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THE ABSURD TIMES WE AINT WOKEISH
Illustration: The Governor of Florida faces the WOKE forces of evil. Will he be ready for Donald? WE AINT WOKE by Honest Charlie Well, I want to take care of a few things first. First of all, I'm going to use the first-person singular. So there. And this is personal, not some general issue. You are welcome aboard. Next, let's consider the French, or French itself. I have heard that language is phonetic, so let's look at a few things. First, in linguistics, there is a term called schwa, or a sort of capital B (not available on a standard keyboard). How would you write it in French? "Eouis", of course. The first thing that would have come to me when I saw "eouis" written down, was "schwa," of course. OK, let's take another: CHAMPS! Now I would be tempted to pronounce that as if it were a team that was triumphant over any other team in their league, or whatever. WRONG! It is pronounced "Shawnz," of course! People complain that the French will not recognize anyone's ability to pronounce their language, as if there were only one way to pronounce it, but there are slight variations every 30 miles or so. Never mind that someone here from Mississippi, meeting someone from New Jersey, along with someone from Nebraska will all recognize each other as native speakers. Same thing in France. One big difference, however, is what I ran into in most other countries. No matter what the language, some of the people disliked Americans very much, and not without good reason. They pretend to be unable to speak or understand English. However, if I started out in German, which I can pronounce fairly acceptably, although perhaps with a 19th Century bias, they immediately seem very fluent in English. EXCEPT IN FRANCE!! They seemed to have a very long memory there because the question as to whether they spoke German was answered with a vigorous NO! However, on social media German is of little help as Germans of that generation speak, read, and write English with far greater ease than I could do any of that in German. There is no reason to try.1 Despite this handicap, perhaps because of it?, the French set an example for all people of the so-called "free world" when the autocratic Macron simply raised the retirement age two years by fiat. He stole, in other words, the retirement funds contributed by the workers of France, two years' worth. They occupied the streets for at least a month. The controlling parties, next election, will simply find somebody intolerably bad to run against whomever they want to rule and that will be that. But at least they tried. The demonstrations worked much as they did worldwide before the Iraq war. Bush, to some extent tinged by Oedipal concerns, but mainly for oil and at the behest of Israel, went to war anyway. He clownishly landed on a ship with MISSION ACCOMPLISHED written on it and strutted as the greatest patriot since George Washington (who started out as a British Officer). Millions, worldwide, demonstrated against that war, but the will of the people was not as important as profits.2 Of course, all such efforts eventually fail and the people are left in as meager conditions as possible. We know that the Treaty of Versailles was designed to harm and punish the German people and NOT to prevent more conflict. Maynard Keynes and many others at the time brought this out but were never heeded. The result was a populist movement in Germany with a precursor of the MAGA party that was called the NAZI party. There is no secret about this as some of the energetic members of this Republican Party carry such flags, billionaires with signed copies of Mein Kampf, and one-eyed morons with huge tattoos of WE THE PEOPLE on his arm flaunt their support for autocracy. But enough nostalgia. This leader is now sentenced to 18 years in prison, but that's ok, Adolf was in prison when he wrote his battle and when he was a youth (yes, he was one once) kept a poster of Henry Ford on his wall. Both were anti-union. Ford had a plant that manufactured tanks for Adolf and we bombed it. Henry took us to court and won. The Supreme Court is being purchased once again today. This one-eyed leader has an eye patch, but few know how it came about. He just looks tough wearing it. Well, according to his wife, an accomplished stripper, (who at least therefore provides a genuine service), he was cleaning a 22 caliber gun and he shot himself in the eye. Well, you can't have everything. So why are not these obvious details more well-known? They are not more well-known because the media is owned by people who don't want them to be well-known. The media has the right to publish whatever it wants, so long as it does not affect profits. The interview below will tell you all about it. I had intended to trace the history of the entire Soviet Union abandonment, the promises about NATO not moving an inch East, and the overthrow of the earlier Ukrainian government, but that will have to wait. I am, however, deciding that only on Mondays is a rather artificial way to publish a newsletter. So … whenever! Here'e Amy: We look at the largely forgotten 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, when police in Chicago shot at and gassed a peaceful gathering of striking steelworkers and their supporters, killing 10 people, most of them shot in the back. It was a time like today, when unions were growing stronger. The workers were on strike against Republic Steel, and the police attacked them with weapons supplied by the company. The tragic story is told in a new PBS documentary. "The mass media, right up to The New York Times, was supporting the police story that they had no choice but to open fire on this mob," says Greg Mitchell, who directed the new PBS documentary, Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried, and edited a companion book that is the first oral history on the tragedy. The film can be viewed at PBS.org and was produced by Lyn Goldfarb. Transcript This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: As Memorial Day weekend begins here in the United States, we end today's show looking back at the largely forgotten 1937 Memorial Day Massacre, when police in Chicago shot at and gassed a peaceful gathering of striking steelworkers and their supporters, killing 10 people, most of them shot in the back. It was a time like today, when unions were growing stronger. The workers were on strike against Republic Steel. The police attacked them with weapons supplied by the company. The tragic story is told in a new PBS documentary, Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried. It based on book with oral histories of eyewitnesses of the attack. The film begins with the great radio broadcaster Studs Terkel. STUDS TERKEL: This is 1937, and the labor battles are going on. The CIO is being organized. And the steelworkers and the packing, they're all being organized. And the Big Steel, the big steel companies, finally agreed. They recognized the union. But there's one company in Chicago, Republic Steel, Tom Girdler: "I will not recognize the union." And so there was a strike. Memorial Day 1937. And there was a picnic. Strikers and their wives and kids are on the grounds of Republic Steel in South Chicago. Someone threw a stone, and cops were there at the behest of Girdler. And they shot down 10 people, killed them, in the back. JOSH CHARLES: In the days that followed, newspapers from coast to coast portrayed the incident as a riot provoked by a dangerous mob, which left police no choice but to open fire, with 10 dead within days. However, the key piece of evidence, the only film of the tragedy, remained buried. Paramount News created, then suppressed, a newsreel airing the footage. When the hidden footage was finally screened, the shocking images drew national attention, with vital lessons for today. AMY GOODMAN: That's the opening to the new documentary, Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried. This is another clip, when an eyewitness describes how the police attack unfolded. We hear from reporter Harold Rossman and Mollie West, who was a teenager when she attended the Memorial Day gathering in support of the striking workers. MOLLIE WEST: We just walked. And people were talking and holding hands, and the children were being carried by their fathers on their shoulders. And everybody was laughing, and it was a joyous thing. And as we came closer to the mill, the walking slowed a bit. It seemed like the entire police force of the city of Chicago was out there. But that didn't deter. We were still going to go over to the mill and just conduct a peaceful mass picket line. HAROLD ROSSMAN: I could see a few objects through the air. I could see some things being thrown. Not much. It wasn't a lot of stuff, maybe a couple of rocks. There was a dry, crackling kind of a noise. It took me a moment to figure out what it was, and I realized it was gunfire. And by that time, the people were falling. And they were turning and trying to run, and the gunfire continued. It was clear that a whole number of these people had been shot in the back. They were trying to flee, and they were still being fired at. MOLLIE WEST: And then a whole number of people were piled up on top of me, and I could barely breathe. Also, there was tear gas. People finally began to get off, get on their feet. And when I finally stood up, and I — total bewilderment. I looked around, and I saw a battlefield. AMY GOODMAN: The new PBS documentary, Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried, which just aired on PBS, is now online. It's the latest project from longtime author and journalist Greg Mitchell, who's written 12 books and made many films about U.S. politics and history. Greg, welcome back to Democracy Now! This is a devastating documentary about a story very few people today know, what happened 86 years ago in Chicago. Take it from where we have just heard these eyewitness descriptions. How did this happen? GREG MITCHELL: OK. Well, I'm happy to be here. Yes, the police, in fact, shot 40 people, the vast majority in the back or in the side. Ten would die, within days. And then, they — as the film shows, they waded through the crowd, beating people over the head, sometimes with ax handles provided by Republic Steel. And so, there were another 50 people who were injured enough to be hospitalized. And then, again, as the film shows, the injured, instead of getting any medical treatment, were actually arrested and shoved into paddy wagons and taken to jail or taken to distant hospitals. And this is all on the Paramount News footage, which was suppressed. So, we know the step-by-step things that happened. And you can watch — AMY GOODMAN: Greg, your film is so good — GREG MITCHELL: — almost all the Paramount footage. AMY GOODMAN: Greg, your film is so good, I want to go back to another clip from Memorial Day Massacre. JOSH CHARLES: A disturbing new account of the death of one man emerged. A photo of Earl Handley being carried by police, seemingly for medical attention, had appeared in newspapers earlier. Now the full story came out. Handley, a 37-year-old carpenter, had been shot in the thigh, so a worker tied a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding. The Paramount footage showed him being hauled to a worker's car for a quick trip to the hospital. After the camera stopped rolling, however, police yanked him out of the car and carried him to their paddy wagon, as his tourniquet slipped off, and he bled to death. A doctor who treated some of the wounded presented autopsy reports proving that nearly all of the dead had been shot in the back or in the side. AMY GOODMAN: And this is another clip from Memorial Day Massacre about how progressive Senator Robert La Follette subpoenaed the suppressed footage of the attack. This was the first time film was shown as evidence in a Senate hearing. JOSH CHARLES: Senator La Follette announced that the footage would be screened at both regular speed and slow motion. Pointedly, he asked the top Chicago police officials to take a seat to view the film. This was reportedly the first time film footage had ever been introduced as evidence in Congress. The reaction in the hearing room: gasps, some tears, but stony silence from the top police officials. The slow motion revealed a murderous new detail. Much of the press coverage the next day now flipped to blaming the police, although many news outlets now claimed that the camera could indeed lie. NEWSREEL: What happened at South Chicago, Memorial Day, 1937. JOSH CHARLES: Also the following day, Paramount, after burying the first two newsreels, at last released a film based on its footage. NEWSREEL: The following pictures, made before and during the trouble, are shown exactly as they came from the camera, without editing — as presented before the United States Senate committee in Washington. JOSH CHARLES: The newsreel claimed that the footage was not edited, but this was false. Actually, it omitted this crucial footage: the deadly first 15 seconds. So Paramount was still withholding evidence from the public. AMY GOODMAN: Another excerpt of Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried, the director, Greg Mitchell, with us. I mean, this story of what the public understood happened, with 10 people killed, talk about the role of the media, and the police working with it, whether the camera was shut off, as we saw in that first clip, or Paramount suppressing this, Greg. GREG MITCHELL: Yes. The importance of it was, to me, the mass media, right up to The New York Times, was supporting the police story, that they had no choice but to open fire on this mob. And Paramount had the footage, had the evidence. They created a newsreel, and then they decided not to release it. They created a second newsreel and didn't release that. And it took the being subpoenaed by the La Follette hearing, and the screening on Capitol Hill then forced Paramount to release a third newsreel. And even then, city officials in Chicago, in St. Louis, in Massachusetts banned its showing. So, even in its final form, it was not released in full. AMY GOODMAN: And, Greg, in this last minute, why is Paramount so significant? People might not understand that today. And what is the most important lesson to take of what took place? GREG MITCHELL: Well, you know, as you know, the movies were incredibly popular then. This was before television, so most people got their — certainly their visual news from these newsreels, which were shown in every movie theater at every movie showing. I think the lesson, among other things, is the importance of visual evidence when there's police shootings and police brutality, as we see today. That's why there's such a focus on releasing bodycams and dashboard cams. Of course, another lesson is, with the great labor activity today, that they stand on the shoulders of the people from the past who sacrificed so much. And that's why I'm happy people can watch this film right now on PBS.org, everywhere in the country. And, of course, the book has the oral histories of all eyewitnesses and many of the activists who were wounded. AMY GOODMAN: Greg Mitchell, director of Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried. And that does it for today's show. Thanks to Tia Potenza Smallwood and Susan Hughes here in Cambridge. Also thanks to Denis Moynihan and Hany Massoud. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us. The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
© 2023 Honest Charlie
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Showing posts with label woke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label woke. Show all posts
Monday, May 29, 2023
WE AINT WOKISH
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Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Woke
THE ABSURD TIMES
A Florida Cartoon on Ron Illustration: We Just Get Tired BlBlame it on Woke by HHonest Charlie Thanks for reading AbsurdTimes's Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. By the time I finish my introduction here, there begins a longish text by Adorno, a formidable member of the so-called Frankfort School, or the practice of Critical Theory. More about it later, but it will be issued in parts in subsequent postings without comment. Right now, we need to start off with the stupid overuse of the word "woke," an indispensable part of any aspiring leader of the MAGA Mob. I honestly have not heard the term used by anyone else with any seriousness, nor does it deserve any. These days, anything that approaches something that these rabble-rousers dislike (and they spend a great deal of money making sure of what it is that the rabble dislikes) becomes "woke" and they plan to destroy it. However, we can review some history of similar events and realize that "woke" has always been with us – it simply has not been identified as such. Even Social Security was deemed "woke" until the State of the Union. The process had rece3ived some attention and the backlash amongst the rabble was so intense that these cringing Magats all of a sudden cringed at any thought that they ever even considered axing Social Security. They could have remembered an old "Tea Party" movement, a precursor to the 'Birthers' and now the Magats, was militant about Social Security. At one time, a Republican Senator from Pennsylvania (yes, he of the magic bullet ruse) was attacked during a town hall with cries of "keep your government hands off my Social Security". This leaves little to say. Previously, Socil Security had been called 'socialism' as FDR constructed several changes under his "new deal". Ronald Ray Gun was acting the role of President as corporate Amerika cast him as their attacker in chief. We lack the word 'woke' at the time, so we had only "socialism" to attack and were a bit handicapped by that as some people actually knew what it was. "Woke" had no such problems. After all, our system had so badly allowed greed to blossom so wildly causing it to crash so totally, here and around the world, that FDR could do anything he wanted to save it. If he was a Socialist, he could have nationalized all the banks, things would probably still be better today, but he did not. When he ran, he gave his reason: "I need to save my friends from themselves." In other words, we need some rules. So what happened at the state of the Union? Well, such events were usually quite sedate affairs. One moronic scum shouted "you lie" at Obama and that was about all that ever happened. But this last time, Joe Biden (hardly a flaming liberal) was able to lash out at the Maga plans against Social Security and the entire place was in an uproar with denials! Elected Maga types screamed and shouted denials, attacking Biden's status as a human beling! That marked the end of a string of attempts to undo another bit of progress made by FDR back in the 1930s. Social Security lost its role as woke. The previous time Social Security was being attacked was by the Bush/Cheney mob and a scheme to put all the money from the Social Security fund into the stock market. At that time, after the repeal of another FDR program, the Stock market crashed and the scheme was abandoned. The Dodd/Frank bill was passed and that kept things safe until Trump and the repeal of Dodd/Frank (and Frank, now with a salary of 2 or 3 million a year, was very much behind the repeal) by a well-bribed Congress and a batty Trump. Just recently, a couple more large banks collapsed as a result, and perhaps some new regulations will be put into place. At the very least, the stupidity and greed of big money has screwed things up so foolishly that the public has forgotten the drilling in the new lands and other broken promises of the Biden administration. Or, to make things more comprehensible to the MAGA minions, Dodd/Frank was not involved – all that happened was that a few "Woke" banks failed. These woke people have to learn what's right. Ron De Fascist and Dopey Donald seem to make lovely alternatives. Ron's crusade against Walt Disney and Donald's claims of "witch-hunt" and aspirations to be the "retribution" for the scum simply need to do some more work. One of the great misfortunes of the civil war is that anyone with any capacity for abstract thought moved north and the south was left basically with the white trash. Nixon recognized this as it was a key part of his "southern strategy". He also predicted that Donald would someday become an effective politician. (Yes, there are still some sane and thoughtful people in the south and they at least benefit politically from the population increase of former slaves as they will usually be more liberal than the white trash. This is also a good time to point to a bit of wisdom often quoted and originating with the Texan Lyndon Johnson, who other then his unjustifiable war, was fairly insightful: "If you tell a poor, stupid, low white man that he is better than the richest and most educated black person, he will let you pick his pocket." That was a strategy he often employed. Finally, to sum up the Trump business we can only ask 'How can there be a witch hunt when we know who the witch is?' Why hunt when he identified himself? It all smacks of Woke to me. Now, what has all of this got to do with "woke"? Actually, it is working up to a more important question: What has Florida got to do with CRT? What is this CRT? Well, it is kind of like "woke". All they really know is that it points out racist behavior and the rest they make up. They haven't the slightest idea of what it is – all they need to know is that somehow it points out that white people have not always been very nice to black people. Well, they haven't! Who can argue with that? Well, every bit of white trash who thinks that somehow all the black people are going to take things away from white people and they, the white people, are better than the black people. Are you befuddled enough? Well, don't be. Put directly, CRT is just one more example of being woke, just like Disney. Florida, according to its governor, is "where 'woke' goes to die". Well, now, here is a bit of real Critical Theory, prefaced by a few serious remarks. The excerpt will be continued in another posting in a few days or so, without much commentary: This is the second book of Adordo's aphorisms, an example of Critical Theory written in honor of Max Horkheimer, leader of Critical Theory.An aphorism is not, as commonly believed, a single sentence wittily phrased, laced with paradox or anger. It is rather a condensed discussion of a single subject under a single heading, lasting as long a several paragraphs and often as short as the single, biting, sentence. There is no explanation for the confusion of the two concepts, but it is best to make it clear from the onset.Adorno is patently wrong and in error on every single subject he discusses, misunderstanding every author or subject in turn and, in general, confounding ideas and concepts in a simple-minded way. Eventually, during the course of the discussion as he explains why he made the interpretation he did, he eventually reveals a clear, incisive and correct opinion on every single subject and there is not a single point on which one can contradict him.Now, the paragraph above seems to be pure nonsense, but it is my own parody on how Adorno actually works. Early on in the discussion one is tempted to disagree with him, but as he progresses to explain his views he seems irrefutable and, curiously enough, in accordance with one's own view of the subject, if one actually had one in the first place. It is a strange experience at first, but eventually becomes more comfortable as one's respect for his acumen and honesty is established. One would expect that since the reader had already read the previous posting of book one of this series there was no need for further introduction, but subsequent questions and observations prompted this introduction.For example, Adorno presents an analysis of WWII that few would today be allowed to present, yet he does it skillfully and accurately, although leaving out a few items that will be supplied here. His concern is not with Hitler's, the leader's (Fuürer in German] cruelty, but with his stupidity that is a hallmark of fascism, the linkage of commercialism with warfare that inevitably leads to al lack of creativity. One example he gives is Hitler's decision not to attack England at the time, an attack that would have been successful and led to Germany's victory (supposing it stopped there), but rather to move eastward, violating his treaty with Stalin. Adorno could not have known this at the time, but Hitler often cursed Neville Chamberlain for having "ticked him" and never forgave himself for this blunder. Additionally, he was furious with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor as the last think he wanted was America's entry into the was, although Roosevelt devoutly hoped for this and perhaps precipitated it. All of this was controversial at the time, but today it is very dangerous to even suggest such a thing and popular wisdom has so deeply ingrained the opposite view.However, if all of this is uncomfortable today, his remarks starting about midway in this essay, in the 70s in number below, are more easily digested by today's mind, although the commercial interests would be very upset indeed with these insights. He talks about the decline of the Union at a time when it was very powerful and correctly predicts its decline. He talks of the artificial nature of quality in mass-production. For example, the Cadillac at that time was considered the epitome of automotive quality, but he points out that in almost every instance the design of the Cadillac is the same as the Chevrolet. Only materials and production of a much cheaper nature are substituted to produce a wider-selling car. Then he moves to his more valuable critique of cognition itself, or modern science, that systematically devalues everything that gives human meaning to life and, more to the point, the very scientists themselves. Today, it is only the "popularizer" of Science that gives it any meaning.He comments on a great many other issues, and this brief introduction to book two should be considered as one person's observations thereon:Minima Moralia by Theodor AdornoPart II |
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