Site Presented By
Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
lsujp
Published Letters: 159 Editor's Choice: 23
Salon does a disservice to its readers by publishing an interview written in such dense New York Review of Books insider-ese. I'm a reasonable literate person, but to me Didion is little more than a name. Such a review should help dispel my ignorance, not flaunt the reviewer's memkbership in an esoteric guild.
One other detail in O'hehir's review cannot be allowed to pass without comment: she says that she will not quote from Didion's memoir because every reader has her "own Didion." Everyone who has ever submitted a book report without reading the book in question recognizes that for the transparent ploy it is; why pay writers like O'Hehir to review books at all?
Berlow's article makes it clear that in America, capital punishment isn't a punishment so much as a politicized ritual of human sacrifice. It allows our politicians to establish their "toughness" at the cost of human life. It also makes the American electorate complicit in a blood rite. In Louisiana we know a little bit about the costs of such a cycle. Warner has an opportunity to further the education of the American people about what our justice system is meant to accomplish -- justice -- and what it isn't meant to accomplish -- vengeance and the infliction of ritualistic suffering on those poor, mentally ill, and/or unfortunate enough to get caught in the gears of this dysfunctional machine. Thanks for keeping this case in the public eye, Mr. Berlow.
"Teaching the controversy" was a useful way to keep Huckleberry Finn in the English lit curriculum, but using it to negotiate the magic vs. science issue currently before us has its problems.
(IRONY FOLLOWS:)
Imagine a group of (initially) marginalized German academics in 1931 or so putting forth the following economic "theory," which they call Intelligent Monetarism: Inflation is caused by the Jewish control of the international banking system. At first they are derided, but then wealthy Prussian Junkers and rabble-rousing anti-democratic politicians, led by one A. Schickelgruber, subsidize the propagation of Intelligent Monetarism as a faith-based alternative to more conventional theories. Soon, President von Hindenburg is lending his support to the movement, saying that Intelligent Monetarism should be taught alongside more secular, anti-German theories so that the people can decide for themselves.
(IRONY MODE DISENGAGED.)
The point is that extremists can always manipulate the civil institutions of a democratic society to their own ends, which always involve dismantling those selfsame civil institutions. The only protection against this subversion is a well-educated, civically engaged citizenry. I wonder whether we're in better shape in this regard than the Germans of the early 1930s. The recent ruling on the Dover case is cause for cautious optimism, but not for the relaxation of vigilance.
Perhaps one aspect of teaching the controversy would work in the present instance, however: perhaps as part of an ID overview, science teachers could teach students how money is channeled from consumers to large corporations to Scaife et al to the Discovery Institute, thence funding "studies" of ID. A little lesson about our excellent capitalist system in biology class, as lagniappe, is surely a good thing.
The secret of Karl Rove's success is his belief in the inattentiveness of the American people.
Assertion (2005): Rove was complicit in publicizing the fact that Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA operative.
Talking Point (2005): C'mon, everyone in Washington KNEW that Wilson had a wife! (Thanks to "This Modern World" for this.)
Assertion (2006): The Administration is in violation of the law by refusing to seek FISA approval for domestic wiretaps of possible al-Quaida operatives.
Talking Point (2006): All anti-administration critics are opposed to domestic wiretaps of al-Quaida operatives under all circumstances.
In order to profit from the hubris of the Bush adminsitration, the Democratic Party must help the American public spot the miserable little indirections and cynical non sequiturs in which Rove trafficks. So far they have proven unwilling ro unable to do so, which means that at best we can look forward to a McCain administration after 2008, and continued Republican control of Congress, since the Democrats really have not offered America an alternative.
Andrew's question, "what can we do to help those good ideas along?" is focused mainly on what Americans can do to end this cycle of greed. Let's discuss that, certainly; better zoning laws and prohibitions against spending public money to facilitate WalBorg's assimilation of our communities might be a good way to end the spread of the problem. But American solipsism seems to lurk in the way he asks his question; perhaps the permanent solution will only come from overseas, where workers finally are able to organize and demand the right to negotiate with WalMart and their middlemen for decent wages and working conditions. How can Americans help bring about the sort of transformation in China and elsewhere that will allow this? Maybe labor and government here in the U.S. need to figure out the role of labor and the rights of workers in a democracy before we think about exporting our ideas on the subject.
Readers who have posted letters in response to this and other Keillor columns as if they were critiquing a political commentator don't get it. Garrison doesn't need to be a pundit in the Beltway (or Sansabelt) mould; there are plenty of those. What he seems to attempt each week is to reclaim a little bit of the English language from the pundits and flacks. This allows the rest of us to imagine a town square of ideas free from the perpetual shouting matches and sloganeering that have displaced actual discourse in our fine nation. If American during the Philippine Insurrection needed a vitriolic Mark Twain to wake it up and reclaim the English language from the peddlers of Manifest Destiny and Christian Uplift of the Little Brown Brother, America today needs a Garrison Keillor to reclaim its language from spin, finely calibrated wedge issues, and Pilate-like sophistry. His gentle shakes of the head are worth a hundred fortissimo verbal salvos. Please keep it up, Mr. Keillor.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
Salon headlines in your mailbox
