Bill Ayers speaks out! An In These Times exclusive.

To See or Not To See

By Joe Knowles

The images we saw on TV last night … were terrible. The whole city looked as if it were on fire. … The only thing I could think of was ‘why does this have to happen to Baghdad.’ ” In this instantly uplinked war, thoughts such as these are not unusual, whether your television network of choice is CNN or… return to article

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    I have some sympathy for Sontag’s notion of art. In a way, those of us who do creative work have to stand back and get out of the way as much as possible. To comment on distant matters that are not close to the heart leads us into propaganda which coarsens our collective psyche. I sympathize with Mr. Knowles as well because we are, particularly now, surrounded by such lies and violence not only in our political leadership (in the U.S.) but throughout the culture. But arguing with people who don’t want to hear is fundamentally bootless. The artist and the mystic can do a lot to encourage the personal experience of truth in beings--perhaps we can whet the appetitite for truth in those that support and manipulate the current power structure. Direct opposition will no longer work.

    United States Posted by Chris on Apr 8, 2003 at 3:02 PM

    Sontag is right on when she says that compassion is unstable. Without acting on the immense reserve of human dignity we are left bereft, useless, but hoping through tears that somehow justice will win. This vanity and lack of purpose is indicative of the American psyche. The working man simply has no energy or much time to concern himself with issues that take place hundreds of miles away,
    and is ready to accept the fact that his sons and daughters will die for the same “words” as his friends did in earlier wars. Because according to Bush they are dying for “Freedom”.  Iraqi freedom, American freedom, the freedom of snails and alleycats, hey everyone’s free!  People forget that it’s much easier to make solutions than to find them. Why bother with diplomacy and decency? We’ve got bombs to detonate! We’ve got oil to rescue, posters to tear down, babies to pose with in pictures so everyone can SEE Iraq’s “freedom”.
    The propaganda used in the media by the government is so obvious that it’s almost funny, if it weren’t so fucking sick. All I need to fight this government is to visualize the mothers tears pouring onto the dirty face of her dead child. This mother can be American attending the funeral of her soldier son, or it can be the Iraqi mother bemoaning in anguish the loss of yet another child. It doesn’t matter. The pain is all the same, and I feel it through the fabric of the social consciousness, and all I can think to do is ACT. So this marks my entrance. Lets get ready for the battle to come. When Bush and the military come back calling for the blood of the non-Christian peaceful poets and artists who keep this unstable compassion growing quietly in the hearts of the true Americans, the young.

    United States Posted by darrin on Apr 8, 2003 at 7:56 PM

    “surrounded by such lies and violence not only in our political leadership (in the U.S.)”

    This contains the necessary implication that there are governments that do not involve lies and violence.  Could you identify them?

    United States Posted by Nus on Apr 28, 2003 at 3:10 PM

    “When Bush and the military come back calling for the blood of the non-Christian peaceful poets and artists who keep this unstable compassion growing quietly in the hearts of the true Americans, the young.”

    Did you mean to express an idea with this jumble of words?  If so, you failed.  What were you trying to say?

    United States Posted by Nus on Apr 28, 2003 at 3:12 PM
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