My sincere apologies to all twelve year olds.

re: David Veteran, July 11 at 8:19 am #

I found your post quite empty, alot of verbage but no point.  Given, the site provided is an obvious anti-jewish, (I am anti-Israel) the questions and answers to them are out in the open begging scrutiny.

I don’t doubt the holocaust happened, I just question the numbers involved, as they have changed so often since that event.  The Russians suffered considerably more than the european jews, yet we don’t have a museum to them here in Washington DC.

Not too long ago there were over 50 independent newspapers in America, each giving it’s own take on a story or history.  Now there are 6 conglomerates, all jewish owned, who determine what we see, hear and read and rarely any of that is critical of Israel.

Lately I’ve read where these conglomerates are undermining Wikpedia and other on-line reference sources to re-write history in a favorable projewish light. 

Too much pull for 2% of the population.

I don’t quite know how the topic got onto Holocaust revisionism from Hedges essay, which is simply saying humans treat each other pretty nastily as a course of normal behavior, and the idea that such behavior, when you are confronted by it face to face is a soul devastating thing, especially when you are fortunate enough to grow up insulated from such dark realities. 
Wanting to be fair, regardless of my suspicions, I did check out the links, and found myself watching a film of sorts on the link that “Patrick Henry” provided that purported to answer the question “why is there anti-semitism?” Which is a good question, considering history, although it may be better to ask why do human beings divide themselves along seemingly arbitrary lines and then set about killing? Which is more what Hedges is talking about. It is akin to why are there pecking orders, why are there bullies, why are there people who as one person called me in highschool, a “scumbaker”, that is, a magnet for attacks.  Had I done something wrong in highschool to deserve this or was I simply vulnerable to attacks in a way that brought out this animal instinct found in other pack animals like dogs, if you have ever observed their behaviour?  After I became an adult, grew in confidence, and mental and physical strength, I never get bothered by anyone. 
It could just as easily be asked, why do the Chinese in Indonesia have to worry about being disliked and potentially attacked?  Or why did random Iranian Americans get viciously attacked in the streets of the mid-west USA because of the hostage crisis in Iran that they had nothing to do with? 
The sight that “Patrick Henry” links to, answers no questions, starts listing some trends that could be questionable, but quickly devolves into blaming criminal behavior and homosexuality (as though that is bad) on “secular atheistic jews” who control the media, showing some shirtless hippy with a pink triangle on his chest doing a hypnotic dance, which was kind of cool, as an example of the jews desire to destroy civilization by distracting the rest of us from their nefarious plans. Which I guess that Jews are into the whole gay thing because they are an ancient people who have a cultural memory of the ancient Greeks.  Doesn’t being “atheistic and secular” kind of take the wind out of the whole jew conspiracy thing?  I mean, I don’t share much in common with the views of the conservative Christian community and family that I grew up in, simply for the fact that I have rejected their reasoning, don’t get religiosity, and am myself “secular and atheistic.”
The very reasonable sounding narrator, complete with an authoritative british accent, without making anything close to an analyses based on exhaustive facts and data, starts making sweeping bizarre statements using the phrase “the truth”, which is Patrick Henry, how I assume you came to think that you were linking to something that was talking about “the truth.” Don’t confuse propagandistic tricks with reason.
Of course the imaginary beautiful America that these “atheistic secular jews” are controlling through the media and “jewpacs” didn’t exist--or wasn’t lynching african-americans criminal to the unscrupulous propagandists who spread their vileness with the thinest veneer of reason to influence the already racist, or feeble minded, or immature?
Which leads me to wonder if you and Saggy are twelve year olds blogging blindly in a bunker in Idaho in the middle of the Aryan nation (my apologies to the beautiful people in Idaho, just an unfair generalization for dramatic purposes).  But, then again, I am a secular atheistic Scottish-American, and I like to think of the Scots as the Jews of the UK--as in we like education and are frugal.
I probably shouldn’t respond to you guys, but this revisionist bullshit makes me sick.

Truth should never fear close inspection.

http://newsfromthewest.blogspot.com/2007/09/frequently -asked-questions-about.html

During WWII, many people of differing nationalities and religions were killed.  My family in Norway suffered losses fighting the occupying Nazi’s.

You got to hand it to Saggy, this is the first time I have been called a Zionist name caller. Does that mean I get a free AIPAC membership? This would be very laughable if it were not so pathetic.

yikes! and i thought i was offensive, egad, is some one named Saggy a “reliable source in an internet debate”?

Thank you Conservative Yankee for nailing down this soggy Saggy manure. Of course there was a holocaust, just as there were for the Armenians at the hands of the Turks in 1916, and the Cambodians in the 1970’s under Pol Pot. And of course there are other examples.
I am offended when people think that criticism of American Israeli policy allows them, like barnacles, to attach their bigoted racist slop to people who are actually seeking peace and justice for all people, with malice towards none. Again, thank you Conservative Yankee.

So saggy, as Conservative Yankee asked, are you a holocaust denier? If you are, you fall into the same trap all of them fall into, trying to find denial through through technicalities. The links you provide are as absurd as your posting.

“Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an act of warfare against brutality and darkness.”
PABLO PICASSO

First, let’s keep facts of what I wrote straight. The one specific work I cited was painted circa 1920--after WWI, not earlier in Monet’s career. (So was Agapanthus, circa 1918-1926. No blood red there either. Again, violets and greens typical of late Monet.) I otherwise cited his entire oeuvre--from start to finish--with which I’m already familiar—both as painter and as knowledgeable of past painters. See any book on Monet or any website. Better yet, see paintings up close and personal.

I haven’t a shred of doubt Monet was as offended as most everyone else at the time by carnage that resulted from “Folly,” insofar as he was decent human being beyond, or rather before, artist. The fact he was offended as most everyone else is nowhere apparent in his painting, except to those in search of evidence in support of imaginary thesis. Data-mining is by now a whole other kind of fine art.

It’s just such “Interpretation” Sontag was “Against.” Dewey too, along with aforementioned Berger. Not to mention both Greenberg and Rosenberg, et al. It’s critics of such stature who were not and are not of the “forensic” type Hedges mentions. (Hauser was more philosopher/historian than critic, though critic too.)

I don’t doubt Matisse was equally offended by WWI, and no doubt I could pick out pieces wherein he employed variety of reds, or blacks (as subtle indication of tracers) in contending he intended something he never in fact intended.

Monet (very much like Matisse) intended only paintings, just about as art for arts sake to the degree he was Modernist precursor. More specifically he was engaged in exploration of variety of color effects by means of Impressionist method. What I’m certain he never intended was protest disguised as host of subjects already mentioned--early and late.

I’m not denying that subconscious intent isn’t present in the works of any artist of note, past or present, but one should be very careful of making claims based on that alone. In Monet’s case, I’m more than highly skeptical. Once again, because also no evidence in his earlier work produced during the Prussian War, which was a lot closer to home for Monet than was WWI. I assume he was as offended by carnage that resulted from that bit of folly as he was by carnage that happened when he was much, much older?

What I’m contending re Monet is just as true of Picasso, EXCEPT for “Guernica” (since you mentioned that too), which Picasso entitled, “Guernica,” and which he noted was direct expression of his outrage on that occasion for carnage. Otherwise, Picasso was also just painter of excellent paintings. He never again produced anything like, “Guernica.” Which doesn’t mean he didn’t make paintings that were considerably better than, “Guernica.” He did exactly that, though made a lot of crap too.

Reportedly, he once noted that Americans would buy anything with his name on it. He was right. He understood American consumerism some long time before Warhol.

By Blackspeare, July 8 at 9:26 am #
“Boy, what a depressing post.  However, I am a little perplex by the comments that allude to a changed America.  America hasn’t changed----the basic aggressive policies, both economically and socially were in-born from day one.  Just remember two early policies; Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine and what you see today is an outgrowth and refinement of those two concepts.  The first took care of Native Americans and is being used in the Near, Middle and Far East while the second keeps Central and South America as well as the Caribbean in check.  It is interesting that Mussolini, during his heyday, said, “A nation must go to war every 25 years to remain strong.” That statement was considered outrageous by all standards; however, when you look at the USA, the USA goes to war on the average of every 15 years----some big, some small, but all are military operation.”

While I agree with your statements, I find your first sentence ironic given what follows.

That aside, I too, while finding C. H. one of the best posters on TD, seemingly yearning for something that never was: an America of good will.

I think there is deep within the American heretige a sense of democratic communal living that has been long replaced by an overwhelming obsession with the material. It’s not that the material is satisfying - to the contrary - but it is addictive and so replaces all other moments. It is the engine that drives the hedonism that drives the invisible hand that drive our preditory capitalism and its wars.

All of this has been wrapped in the policies of expansionism expressed in those unholy doctrines you mention: Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny.

They have created an asymmetrical relationship between Amerika and the world whereby WE are in charge and the rest of the world must comply with the will to dominate. Even our short-lived Good Neighbor Policy could not be sustained because Latin America wanted to be treated as equals. How dare the savages think they could possibly be “EQUAL”!!!!

That is why the essential change required is not to be found in the words or actions of Obama or McCain. At bottom, they are a face to imperial empire and the ugly scares it leaves across the globe.

Sometimes literature says it best when contemplating the horrors and the alternatives - from Samuel Beckett: “I can’t go on...I can’t go on...I can’t go on...I’ll go on...”

We should just get like totally shit faced and fuck all the time, fuck everything that moves, when not even the crack of dawn is safe, only then will we find true peace.  When I say Fuck America, I want you to get totally blissed, not pissed, that’s a directive, not an angry outburst.

Err, uh

by the way Troublesum,
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/april11/med -optart-041107.html
Monet had cataract problems beginning in 1912 that affected his vision, especially color--he had corrective surgery in 1923.
They didn’t take Guernica down, they covered up the large tapestry based on it with a blue cloth, claiming that it was more conducive for TV interviews--I think it is a guilty conscience--but it does prove that some art is less forensically dissectable than others--or rather in this case, there is a big old black and white bloody mess that can’t be ignored--still a ballsy piece with something to say, which may be why some professionals questioned “is it really art?” The fact that there was an argument argues against generalization of the professional class, though.

reply to Expat

Hey, good to hear from you.  I thought maybe your computer went on the fritz, or you lost interest. 

A lot of commenters here make a lot of sense to me, you included.

I guess we should simply take Hedges’ column for what it is.  A submission.

Re CJ #167610
Troublesum,

• If Obama writes fiction, good for him. (See citation of Vonnegut in Hedges’ piece regarding making a living…).

My sentiment exactly. Might just be the ONLY way for some of us to make a living, and it’s been an erstwhile effort for…how many centuries now?

• “Otherwise, continue to take part in other political blogs whereat you might not get caught making at least one ridiculous claim: “

CJ, some people simply cannot be embarrassed. They don’t care at all how foolish and ignorant they show themselves to be, or even that they get caught making one ridiculous claim after another.

• “It’s just such claims by critics (pro or amateur) to which Hedges is referring when he employs the term, “forensic.” Hedges might have written, “made up outta whole cloth.” In the case of Troublesum’s claim re Monet, zero evidence for contention.”

There is NEVER any ‘evidence’ for any of these ridiculous claims from troublesum. Seriously…NEVER.

~~~

By peedeecee, July 7 at 10:12 am

• “…Mr. Hedges assumes a)that he takes absolute truth from his readings, and b) that his is the only understanding possible. What arrogance. Since he generalizes about academics, I must assume that he generalizes in the rest of his column as well. If he reads and interprets his literature and philosophy alone, without discussion, analysis, and actual consideration of meaning, his view is limited. ..”

Peedeecee,
Thanks so much for pointing this out. It IS an arrogance, though I don’t hold it against Chris Hedges, if only because I believe that his intentions are good. Still, his writing of late has been pretty much self-absorbed.

And that’s not to suggest that there’s a thing wrong with reading, since I’m sure I probably do as much of it as he does. And since I’m older than he is, I’ve got double the amount of books. (which are costing me a fortune to store), and I don’t watch television either. On the other hand, generalizations (like he makes here, that you point out) are still arrogant, and signifies a narrow mindedness. We can only hope that it’s temporary.

Meantime, I’ve found absolutely no reason to ‘celebrate’ the 4th of July, and it’s been a really long time since I have. Years…

Maybe that’s why it was no ‘struggle’ for me to ‘survive’ it. It’s no different than any other day in this 21st Century. The ‘independance’ part of it never much applied to us collectively anyway. That ‘independence’ is clearly relative..at least in my own opinion, and has everything to do with our individual mentalities and how independent our thinking is.

Aside from the thinking, (I hate group mentalities) we are VERY MUCH dependent on *each other*. So, there’s a paradox there.

TAO...thanks for this…

“...Chris Hedges holed-up in his personal library is not something this old Savage sees as an organic functional response to the condition our Condition is in.  Maybe he could shake the funk he’s been in for quite awhile now by taking-in a Pow-wow somewhere....or better yet a SunDance or SweatLodge Cermony...”

Chris HAS been in a funk for a while now, and while I understand it completely, -accepting human frailty for what it is- it pretty much only confirms that he’s just only about middle place along the “survival of the fittest” ladder.

There is a measure of hypocrisy to his arrogance, and it’s been far more noticeable lately. Maybe a breakdown of sorts. Happens to the best of us, and those who try too hard..at convincing themselves and everyone else.

Yes, I think a Pow-Wow would be good.

It’s nice to hear I’m not alone in avoiding the fireworks displays on the 4th of July.  I always leave the party before they begin for all of the reasons Chris lists.

I knew Chris in Cairo and am very proud of his writing.  These days it’s the few voices like his that make me still proud to be American.

In ‘our’ American world, a violent, hedonistic, corrupt empire empowered by technological and geographic advantages, there is despite the democratic roots, a right some think, a need for revolution by any form; ...within the bounds of course of democratic processes, yes more civilized she thinks…

In history people have overthrown governments, almost entirely only due to issues of land or food shortages...Americans have some distance to go apparently before their ‘healthy’ anger may ferment such actions.

Therefore many expect the revolution will be ‘inflicted’ upon the US from without - then limping by default to the finish line, the line in history marking new changes (for better or worse) Americans will be dragged. Perhaps Chris has looked at this and finds cause for despair...but not futility. I do not hear this from C.H.

Clarity, like a fine camera lens is what I experience occasionally from efforts to describe ‘larger-than-life’ events; one such effort is a film, “Why We Fight”

Chris writes such articles as this, wildly speculating now, perhaps for identical reasons as this film suggests - motivates ‘us’ to war, or perhaps Chris reasons 180 degrees opposite such an outline...motivation is highly personal, not obvious - and powerful.

Are we deprived of a form of humanity when the ‘comfortable life’ does not offer focus, a revolution driven as were sex, as impulsively unquestioned, desiring madly a life with a future?

Sorry,
It should be
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/last/monet. japanese-bridge.jpg

CJ,
These are the kind of colors Monet was using during and after WW1 and I distincly remember reading in the program notes to an exibition that he was appalled by the carnage of WW1 as any artist would have been and it was said that this was the reason for the sudden shift in color.  Of course this is not a political statement.  It is something much deeper.  The works you cited were done much ealier in his career.
http://www.ibblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet.japenese-bri dge.jpg

To voice of truth:

If “slightly-educated elite who think they know stuff” defines (by your definition) liberals and democrats, then…

“poorly-educated bottom feeders who think they know stuff” aptly applies to conservatives and republicans.

Hah! Take that, you swine!

btw...monkeys are “exceedingly” violent? Ever seen a pissed-off hippo or a hungry gator?

Chris Hedges holed-up in his personal library is not something this old Savage sees as an organic functional response to the condition our Condition is in.  Maybe he could shake the funk he’s been in for quite awhile now by taking-in a Pow-wow somewhere....or better yet a SunDance or SweatLodge Cermony.  Us surviving free wild natural Human Beings have had to “cope” with the kinds of things he deplores for one helluva lot longer than the eight-year time-frame most americans have been getting their noses really rubbed into the cesspool of their not-so-exalted place in the plutologarchy’s scheme-of-things.

The day AFTER “independence day” the I Ching again cast-up #49, Revolution, from #13, Fellowship.  That’s three times in as many weeks “the talk....has gone ‘round.” The domesticated peoples have been “individualized” now nearly to the point of no-return.  Joining together to address their difficulties may be about to become a constitutional impossibility for most of ‘em.

Hedges could be right about one thing, at least.  The iron doors of the “global” cage are swinging shut.  Then “Time will tell just who has fell, and who’s been left behind....” No wonder Bob Dylan decided he might as well go to selling “ladies lingerie.”

There is always the Tiyospaye Way, but it’s definitely not for weepers and wailers and gnashers -of-teeth.  Hand-wringing, buck-passing, and self-medication don’t fly there, either.  Other than that, any number (even 6.5 billion, if it came to that) can Play.  Looks from here in Indian Country, though, there’ll be not much more’n a handful....in THE END (and so at the new beginning to follow immediately).

HokaHey!

“Life is real,
life is earnest,
and the grave is not it’s goal;
dust thou art, to dust returnest..
was not spoken of the soul..”

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As for reading, I suggest:

The Time Quartet… by the remarkable Madeleine L’Engle..
known as “young adult” (which, after all, is most of us regardless of chronological evidence..’-) literature...depth, thought, meaning..and storytelling...real, engaging, human, storytelling…

God is (still) Love; (all) war is (always) hell..

We strive on....

Fadel Abdallah wrote:

“As a pacifist, I, like Chris Hedges, abhor all human warmongers including humans who even talk about justified wars, to the point that, sometimes, in my anger and frustration, I blame God for creating me a human being instead of a dove, a gazelle, or a monkey.”

That is just plain stupid.  By the way, monkeys are exceedingly violent.

Paolo wrote:

“Hedges is mostly right; the problems we have in this country come from a slightly-educated elite who think they know stuff.”

Wow, you’ve just described liberals and democrats in one nice cohesive thought.

Boy, what a depressing post.  However, I am a little perplex by the comments that allude to a changed America.  America hasn’t changed----the basic aggressive policies, both economically and socially were in-born from day one.  Just remember two early policies; Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine and what you see today is an outgrowth and refinement of those two concepts.  The first took care of Native Americans and is being used in the Near, Middle and Far East while the second keeps Central and South America as well as the Caribbean in check.  It is interesting that Mussolini, during his heyday, said, “A nation must go to war every 25 years to remain strong.” That statement was considered outrageous by all standards; however, when you look at the USA, the USA goes to war on the average of every 15 years----some big, some small, but all are military operation.

17-Cursed is the ground because of you
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life-19-
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground
since from it you were taken
for dust you are
and to dust you will return Gen.3;17&19;

By Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, July 8 at 4:56 am #

You remain one of the sane observers of the nature that is human.  Never pretty; but sometimes inspiring; we humans fail in the basics of existence and mostly fail to connect along the lines of our commonality.  This IMHO is the fault that dooms us.  In my longer than expected life I have watched a steady march towards our voluntary slavery and dark future predicted by many futurists over the many generations of our very young experiment in “democracy”; which by all measure is an abject failure.  When I look at the values embodied by the general populace I am horrified.  There is no sense of community/common goals/values/etcetera.  There is however a blind following of any propaganda that promises us security by maintaining the status quo.  The fourth of July is a relic best relegated to the garbage can.  It is now a devise to keep us docile and subservient to the greater goal of total control.
A liberal arts education had been the mainstay of a highly educated populace and this is no longer valued and is even suspect in many circles.  The problem, as near as I can discern is; a liberal arts education teaches one to think.  Surely independent thought is dangerous in today’s society.  The empirical evidence is plainly evident in the dumbing down of the citizenry, yes?  Remember; Pol Pot went after the intelligentsia, as has every despot in modern history.  The present dictum is to keep us lazy and ignorant:  And it’s working to a frightening degree.  It’s all there in plain view for those willing to see.  The worst of it is; there is no place of refuge anywhere in the world.  The hegemony of the U.S. is nearly complete; everyone, everywhere, is “gettable” if they step too far out of line. 
It seems to me that if one sees reality there is no question of the action to follow.  Keep up the good fight.

CI July 7, 12:20 pm

Refusing to stand for the anthem took me back to my childhood reminding me of the old black and white newsreels shown at the local cinema in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s of thousands of German citizens at a Nazi political? rally raising their arms in a show of solidarity behind their revered leader.  Heil Hitler.

Dr. Know it all makes a very valid point. Literature is fine for those who can appreciate it, but it is in fact, just another human activity. It is funny how the arts, when practiced as a peaceful human activity, can invoke such violent reactions. When Berg’s opera Wozzeck was first performed, it was not long before both Hitler and Stalin condemned it as degenerate, a sign that the composer was doing something right!
In the world of visual art, a few years back I attended an exhibition of Irish abstract painter Sean Scully’s wall of light. These were fairly large oil paintings on linen canvas using just rectangles of solid colors. One guest wrote in the guest book: “Anyone could do that.”
How true I thought, so why didn’t you?
Mr. Know It All also nails down the thing about Shakespeare. My late father, who studied the immortal bard nearly all of his life, once said to me that the poetry sounds good, but there is plenty of war mongering nonsense too. The same goes for Homer and Virgil, with all the magnificent poetry.
Finding consolation in books, is certainly not original Chris Hedges. Veteran Middle East journalist Robert Fisk spends many hours reading too. But it is the direct observation of the horrors of war, that drives both of these fellows crazy.

reply to Fadel Abdallah and peedeecee:

IMO what you say is far more realistic and reasonable and intelligent than what Hedges has written.  When people start agrandizing themselves because they read a few books written by other mortals, I say, look out, they put more credence in another’s opinion and ideas about moral/ethical/
philosophical issues then in their own ability to reason.  If they can’t reason, then they can’t understand someone’s else’s reasoning, either.  Why is it so important to get confirmation, on the one hand, and then show the world the “intelligent” people who agree with you on the other?  These people are the one’s who quote other’s one-liners.

People who denegrate others because others don’t “understand” the humanities are vaunted and arrogant.

I am a professional in the arts and long, long ago came to the understanding that there’s nothing out there created by another mortal that answers the needs of every other mortal or all of humanity.  Concerts and art museums?  Fine. Go. See. Listen.  Enjoy.  Think.  Read? Please do.  But not because you’re looking for a panacea for the world. The whole world effectively turned on Beethoven’s 9th when the wall came down, people said, “Wow, great, awesome, huge,” then went right back to killing each other, stealing their money in fund scams, and raping women in remote villages in Africa. 

Intelligence?  IMHO, much, even most of the horror humans now suffer is the direct result of what many regard as human intelligence. 

I doubt the good people of Darfur would be much helped by reading Shakespeare or Virgil. 

Lastly, I concur with peedeecee in his/her comment.

I certainly am aware of how smart and well-read Chris Hedges is.  And Tiger Woods is a great golfer.
And Douglas Feith can rationalize his own warped truth better than almost anyone else I have ever heard. 

And my mother and father, both HS graduates, raised 6 children on poverty-level income, worked their fingers to the bone and never, ever hurt anyone else, including their children.

As a pacifist, I, like Chris Hedges, abhor all human warmongers including humans who even talk about justified wars, to the point that, sometimes, in my anger and frustration, I blame God for creating me a human being instead of a dove, a gazelle, or a monkey.

So this this article affirms what I always say about wars: That the worst casualties of wars are not those who die, but those who so-called survive, crippled for life, either physically or mentally. Likewise, another category of the casualties of war are people like me and Chris Hedges; people who abhor wars and conflicts, but find themselves unable to stop them. A large number of those two groups of war “survivors” live miserable lives to the point that some times they come to envy the dead; and that’s why many of them attempt to commit suicide. Particularly, in the last ten years I’ve been losing faith in humans to the point that I thought suicide was the answer. If it wasn’t for a strong religious prohibition against suicide, which I was raised with, I would have been gone by now.

Reading books give me solace sometimes, but it’s books sometimes that increase the level of my irritation, frustration and discomfort, for the books too often are mere records of wars and its horrors.

The only good thing about wars, if one can philosophically admit that there is any good in war, is that at least, some of the wars’ dead are remembered as heroes or martyrs, but those who “survive,” crippled, emotionally scared or confused about the meaning of all this killing and destruction are neither heroes nor martyrs; they live meaningless lives in spiritual misery and as a burden on themselves, their families and the society at large. I, for one, helplessly blame myself for failing to prevent or stop a bloody war!

That’s why I believe that any nation that sanctions wars and establishes organizations of war, like the Pentagon, for example, deserve constantly to have a taste of their own medicine. And it happened that most nations of the world, with the exception of very few, have institutions, financed by taxpayers, that thrive on promoting war-mongering.

In light of this, who says that humans are the most intelligent of God’s creation! I don’t agree with that! Have we ever seen any species of animals, like monkeys, for example, forming what we may call an entity for war-mongering, as a security measure against the elephants of the jungle! The point is that humans are not even as intelligent as monkeys! And humans who allow an ignorant evil, like Bush, to take them twice, in a short period of time, to two evil wars, and the drums are being beaten for a third, deserve the pain and the agony that war brings; so they do deserve a “memorial day” lest they forget and perchance they might learn a lesson!

The moral lesson is that one just harvests what he sows! So do nations!

Brilliant essay, Chris. Thanks. Some suggested reading: Mary Renault’s The Last of the Wine; G. B. Edwards’ The Book of Ebenezer Le Page.

Troublesum,

If Obama writes fiction, good for him. (See citation of Vonnegut in Hedges’ piece regarding making a living…).

Otherwise, continue to take part in other political blogs whereat you might not get caught making at least one ridiculous claim:

Having already seen most everything Monet ever painted, I’ve never noticed any excessive use of blood red color. Monet was never—in any way, shape, and even less, form, political in his depictions. His interest was in getting down on canvases light via colors he observed reflecting off bodies of water—from water-lily-laden ponds in France, including at Giverny, to English River Thames (Parliament buildings reflected thereon)—to colors he noted when he observed light passing through smoke at train stations and reflected off ocean-side cliffs, haystacks and ladies’ dresses and umbrellas.

It’s just such claims by critics (pro or amateur) to which Hedges is referring when he employs the term, “forensic.” Hedges might have written, “made up outta whole cloth.” In the case of Troublesum’s claim re Monet, zero evidence for contention.

See “Reflections of Clouds on Water Lilly Pond,” three panels extending to 41 feet in width, painted just after the conclusion of Great War. No other Giverny pieces contain excess of blood red either. One would think that Monet on painting his masterpiece would have included blood red only one year after conclusion of devastation. Lots of violets and greens, and standard Monet tints of white and shades of grays.

See further, for how come painters paint, John Berger, and then Arnold Hauser on the topic of blatantly political art (which certainly can be very fine art: I’ve a fine piece by some nobody I got from a janitor picketing Century City bosses about 15 years ago) versus art wherein form is the more subtle political message, pretty much inevitably when executed competently at any given social time and place. Times and places are socially defined; and as Hauser rightly contends, there is no such thing as art ahead of its time. All art is behind times. So much for so-called “avant-garde,” that amounted only to easel and music-stand revolutionaries after the facts of events.

Monet was never political in his work—not in terms of subject, not in terms of colors used, not in any terms beyond being epitome of very good painter, one of a few inventors of Impressionist look.

One might just as well claim that Lucien Freud is protesting war with use of violent brush strokes, which are more in evidence than blood reds in anything painted by Monet.

As for what was too much for the Nazis, that was German Expressionism, not Impressionism, which lovely as samples are, were and are still classically pastoral compared to anything by Post-Impressionists Van Gogh and Gauguin, and their followers.
Spare us, Troublesum, commentary re commentators at TD being grumpy old men and/or not well-read. Read up yourself. Maybe take a look at paintings by painters before posting amateur “forensic” criticism that sounds as though it was taken from some kid’s idea for a masters (forget doctoral dissertation) thesis on his/her way to MFA, no matter actual facts of Monet’s actual paintings, a few of which contain blood red, because that was the color reflected by particular flower at the time.

Has anyone ever seen a snow-covered landscape by Monet spotted with blood stains? No, because he never painted one, not at the height of the Prussian War either.

And here is my 4th of July comment and thougts”

By samosamo, July 4 at 2:26 pm #

I certainly won’t be celebrating anything american today. Not when I don’t see the america I used to know. And certainly not as long as those [expletive deleted] in congress, the white house and the head dicks in the pentagon keep sending our troops into wars that have no basis other than furthering agendas that allow these [expletive deleted] huge financial gains and a totally different government than what the people elect these bastards to uphold.
May every single one of them catch the blowback that they have so richly earned in their endevours for their greed and and total lack of compassion. A total morally bankrupt bunch of shit that are lower than the belly of a snake slithering through a cess pool.
As a note and a tale tell one at that, there have not been the usual fireworks going off during the day that one hears on a 4th of July. Kinda hard to justify the money output for something that lasts for less than a second much less the price of gas to go get them.

What I fail to see is any mention of what in the world is this planet doing with 6.6 billion people and with the expectations of having some kind of order in it other than the misery that exists today.
The political, religious and economic systems will never allow for a better world with this many people and even if the population were corrected to under a total of 6million humans there would still be strife.
As uniquely intelligent as humans are it is still beyond our capabilities to find a settled order or whatever. As a matter of fact, entropy rules through time.

Just let me say that I am very sympathetic to Hedges. I also spend most of my time reading. The last few weeks I have been reading the dialogues of Plato. I am struck as much by the beauty of ancient Greek life described there as by the beauty of the philosophical concepts presented. I could spend the rest of my life immersed in it and forget about this miserable mess we presently inhabit. The flowering of ancient Athenian culture didn’t last long, but it left behind something that is immortal. So let it be with the United States. Perhaps others will pick up the torch.

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not, the Pierian Spring....”

Hedges is mostly right; the problems we have in this country come from a slightly-educated elite who think they know stuff. You know--the type of folks who think they know enough to start wars in the Middle East and fix all their problems, while not quite knowing the difference between Sunni and Shi’a Islam.

Multiply that little kernel a thousand times over, and you see why things are so mucked up.

I mean before they burn the libraries and close the book stores.

Doctors in England used to recommend Austen novels to WW1 British soldiers who were sent to them suffering from shell shock and all the symptoms there of.  It worked.  It might work for Americans who are suffering from the shock of 8 years of Bush/Cheney.  But of course no need to stop with Austen.

I think this is what Chris Hedges is getting at… surviving the madness by way of art.  He’s not saying he knows everything… no need for professor dinwitty to feel anything is being taken away from him.

The right is digging up all kinds of dirt on Obama and a couple days ago I read in the National Review that they discovered that Obama used to write fiction before he got interested in politics.  They found this out from a former friend who said that he had read a collection of short stories written by Obama who was thinking of having them published but then decided not to.  The friend who is no dummy said the stories were about being black in Chicago.  They were powerful and emotional.  It made me feel that at least the guy had a soul once.  Of course the cons are thinking about what the stories might reveal about him that they could use against him.

re: troublesum, July 7 at 1:07 pm #

In the U.S.......we have Doonesbury.

I have taken part in other political blogs where people often posted poetry and excerpts from novels as well as non-fiction they were reading when the political realities became too much to deal with.  I don’t think people at TD read very much.  There seem to be a lot of grumpy old men and young poeple who don’t value books.  I may be wr