Fiction?
Barbara Kingsolver has written a powerful book which speaks to our times called The Lacuna.It is a fierce indictment of intellectual and moral laziness, the effects of fear and propaganda and the loss of a certain kind of idealistic American innocence.
The strongest condemnation, or at least the one that struck me hardest, is the one against what she calls "howlers". These are buffoons, like our very own Beakerkin, whose thoughtless rhetoric can cause very real damage to very real lives. I admit to dismissing his diatribes as harmless "examples" but as Kingsolver so eloquently points out, we ignore the downward trend of discourse at our own peril. One minute you are blissfully blogging away and the next the FBI is knocking.
The timely re-telling of the grotesque, surrealistic horror of the Mc Carthy era should be a prod for all of us who dismiss the "howlers" as just some perpetual nuisance, lacking any real effect. Combined with a perversely incentivized "media, our countries famous historical amnesia, and our love of strong authority,these self-righteous pretenders are dangerous and the author pleads for a renewed vigilance and remembering.
Especially poignant were the descriptions of the attacks by militarized police on WW I veterans camped out in D.C who were demanding the veterans benefits they had been promised and the sad concentration camps America set up for it's own citizens in WWII. Kingsolver describes the last years of Trotsky and his relationship with the larger-than-life artists Rivera and Kahlo and writes with clarity and often poetic beauty about Mexico and it's people.
I should read more fiction and would if it was half this good and understood, as this author understands, the need for a renewed politics. She also got me thinking again of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which I had tended to dismiss as a liberal band-aid for capitalism. It might actually provide an entry point into a discussion on a just society. It certainly is the epitome of everything conservatives are against and liberals should be confronted with the economic conventions which have never been ratified.
posted by troutsky @ 11:07 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Moral Laziness??? Obviously this person has met Che "Sponge" Bob or the Lunchroom Lenin from Mineapolis.
You seem to be reading nothing other than fiction starting with verbose mendicant failed philosophers.
The leadership of The Minutemen, dissolved their group, because the rank and file, are out of control. They beat and torture immigrants.
In St.Louis the Tea Party threatened on Mayday, they are going to kill anarchists.
The right has managed, even with a drop in Obama's support, to make Obama the most popular politician in this country. The country isn't as mean spirited, as the right.
The Lunchroom Lenin posts
"The St Louis Tea Party plans to killAnarchists". Since when are they following the example of Lenin and Trotsky.
Obama is dropping in the polls and his most recent number is 44%. It seems like the public does not care for Bolshevism.
Once again we have flights of fancy by an apologist for a Narco Terrorist regime pointing fingers.
The Spanish judge told the truth
and the fact that the crack addict
from Caracas is not above using terrorist groups in SOCIALIST Spain to do his dirty work.
All of those Jews who have fled the Kingdom of Crack and tell well
documented tales of kidnappings by
Hugo's henchmen have nothing better to do than tell well documented identical lies. Maybe Hugo will give you a job as a Kappo. Then again you are lazy and have always had others do your dirty work like the threats directed at Junglemom from your allies.
The danger is much more severe now that "the howlers" have extensive broadcast outlets.
Glenn Beck is not considered an irrational entertainer by this crew. Like all of our far right brethren he "knows history and the Constitution".
Still remains to be seen if the tea baggers can coalesce with a platform that offers a sane policy.
Ducky: Still remains to be seen if the tea baggers can coalesce with a platform that offers a sane policy.
That's ridiculous.
Beak: I agree with Troutsky: The strongest condemnation, or at least the one that struck me hardest, is the one against what she calls "howlers". These are buffoons, like our very own Beakerkin, whose thoughtless rhetoric can cause very real damage to very real lives.
Ren
I wouldn't call what you lead as a life. Moreover, you are free to join
your messiah in Caracas at any time.
Communism is a mental illness and its advocates belong in North Korea.
Highly improbable, ren but maybe not ridiculous. Right now they are energized by fear and hate.
Can they present something that will attract moderate voters? They may attract the Giuliani crowd but I wonder if they are a political force.
Or are we ripe for some demigod.
Gosh, I though you only read fiction, he, he.
Ducky: Because the US doesn't have a labor party, people abstain or throw the bums out. People will go right and left several times. Now they are in the school of Obama.
Democracy is fragile, and needs to be watered by prosperity. Groups like the Tea Party aren't a threat in an advanced capitalist country like the US, but more so in a place like Greece, Spain or Italy.
Before WWII, countries like Spain, Italy and even Germany, didn't have a working class majority. Germany had a peasant majority.
They were showing some footage of the buffoon who is CEO of Massey Coal talking about global warming being a plot hatched by "atheists and communists".Straight out of the Mc Carthy/ Beak playbook but playing to a terrified working class. They go down in his deadly, non-union mine cursing 'atheists and communists" but not the boss!
Atheists don't believe that God caused the explosion that just killed 25. That is what the local preachers will be saying. Communists don't believe W Virginia should be among the poorest states when so much wealth is being created there. The preachers will say the Lord works in mysterious ways!
Ducky
Commies are very fond of asking the question "Why do they hate us about everyone else?" Americans have good reason to hate commies. You are members of a deceptive power mad death cult with a history of treason.
The CEO tells the truth about commies. In a rational society you are under 24/7 scrutiny and denaturalized and deported when you break the laws.
As usual the demented Ren broken record response is wrong. People flee Marx and a labor party would mertely be an adjunct to all the other front groups.
Make America a better place send Che Bob and Ren to Hugo permanently.
Well Beak, trout is a lot closer in Montana to coal issues but I'm going to say that this commie really doesn't see the value in allowing Massey to buy judges and avoid safety enforcement.
Folks in West Virginia fought hard for basic human considerations at a supremely tough work site and it doesn't surprise me that a good "Rudi republican" knuckle dragger like yourself would be happy those commie union guys are gone.
Funny Duncy
Every vote ever taken of locals would have your kind holding the short end of the stick. The locals want good jobs and could care less about bug eyes fools like Ren and Che Bob.
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