Comments on: Why ban poetry? http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/ Reflections of a working writer and reader Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:37:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Jerry http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/comment-page-1/#comment-40274 Jerry Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:16:16 +0000 http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/#comment-40274 Even still I won't repeat it just now. <strong>jb says</strong>: Words have power. We forget how much. Even still I won’t repeat it just now.

jb says: Words have power. We forget how much.

]]> By: Jerry http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/comment-page-1/#comment-40161 Jerry Mon, 19 Mar 2007 19:02:12 +0000 http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/#comment-40161 From a Canadian Perspective we had a Prime Minister who banned the works of Plato and Darwin along with Lenin and Marx following the Kerensky revolution. During the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 he told his Minister of Labour to arrest the leaders of the strike despite the fact that the weren't violating any law, he told the Minister they'd make a law up afterwards to justify the governments actions. What he wanted was the leaders to stop talking. Words have power, it's why prophets are killed by those who don't like what they're prophesying, the power is the power to humanize, and you can't hate a human as easily as you can hate an abstraction. Iran is an abstraction, an Iranian poem is a glimpse of Iranian humanity. <strong>jb says</strong>: Thanks, Jerry. We knew that, but it can't be repeated too many times. From a Canadian Perspective we had a Prime Minister who banned the works of Plato and Darwin along with Lenin and Marx following the Kerensky revolution. During the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 he told his Minister of Labour to arrest the leaders of the strike despite the fact that the weren’t violating any law, he told the Minister they’d make a law up afterwards to justify the governments actions. What he wanted was the leaders to stop talking.
Words have power, it’s why prophets are killed by those who don’t like what they’re prophesying, the power is the power to humanize, and you can’t hate a human as easily as you can hate an abstraction.
Iran is an abstraction, an Iranian poem is a glimpse of Iranian humanity.

jb says: Thanks, Jerry. We knew that, but it can’t be repeated too many times.

]]> By: robert@peakepro.com http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/comment-page-1/#comment-34474 robert@peakepro.com Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:54:56 +0000 http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/why-ban-poetry/#comment-34474 Thanks very much for the link, John. Certainly a relevant topic on both sides of the pond. I left the theatre "quiet and thoughtful" and wandered down to the boardwalk with Val to take in the Pacific at sunset. Surreal, to say the least, to be back in California having spent two-and-a-half hours in Cold War East Berlin. For some, 1984 really was like 1984. But I have yet to see a reviewer relate this masterpiece to our times. So I felt a certain obligation to that quiet but persistent thought. Rarely have I been so deeply affected by a film. <strong>jb says</strong>: I can't wait to see it, Robert. It was good you called by to say hello. Thanks very much for the link, John. Certainly a relevant topic on both sides of the pond.

I left the theatre “quiet and thoughtful” and wandered down to the boardwalk with Val to take in the Pacific at sunset. Surreal, to say the least, to be back in California having spent two-and-a-half hours in Cold War East Berlin. For some, 1984 really was like 1984. But I have yet to see a reviewer relate this masterpiece to our times. So I felt a certain obligation to that quiet but persistent thought.

Rarely have I been so deeply affected by a film.

jb says: I can’t wait to see it, Robert. It was good you called by to say hello.

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