Sticking one's head in the sand, BillW -- there, now you made me say it!
Ray Bradbury's prophetic novel, "Farenheit 45l" seems almost around the corner now. Frankly, I think Ashcroft should be brought to legal bay for censorship but that'll never happen. The whispering in the halls of Congress and the White House never contained itself to just those two buildings. Now it's at UN headquarters. I don't think they'll be showing any revivals of "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Paths of Glory," or "Apocalypse Now" in Washington anytime soon.
guernica
I'm more and more convinced that I did the right, the necessary, thing when I joined the ACLU last year.
guernica
It's our freedom, not our GNP that makes America great. All who would undermine that freedom, is my enemy, no matter what their religion or nationality.
"Yes. I have tricks in my pocket. I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.
"To begin with, I turn back time. I reverse it to that quaint period, the thirties, when the huge middle class of America was matriculating in a school for the blind. Their eyes had failed them. Or they had failed their eyes. And so they were having their fingers pressed forcibly down on the fiery brail alphabet of a dissolving economy. In Spain there was revolution. Here there was only shouting and confusion. In Spain there was Guernica..."
- Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
As a young actor trying to memorize this passage, one who had paid too little attention to History classes up this point, I researched the reference. What was "Guernica," other than a painting by Picasso? Guernica was the name of a sleepy little village in Spain where Hitler, wanting to demonstrate the prowess of his Luftwaffe, conducted a devastating bombing run that nearly wiped out the men, women, and children of a town that posed no threat to anyone.
I was ashamed of myself that I had slipped through higher education without ever knowing this. I vowed to study and learn from history from that time forward. Nowadays I fully appreciate that Guernica is the international symbol of what military aggression is all about. For many years, Picasso's painting of the screaming women, children, and animals, has hung like a warning sign in the press room of the United Nations. It is the very symbol of what the United Nations was created to prevent. It is Picasso's ugly "truth" in the "pleasant disguise of illusion."
Now, the painting will be covered up whenever news conferences are held at the UN which address the coming war with Iraq.
The truth is that covering the painting helps to keep the sheep from thinking. A thinking American public might prevent a war that could quite possibly lead, even according to our own CIA, to the most devastating conflict Mother Earth has ever known.
My son sent this to me a few days ago. Apologies for its length, but he didn't provide a link, just the letter. I think it is worth the read...
===========================================
Here's a simple but powerful idea being spread in emails all over the
>>nation by which we can increase the weight of public opposition to a war
>>on Iraq with thousands of pounds of rice in tiny bags. At the end, read
>>about how President Eisenhower said the same project moved him not to
>>use nuclear bombs in the conflict with China in the mid-l950's, and see
>>Noam Chomsky's take on how effective the current, unprecedented pre- war
>>resistance is becoming. If you like the idea, please spread the word in
>>your own networks, and thank you for caring and working against war.
>>Mele
>>
>>Grassroots campaign to stand for peace with Iraq:
>>Place 1/2 cup uncooked rice in a small plastic bag (a snack-size bag or
>>sandwich bag works fine).
>>Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag.
>>Wrap it in a piece of paper on which you have written:
>>"If your enemies are hungry, feed them. Romans 12:20.
>>Please send this rice to the people of Iraq; do not attack them."
>>
>>Place the paper and bag of rice in an envelope (either a letter-sized
>>or padded mailing envelope--both are the same cost to mail) and address
>>it to:
>>President George Bush
>>White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
>>Washington, DC 20500
>>
>>Attach $1.06 in postage. (Three 37-cent stamps equal $1.11)
>>
>>Drop this in the mail TODAY.
>>
>>It is important to act NOW so that President Bush gets the letters
>>ASAP, as the Administration is evaluating how
>>to respond to the reports from the inspectors coming out on the 27th.
>>Each one of these packets is effective, and hundreds of thousands of
>>such rice deliveries to the White House will make an enormous stand. We
>>can do this if you each forward this message to your friends and family.
>>
>>There is a positive history of this protest! In the 1950s, Fellowship
>>of Reconciliation began a similar protest, which is credited with
>>influencing President Eisenhower against attacking China.
>>
>>Read on: "In the mid-1950s, the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation,
>>learning of famine in the Chinese mainland, launched a 'Feed Thine
>>Enemy' campaign. Members and friends mailed thousands of little bags of
>>rice to the White House with a tag quoting the Bible, "If thine enemy
>>hunger, feed him." As far as anyone knew for more than ten years, the
>>campaign was an abject failure. The President did not acknowledge
>>receipt of the bags publicly; certainly, no rice was ever sent to China.
>>
>>"What nonviolent activists only learned a decade later was that the
>>campaign played a significant, perhaps even determining role in
>>preventing nuclear war. Twice while the campaign was pending, President
>>Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider U.S. options
>>in the conflict with China over two islands, Quemoy and Matsu. The
>>generals twice recommended the use of nuclear weapons. President
>>Eisenhower each time turned to his aide and asked how many little bags
>>of rice had come in. When told they numbered in the tens of
>>thousands, Eisenhower told the generals that as long as so many
>>Americans were expressing active interest in having the U.S. feed the
>> Chinese, he certainly wasn't going to consider using nuclear weapons
>>against them."
>>
>>From: People Power: Applying Nonviolence Theory
>>by David H. Albert, p.43, New Society
>>
>>
>>Excerpt from an interview with Norm Chomsky on war with Iraq....
>>
>>OB: As you said, it seems that a US invasion of Iraq is pretty much
>>inevitable at this point. How much difference can popular resistance
>>still make?
>>
>>NC: A huge difference. It's the only thing that can stop it. That's
>>always been true. What prevented the US from carrying out saturation
>>B-52 bombing of Nicaragua in the 1980s? Popular resistance. It wasn't
>>strong enough 40 years ago to stop it in South Vietnam, but it did stop
>>the invasion in the 1980s, and now resistance to the war has no
>>historical precedent to my knowledge. I can't think of another case
>>where there was large scale protest to a war before it started. Nothing
>>like that during the Vietnam years. Protest over the Vietnam War came
>>after four to five years of smashing South Vietnam to dust.
>>
>>There is unprecedented opposition -- US policy analysts are keeping
>>their eyes open to it, and if it grows even more, they'll be concerned.
>>In fact, some of the high level hawkish arguments against the war is
>>that too much divisiveness will be created inside the US. That's a
>>concern -- even the worst mass murderers worry about that. Hitler
>>worried about that, which is part of the reason why the Germans did not
>>carry out a full national mobilization the way the Allies did. They
>>just didn't trust their population, which probably set back their war
>>effort. No matter who you are, military dictator, mass murderer,
>>democratic leader, you are going to be concerned about popular opinion.
>
JLNobody<
Congratulations on your ACLU membership! About 35 years ago, that organization helped me through a very vicious litigation for which I shall always be grateful. Regardless of a person's station in life, the ACLU is a champion of the Constitution.
You might want to have a look-see at
www.tolerance.org. These people do meaningful work, too.
Lightwizard<
Let's give John Ashcroft a ticket on a slow boat to Australia -- a one-way ticket, please.
Diane<
Thank you for your lengthy post. I am getting my rice ready to send to Dubya. Meanwhile, let's all keep our eyes turned to the First Amendment before the actions of a vapid administration turn it into something with no meaning. You are correct, Diane,
the censors are at work all across the land. Those of us who insist on freedom of expression cannot let it be taken away from us.
Hmmm. Now I wonder what Williamhenry has against Australia. Shabby way to treat our ally, I'd say.
I vote for sending him to Mars! Or, maybe there should be more emphasis placed on slow boat!
WH probably want's the good ol' Aussies to show him what tough is.
Maureen Dowd has a column on the Guernica cover up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/05/opinion/05DOWD.html
"Too much of a mixed message, diplomats say. As final preparations for the secretary's presentation were being made last night, a U.N. spokesman explained, "Tomorrow it will be covered and we will put the Security Council flags in front of it."
Mr. Powell can't very well seduce the world into bombing Iraq surrounded on camera by shrieking and mutilated women, men, children, bulls and horses."
Well Powell has made his speech and Guernica was coverd. It seems the members of the Security Counsel were not convinced.
Did their minds eye remember what was hiden behind the speech?
Buzz
Good point Buzzcock,....All the hoopla probably drew extra attention to the idea of human devastation.
Covering up a reproduction of Guernica as not to offend the Secretary of State of the US or any other world diplomats obviously did not work as an act of censorship. The same is true for the Attorney General his attempt to censor just shined the light on the sculpture at hand.
This is not the first time that an artistic rendering has offended political leaders and the citizens of the US.
Link-George Washington, sculpture by Horatio Greenough, 1840 Almost Hidden From Public Viewing
First in toga, first in sandals, first in the hearts of his countrymen!
JoanneDorel<
Thanks for the interesting link.
You are very welcome. I even had a hard time finding it on the web, yikes. Those Puritians were and are a pretty big influence in the US.
Y'know,...I can't count the times, I just had to see a movie, because some would be censors, were offended by it.
ponder the very concept of "blue laws" and their rationale in modern america
Joanne<
Wonder why most Republicans are Puritanical?
Could it be in their genes?
Something insidious must attract people to the GOP.
