE KHMER ROUGTH"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2740992&forum_id=2#30388943)