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“The Googles of the world, they are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux nation,” Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Richard Parsons said, referring to the Civil War American general George Custer who was defeated by Native Americans in a battle dubbed “Custer’s Last Stand”.

“They will lose this war if they go to war,” Parsons added, “The notion that the new kids on the block have taken over is a false notion.”

Two points. First, doesn’t this phrasing sound like Baghdad Bob? And second, while Custer certainly lost the battle, the Sioux actually lost the war. That’s because they faced an opponent with better technology, more dynamism, and . . . oh, hell, you get the idea. It was a poor choice of metaphor.