Anne Applebaum at The Washington Post takes a critical look at some Olympic fallacies:
“The Olympics are a force for good.” Not always! The 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany, were an astonishing propaganda coup for Hitler. It’s true that the star performance of Jesse Owens, the black American track-and-field great, did shoot some holes in [...]
“If I keep listening to it, I won’t finish the revolution.”
-Lenin, regarding Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata
Inspired by an article from Frederick Smock and a viewing of the German film “The Lives Of Others,” Robert Peake considers what it is that makes tyrants and warmongers silence the voices of poets and other artists.
“The U.S. Treasury Department - which, among other things, handles cases of treason - recently warned American publishers against translating poetry from Iran. Such translations, they avowed, would be considered ‘trading with the enemy,’ and would be punishable by fines and jail time.”
Peake, in this quiet and thoughtful piece, argues for poetry and compassion and against demonization and propaganda. He reminds us why poetry matters now.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to my RSS feed
Two books for American kids that should never have been published. Why Mommy Is a Democrat is about a single-mother squirrel intent on brainwashing her children and turning them into liberals.
Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! is about a couple of enterprising kids who are harassed and brow-beaten both in their dreams and in reality into adopting a mindless, flag-waving mentality.
Books, especially books for children, should concentrate on the process of freeing their minds and encouraging imagination. Both of these books do the opposite and should be avoided.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to my RSS feed
The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ken Loache’s film about Ireland in 1919 and the unanimous winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, has been much criticized by the British press.
A “poisonously anti-British corruption of the history of the war of Irish independence … The Wind That Shakes the Barley is not just wrong. It [...]
Save a Blogger from Begging: Buy Stuff:
Signed first editions
at special prices.
Subscribe to posts
Recent Comments