By The Way
The latest phrase for discussing the Iraq War, per the ruling class and the media they own, is to refer to such murder and mayhem as finding/working "a way forward".
A way forward. Positive sounding.
A way forward. Sounds favorable, certain, hopefully expectant. Onward soldiers marching ... forward.
Some folks would have sworn before elections they heard talk of "withdrawal" and "redeployment" and "ending" the war. But dear leaders really meant to say working "a way forward".
Could that be considered blowing smoke up your butt?
Urban Dictionary: Giving a gratuitous and insincere compliment, possibly to deceive. (Can be my, your, his, or her ass, but probably not plural, as in their asses.) Most literally translating to "trying to get a reaction" out of somebody. Originated from a 16th century technique to determine death by literally blowing tobacco smoke into someone's anus (through a long pipe) - where a reaction indicated that the person was still alive.
3 comments:
Kate,
Iraq is just the latest episode of Catch-22 catching up with us.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jan2000/hel-j06.shtml
Good piece. Must admit I have not read Catch-22 or seen the movie.
Catch-22 stands as a symbol for relations of power, relations that exist even if they are nowhere put down in writing, and it is these relations that are responsible for the misery and senseless death of millions and millions of people.
Heller: “I can't create a revolution in the country,” he said in a recent interview, “We don't organize well. And unfortunately I think it may be the best of all possible worlds or political systems. It's terrible, and it gets worse with every election. But if you asked me to sort of conceive or construct an alternative I could not do it.... What happens does happen, and what does happen in life is that the virtuous usually do not triumph, and those who are triumphant usually lack virtue.”
Even as pessimistic as I can be at times, I still believe there's an alternative and the people can construct it.
Thanks Ray.
Hi Kate,
"Catch-22" is a prime example where the book is vastly better than the movie. The same thing with Orwell's "1984". Neither movie came close to creating the same engaging arguments and/or gallows humor as the books.
I read Catch-22 when in college, in the late 1960s. It certainly struck a chord with me as an anti-Viet Nam War activist.
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