Daily Ramblings:
Reason For This Website #586 ...04/29/2005 10:50:15 am
Sometimes you think maybe you're breaking through - that maybe the mainstream media's conventional wisdom about Bob Dylan isn't so conventional anymore - and then along comes Newsday, happily proclaiming the old fallacies like they're new again.
Monday night's show in New York is reviewed by one Rafer Guzmán. He seems to see Dylan's performance as an effort to redeem himself from past sins - to prove he's still a "rebel" and not a "sellout." He's a sellout, of-course, for participating in that Victoria's Secret commercial, which according to Guzmán was "an occasion for weeping." Well, close, Rafer, but my only tears were from laughter.
Mr. Guzmán was however pleased to see that the Dylan playing Monday night sang his songs with a "frightening ferocity" and (this is indeed jarring!) "spoke barely a word to the audience."
It was heartening to see that the aging Dylan is not (to paraphrase a certain poet) going gently into that good night. Recent signs have indicated otherwise. For instance, while musicians from Bruce Springsteen to the Dixie Chicks raised their voices against the war in Iraq, Dylan was silent. Granted, he long ago outgrew folkie protest songs, but this seemed like a special case - did Bob Dylan really have nothing to say about the most polarizing war since Vietnam? Certainly, a person's politics are his own, and subject to change - but it was disappointing to hear so little from a man who once spoke so loudly and eloquently about such things.
If there were an email address published for Rafer, I would send him a note politely asking him to provide one example of Dylan speaking "so loudly and eloquently" about (let alone against) the Vietnam War.
Maybe this bit from the 1966 Playboy Interview with Nat Hentoff?
PLAYBOY: How do you feel about those who have risked imprisonment by burning their draft cards to signify their opposition to U. S. involvement in Vietnam, and by refusing - as your friend Joan Baez has done - to pay their income taxes as a protest against the Covernment's expenditures on war and weaponry? Do you think they're wasting their time?
DYLAN: Burning draft cards isn't going to end any war. It's not even going to save any lives. If someone can feel more honest with himself by burning his draft card, then that's great; but if he's just going to feel more important because he does it, then that's a drag. I really don't know too much about Joan Baez and her income-tax problems. The only thing I can tell you about Joan Baez is that she's not Belle Starr.
Or the Sing Out! interview from July of 1968, where fellow musician Happy Traum is pressing Dylan to say something (anything!) against the war, to give some clue of agreement with the anti-war activists:
Traum: Probably the most pressing thing going on in a political sense is the war. Now I'm not saying any artist or group of artists can change the course of the war, but they still feel it their responsibility to say something.
Dylan: I know some very good artists who are for the war.
Traum: Well, I'm just talking about the ones who are against it.
Dylan: That's like what I'm talking about; it's for or against the war. That really doesn't exist. It's not for or against the war. I'm speaking of a certain painter, and he's all for the war. He's just about ready to go over there himself. And I can comprehend him.
Traum: Why can't you argue with him?
Dylan: I can see what goes into his painting, and why should I?
Later in the interview:
Traum: My feeling is that with a person who is for the war and ready to go over there, I don't think it would be possible for you and him to share the same values.
Dylan: I've known him a long time, he's a gentleman and I admire him, he's a friend of mine. People just have their views. Anyway, how do you know that I'm not, as you say, for the war?
Traum finally lets the subject drop, probably not wanting to be remembered as the guy who got Bob Dylan to publicly endorse the Vietnam War.
I would also like to ask the Newsday writer to name one song that Bob Dylan wrote about (let alone opposing) the Vietnam War.
Since I'm feeling expansive and generous, I'll supply the answer right here: the only Bob Dylan song that mentions Vietnam is Clean-Cut Kid, from the 1985 album, Empire Burlesque. [ed: Wrong! see below*] The melody is jaunty and humorous, to go along with a lyric that is at once funny and extremely dark, about the impact on a promising young man of being forced to go to Vietnam. There's no question of that war's negative impact on so many - and of-course not least among the things veterans of it had to deal with was the attitude of people like Happy Traum above, who felt that anyone willing to fight in it must by definition be a bad person.
Mr. Guzmán might try to point to songs like Blowing In The Wind, Masters Of War, and The Times They Are-Changin' as reflecting some kind of vague endorsement of anti-war feelings. Of-course those songs were all written when the Vietnam War was nothing but a twinkle in JFK's eye, and, as for their use later by anti-war protesters, well, Dylan has that line in Chronicles about his songs' meanings being "subverted into polemic." He's not referring to William F. Buckley using them in his mayoral race.
It continues to amaze naďve-little-me how the public record with regard to Bob Dylan and Vietnam is one thing, and yet popular assumption continues to be something completely different. While I would not try to maintain here that Dylan did in fact eagerly favor the war (he clearly did not take a public position either way), why can't Newsday and other mainstream media outlets do a modicum of fact checking before once again labeling Dylan as some kind of prototypical anti-Vietnam War figure?
And this review was written by someone who obviously considers himself knowledgeable about both music and politics (since he doesn't hesitate to mix the two). How can he be so inaccurate about the easy-to-research facts on Bob Dylan and Vietnam?
It's stuff like this that makes one suspect not accidental inaccuracy, but a knowing attempt through the years to build up such a level of illusion that the Big Lie will ultimately be unquestionable.
Herman: But that sounds like it's conspiratorial?
Dylan: Yeah, it does, doesn't it?**
Well, as far as Newsday is concerned, Dylan seems to be putting behind him the disappointing distractions of Victoria's Secret and his silence on the Iraq War, and maybe we should now be giving him another chance:
The wiping of the slate might begin with this tour: Dylan breathed fire into every word of every song. Though he concentrated mostly on the world-weary tunes of his later years, he delivered them in an angry death-rattle.
Ah, that's alright then. The good old Dylan is back - not the one who is silent on the Iraq War, or who earned a nice pile of money in a funny Victoria's Secret commercial, but the one who delivers his songs with an "angry death-rattle." Dylan isn't just continuing his Never Ending Tour and plumbing the depths of his body of work in rich and varied re-arrangements of his songs - he's actually atoning for the things he's done that Mr. Guzmán doesn't like, and pleading for his credibility to be returned to him.
All this puts my own experience at that gig in an entirely different light. Instead of just clapping and cheering, I guess I should have shouted, "It's alright Bob! We forgive you!"
* Wrong! Clean-Cut Kid does not include the word "Vietnam," though its reference to a "napalm health-spa" and the overall story certainly leave the listener convinced that this is the military action that the "kid" was involved in. On the other hand, the 1986 soundtrack song Band Of The Hand DOES mention Vietnam ("for all of my brothers from Vietnam and my uncles from World War II") though the song occupies a different landscape. Likewise, the 1981 unreleased track Legionnaire's Disease includes this verse:
Granddad fought in a revolutionary war, father in the War of 1812,
Uncle fought in Vietnam and then he fought a war all by himself,
But whatever it was, it came out of the trees.
Oh, that Legionnaire's disease.Finally, one of Dylan's presumed contributions to the Traveling Wilburys, a 1988 song called Tweeter & The Monkey Man, includes these lines:
Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam
And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn
They knew that they found freedom just across the Jersey Line
So they hopped into a stolen car took Highway 99So, my original statement that Clean-Cut Kid is the only Dylan song to mention Vietnam could hardly be more wrong, in a technical sense, and I'm indebted to a visitor named Michael M. for pointing this out. Nevertheless, I think that the intended point of my sloppily researched statement - that Clean-Cut Kid is the only Dylan song that directly deals with the "Vietnam question" in some way - remains true.
** 1981 interview with Dave Herman, talking about something else (abortion).
Day Of The Locusts ...04/27/2005 05:51:07 pm
As the fight continues over whether President Bush should have the right to have an ambassador to the United Nations who agrees with him (albeit one who has allegedly had harsh words with one or maybe even two people in his life), the Democrats might want to print out this column from the Tehran Times - the better to persuade their fellow committee members that it might unduly annoy a fully paid-up member of the Axis of Evil were Bolton to be confirmed.
It's titled, "Wrong Man At The Wrong Time":
His nomination appeared more appalling since the Bush administration had previously announced it planned to repair its image, which had suffered greatly due to the scandal-hit invasion of Iraq launched under the guidance of hawks like Bolton and other officials who Nelson Mandela once called the dinosaurs surrounding Bush.
Certain revelations after his nomination forced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to unexpectedly decide to spend a few more weeks investigating allegations about his bullying tactics against subordinates, attempts to suppress opposing views about foreign policy and national security, threats to a female government contractor, and misleading the committee about his handling of classified materials. His record is so dark that even some Republicans sitting on the committee are finding his appointment hard to swallow.
His intimidation of intelligence analysts has been confirmed by the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. For instance, Carl Ford, former chief of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, told the senators that Bolton is a "serial abuser who bullied subordinates… an 800-pound gorilla." He said Bolton "abuses his power and authority over little people." "He's a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy." He accused Bolton of seeking the dismissal of a State Department official with whom he disagreed.
It's clear that U.S. administration hardliners have badly misjudged the current Iranian regime. Not only are they well disposed towards the United States, with the desire to see our foreign policy implemented as effectively as possible, but it actually pains them to even think of innocent American intelligence analysts being bullied by such a monster as John Bolton.
The mustachioed hawk, who wants to see his nightmare worldview translated into reality, has repeatedly claimed that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons program, despite announcements by the UN nuclear agency that it has found no evidence indicating that Tehran has a nuclear weapons program.
It only remains for Kim Jong-Il to weigh in on Bolton's qualifications and character. Oh, I forgot - the North Koreans already expressed their opinion on Bush's nominee way back in August of 2003 (the Dear Leader is clearly as prescient as his press would indicate). After what was surely a lengthy analysis of the record with regard to Bolton's personal style, work ethic, and knowledge of the relevant issues, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman opined that Mr. Bolton was "human scum and [a] bloodsucker."
Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Barbara Boxer, Barack Obama, John F. Kerry and the other Democratic members of the Foreign Relations Committee are clearly not too conflicted about furthering the good intentions of our interested observers in the Iranian and North Korean regimes.
Et tu, George Voinovich? Chuck Hagel?
I'm stuck for a Dylan quote, so I'll resort to Led Zeppelin: "It really makes me wonder."
(Oh, and there are now1069 days remaining until Sandy Berger can regain his security clearance.)
Feel Like A Fightin' Rooster ...04/25/2005 11:19:04 am
A version of Cry A While from Boston, 04/16/2005, that really cooks: mp3 file, here temporarily.
Passover greetings to all. ...04/24/2005 09:02:27 am
Dylan took last night off - but tonight is playing Atlantic City.
Dylan To Create A Next World War ...04/23/2005 05:59:21 pm
And the promoter who nearly fell off the floor is apparently President Chen Shui-Bian of Taiwan. OK - I'm dubious at this stage about nearly every element of this story but here it is, from the indispensable Taiwanese news source ET Today:
Rock singer-turned-anti-war icon {ed: give them a break they're Taiwanese} Bob Dylan is to visit Taiwan in July. According to our understanding, the singer's agent has agreed to have him participate as a part of Taipei County's annual Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival, in response to an invitation from President Chen Shui-bian. It will cost the presidential office nearly eight million NT dollars to bring Dylan to Taiwan.
"How many times must the canon balls fly, before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind," said President Chen as he read lyrics from Bob Dylan's Blowing in the Wind to express his emotions in reaction to China's enactment of its anti-secession law.
As tensions rise in the Taiwan Strait, President Chen chose Dylan's lyrics to convey his feelings. At the time, there were media speculations about Dylan's visit, but now, ETTV has been able to confirm with the press officer of Taipei Country, Liao Chih-chien, who's in charge of the Ho-Hai-Yan Rock Festival. "We're still working on the details. There's still a few minor things that we have yet to work out" said Liao.
....
The organizer will announce Dylan's visit as early as the middle of May, if plans go according to schedule. This announcement will once again bring Taiwan into the focus of international attention.Well, the thing that made me laugh out loud when first reading this was the figure of $8 million that it would cost to have Dylan perform. However, a helpful online currency converter tells me that $8 million Taiwanese dollars is actually around $250,000 US bucks. Not an inconceivable figure, then, considering the logistics of getting The Bob Dylan Show to Taipei.
Of-course the remarkable thing about all this is the way that it's being tied into the tension between the Taiwanese and the Chi-coms. The President of Taiwan reacting to China's anti-secession threats by quoting Blowing In The Wind? And now he's effectively personally inviting Bob Dylan to come proclaim the message in person in Taipei?
Here's some of what President Chen said in March:
Chen offered a rewriting of Dylan's song, including "How many roads must the Taiwan people take before they can have true democracy? How much time must the people on both sides spend before they can find lasting peace? How long must China engage in intimidation before it can move toward peace? The answer, the great Taiwan people, will be blowing in the wind on March 26!"
And all this was said with Blowing In The Wind playing the background.
What will the Red Chinese do, with the bourgeois long-haired Yankee rock star spitting in their face from across the Taiwanese Straits? Hopefully there will be only music and not any Chinese military ordinance blowing in the wind.
To Dylan, if he does do it, it would probably be just another gig and a chance to indulge his affection for the Far East (at least he's always seemed to have a thing for Japan). To me, the whole scenario is reminiscent of nothing so much as the closing scene of Masked & Anonymous.
Bob, whatever you do, please don't get into any fights with John Goodman.
Though this story will doubtless be linked on Expecting Rain tomorrow, remember that you heard it first here ...
Desire ...04/22/2005 02:24:05 pm
Recently, your host Right Wing Bob subscribed via email to a thing called FREECYCLE. For those not hip enough to know, this is an internet-based group that enables people to find homes for items which they no longer need or want. It was no doubt initiated by the kind of individuals who wake up in a cold sweat every night imagining that their back yard is being engulfed by a land fill. The idea is simple: you post what you have to offer to the group, and anyone who wants it can get in touch with you and arrange to pick it up.
Now, it used to be that the "Goodwill" filled this role in people's lives, but you would generally have to lug the stuff to the store yourself - and, let's face it, some junk is too junky even for them. For those too pained to just leave it on the curb, or set fire to it, there is now a way to find a willing taker, for the mere price of an email and the willingness to tell a stranger on the internet where you live.
In addition to posting what you'd like to offer, you may also post what you'd like to receive. However, to avoid it becoming nothing but a big wish-list, there are rules: only one "WANTED" post per day (or per week, or something) per individual. I'm dubious as to how well the rules are enforced, since WANTEDs seem to outnumber OFFERs by a factor of five or more in my Inbox.
And it was whilst scanning my Inbox over the last few days that something struck me. If you took this long list of things being offered, and other things being wanted, and edited it a bit, and threw in some formatting, and drank a scotch or two, you would end up with something very close to ... pure poetry!
And so this is what I did. I've extracted posts that seemed to resonate with me for one reason or another, formatted them a little, redacted precise email addresses where necessary, and assembled them into my big statement on America in 2005 (with a suitably Dylanesque title). It speaks to what we are willing to give, versus what we yearn to receive and ... and it speaks to so many other things besides (feel free to speculate so long as you credit Right Wing Bob for any insights at which you arrive).
DESIRE
Sender ............. Subject.................................................... .Date
WithAnEye@--.com OFFER: Women's Panties ... Thu 04/21
mattdecico WANTED: Guitars and Keyboards ...Wed 04/20
laeve88 WANTED: Floor Tiles ...Wed 04/20
momwriter2004 OFFER: Susan Powter Stop the Insanity program ...Fri 04/22
r63gomez WANTED Honeywell transformer model AT-20D or AT-72D ...Thu 04/21
fluffy830 WANTED: Wall mount Air Conditioner ...Thu 04/21
glaistig16@--.com WANTED: Newborn stuff for girl ...Thu 04/21
stella150 OFFER: Non working ocean aquarium from Fisher Price ...Thu 04/21
Tara C. WANTED: Bicycle ...Thu 04/21
peacebearhippohug WANTED: PICNIC TABLE or 2 stumps and a plank. ...Thu 04/21
dthelen_101 OFFER: Pampers Pants Coupons ...Thu 04/21
cindy WANTED: glass/time- misplaced number ...Thu 04/21
OoChiEWaLLi@--.com WANTED: Bright Colored Couch/Sofa ...Thu 04/21
dianakash685 OFFER: Playbill magazines ...Thu 04/21
Leyna WANTED: QUEEN BOLT ON BED FRAME/RAILS ...Thu 04/21
carolltommy OFFER::::::::::COIN WRAPERS::::::::::::: ...Thu 04/21
jdp3000000 WANTED: Baby Excersaucer ...Wed 04/20
listrejects WANTED: SUSPENSION GRID SYSTEM FOR 2' X 2' or 2' X 4' CEILING TILES ...Thu 04/21
aroid_mama OFFER: Book- Office 2000 Bible ...Thu 04/21
scenario180 WANTED: Floor Tiles, or used TV set ...Wed 04/20
indigo110473 WANTED: Spider Plant Babies ...Wed 04/20
Roz F. LAST RE-OFFER: Bag of Technical/Job Search Books... ...Thu 04/21
Melissa WANTED: index card organizer box or rolodex or something else ...Wed 04/20
indigo110473 WANTED: Renu Contact lens solution ...Wed 04/20
W Perez WANTED: Palmvx ...Wed 04/20
W Perez WANTED: any MP3 player. ...Wed 04/20
slash630 OFFER:Saturday Night Live VHS Tapes- ...Thu 04/21
Spencer WANTED - broken laptop a few years old ...Thu 04/14
***
There you have it. I felt that Spencer's "broken laptop a few years old" was a suitably poignant note to end on. It's the only "WANTED" post I was tempted to respond to, if only to ask, "How broken do you want it, Spencer?" but I resisted and maintained my poetic distance. It's a lonely calling.
With A Bullet ...04/22/2005 09:10:14 am
Yes, as a web searcher from Germany discovered overnight, this site is currently the Number 1 hit on GOOGLE when you perform a search on "dylan ratzinger." My advertisers will be so pleased.
Shelter From The Storm ...04/21/2005 02:30:12 pm
This is Dylan doing Shelter From The Storm (file here temporarily) at Boston's Orpheum theater, on April 15th, 2005. I think it's very nice indeed, even though he muffs the words at one point and has to recover.
There's various ways that people hear this song. Naturally, appearing as it does on Blood On The Tracks, the assumption tends to be that the singer is addressing a woman from whom he's become estranged. And the song certainly works that way, and, Lord knows, lots of other ways too.
These days though, I always hear the song as being addressed to the singer's muse - or whatever you may want to call it. You could call it just "music," or "song," or that spiritual conduit from which the singer believes his songs emerge. Dylan of-course succeeds in avoiding having to hang some clunky label on it, by just saying "she." That's why he's a poet. I'll just call it "song" for simplicity's sake.
In the early days, song gave an identity and shape to the young artist, crystallizing the chaos in his head and all around him, and enabling him to create something enduring from it:
There was nothing the singer had to do back then to discipline or force his art. He had a natural connection to it and it flowed without prejudice or fear.
Then something goes wrong. The singer feels exhausted, hunted, "blown out" and ravaged. Who's going after him? He doesn't say. But even in these times he continues to find his refuge in song - she gracefully approaches him and offers him her shelter once again.
I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,
Poisoned in the bushes an' blown out on the trail,
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."
Suddenly I turned around and she was standin' there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair.
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."If you think about Dylan's attempted escape from "counterculture hero" status which he describes so well in Chronicles, the next verse might be seen to speak to a certain aspect. Dylan says in his book, about the songs on the 1970 album New Morning:
I felt like these songs could blow away in cigar smoke, which suited me fine. ... Maybe there were good songs in the grooves and maybe there weren't - who knows? But they weren't the kind where you hear an awful roaring in your head. I knew what those kinds of songs were like and these weren't them. It's not like I hadn't any talent, I just wasn't feeling the full force of the wind. No stellar explosions. I was leaning against the console and listening to one of the playbacks. It sounded okay.
Of-course Bob still does some of those songs in concert - so he is not in that passage disavowing the songs, but he is recognizing that something is lacking compared to his earlier work, and that he himself has played a role in making it disappear. He didn't want the kind of excitement that he'd been generating in other people through his songs. His own excitement was just fine, but he couldn't control what other people were going to do with that quicksilver he was generating. It had been coming back to bite him, and literally knocking on his door in Woodstock. But in tampering with his inspiration, had he broken something that could never again be fixed?
A number of the remaining verses are rich in Biblical imagery and some questions and implications that are beyond the reach of my little post today. But it's clear that the singer continues to seek comfort and truth from that elusive and eternal source, i.e. "song," as I'm calling it.
And he comes back and sums it all up in the final verse, as any good narrator should. He's in exile, in a "foreign country," but determined to return. Beauty (like his art of song?) "walks a razor's edge," where the slightest tilt from one side to the other will cause it to fall. He feels he doesn't have that crucial balance right now but "someday will make it mine." It would be easy, if only he could get back to the real beginning, the first moment of creation, "when God and her were born." When God was born? Of-course, God being eternal, it's not possible to ever go back to the moment of His birth, is it? And Dylan's well aware of that, and of the futility of his yearning. It's a heartbreaking end to this song, really ( and listening to him sing it is so much better):
Of-course an irony is that the song appears on what is lauded as one of his greatest albums, an album on which many feel he did "turn back the clock" and create work that stands with his best from the previous decade. And Blood On The Tracks certainly does stand, not only with his best work, but with anyone's. So, while creating a work of genius, did Dylan also, as a part of that work, write a song that mourns his hopeless disconnection from the very source of that genius? Was writing the song the penance he needed to do to be granted some rays of that former light back?
A paradox wrapped in a conundrum, or something like that. And one great song, I think.
People Tell Me It's A Sin ...04/19/2005 07:36:15 pm
... but I just can't help myself from enjoying the reaction of the backbone of the Democratic Party to news like today's (the selection of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope).
The first response is:
Oh goody. Another neocon in power.
And if that isn't worth the price of admission all by itself! "Neocon" is such a deliciously plastic term of abuse in these circles. When it can be applied to a German cardinal who has always (so far as anyone says) been a strict believer in and teacher of orthodox Roman Catholicism, it has truly gone way beyond the level of meaninglessness and into the stratosphere of looniness. When people are so incapable of defining their political enemies with anything resembling accuracy (preferring nonsensical catch-all labels), it says a great deal about their utterly bereft craniums.
And the patients at the DU institution continue:
"the deep moral sickness" of europe was a fave topic for ratzy and jp2. we are in for one hell of a ride. keep your eye out for commentary on how SOON they arrived at this decision. it's about money and power -- the blood cult wing of the theocrats is now in power in catholicism as well as protestantism.
and
I tell you for sure, this isn't going to bring any back This is BS. Maybe we'll get lucky he will "die in his sleep" like our 33 day "Progressive Pope" John Paul 1st, did. Yes, I'm an Ex-Catholic, and now I plan on staying that way.
and
The Vatican has become an arm of the neo-con/fundie movement in Amerika because it too has always been obsessed with power, and they see that right now that's where the power is.We're Da Vinci Code enthusiasts now. Non-affiliated, non-denominational spiritual deists, perhaps. We don't need no f'in churches to find our way through this life and into the next.
and
My thoughts exactly.
I'm Jewish, so it doesn't really affect me personally, but I know how much this can affect world affairs and it's not a very good sign. Not that I would wish anyone dead (well, almost anyone), but he certainly won't be around as long as JPII, for whom I had a lot of respect.and
Joined the Hitler Youth in 1941, became part of a flak unit in 1943...attended basic infantry training in 1945, and then deserted just prior to the end of the war. The two+ years of Hitler Youth indoctrination forms the bedrock of his current very conservative belief structure.
and a defender!
The Jerusalem Post defended Ratzinger against those charges yesterday. Now call me crazy,but if the Jerusalem Post defends you as a friend from charges of being a nazi and anti-semite you probably are aren't. Just go to http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/J... and read the damn editorial if you don't believe me. Now attack the guys conservative views rather than a bs smear.
and
One can call Pope Benedict XVI "the German Shephard"
After all, dog is God spelled backwards. (couldn't resist)and
They've pretty much made themselves irrelevant with this choice
On that wise note, I say, "enough." But damn, I love this stuff!
There's Too Much Confusion ...04/16/2005 04:20:05 pm
I don't understand this. From a local Michigan newspaper: "An evening with Bob Dylan and Michael Moore, almost."
This columnist goes to see a Dylan show in Mt. Pleasant, at a casino. He sees Michael Moore there, also attending the show. He wants to go over to Moore and tell him that he liked "Fahrenheit 9/11" a whole lot, but security people make it clear that Moore doesn't want to be bothered. Nothing noteworthy here yet. Here's the twist:
I wanted to tell Michael Moore that I had seen his movie and really enjoyed it. I wanted to tell him that I had taken my son to see it when he was only a couple days fresh back from Baghdad.
Soldiers fight for not only freedom of the press but also freedom of speech too.
Uh, aside from the perplexing distinction he's making there between freedom of the press and freedom of speech (which one is he implying is more applicable to Fahrenheit 9/11? And at what point did the government try to stop that movie from being made or shown in theaters?), what in the world would possess a father to eagerly take his son, a couple of days off from serving in combat, to a movie that denigrates his mission and purpose to such an extent?
Then this:
The movie contained footage of U.S. Army soldiers on patrol in Baghdad. They were searching an area when an improvised explosive device went off right in front of them. The speakers in the theater were at maximum volume and the explosion was very loud and literally rocked the theater.
I noticed that my son, who was seated next to me, jumped and then gripped the arm rests of his seat. It was quite a shock to him, watching that scene.
He noticed that I had seen him flinch and he looked a little sheepish. This saddened me, realizing the things he had seen and done had caused this to occur.
We went directly outside to have a cigarette after this. I noticed my son smoking furiously while gripping the cigarette hard and staring off into the distance of the theater parking lot. He was looking about 1,000 yards away at nothing in particular. Then we went back in and finished watching the movie.
That's what I wanted to tell Michael Moore -- about his movie and the effect it had on us that day.He wanted to thank Michael Moore for the cherished memory of seeing his son, just returned from a war zone, get upset by a loud explosion? Again, I honestly just don't understand this. Not a single bit.
Original text copyright © 2005 by RightWingBob.com
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