Sunday, October 14, 2007

The Tragicomic Condition of Freedom


Dixie Chicks -- imagine a band attacked and vilified for expressing free speech. Imagine that in the land of the free, home of the brave. Ha! Happy Birthday, Natalie Maines. Let her critics know: "[Blind] patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." (Samuel Johnson, 1775).


Hannah Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil." You go, Hannah! Was she right or what? Fellow birthday memorial for Ike Eisenhower. In his farewell speech in 1961, he warned Americans of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. Was he right or what?


Karyn White sings of the Ritual of Love. Does she know of what she sings or what?

Today's Rune: Journey.

Birthdays: Éamon de Valera, Kathleen Mansfield (Beauchamp), Dwight David Eisenhower, Lillian Gish, e. e. cummings (b. Edward Estlin Cummings), Hannah Arendt, Hassan al Banna, Ðức Thọ (b. Phan Dinh Khai), Roger Moore, Ralph Lauren (b. Ralph Lifschitz), Cliff Richard (b. Harry Rodger Webb), Katha Pollitt, Thomas Dolby (Robertson), Isaac Mizrahi, Karyn White, Natalie Maines (Pasdar).

3 comments:

the walking man said...

Yes, Yes and i don't know.

peace

mark

Charles Gramlich said...

I wasn't all that troubled by the backlash against the Dixie chicks because it seemed like speech was being met with more speech mostly. Radio stations boycotting them was a more serious matter.

Luma Rosa said...

Erik, I find that they are American internal subjects, without possibilities for me to think!Beijus