H/T to Naomi for this one. Ara from E Pluribus Unum writes:
“The War Prayer,” a short story or prose poem by Mark Twain, is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic and religious fervor as motivations for war. The piece was left unpublished by Mark Twain at his death, largely due to pressure from his family, who feared that the story would be considered sacrilegious. Twain’s publisher and other friends also discouraged him from publishing it. Twain instructed for it to be published after his death, however, and is said to have quipped “I don’t think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.“
The War Prayer Pt. 1
The War Prayer Pt. 2
To quote from Naomi’s email, “Even cartoon blood can give one pause…”
Twain was a man far above the norm. He saw the world in a rare and untarnished light. Truly, one of the greatest authors the world has ever beheld. Thank you for posting this. A great companion to jimmer’s piece on the 29th.
A second note. Did anyone notice one of it’s tags on wikipedia was “anti-war?” Would that not really be peace?
Thanks, Stardust! It pisses me off that I can’t post YouTube in all its media glory!
There’s some conflict in my system that removes half of the code, causing big blank spaces on the posts. I’ve had to delete the last four attempts…aaargh!
Oh, and it was sent to me by a friend, who headed his email, “Yin and Yang of Prayer”.
I also called it “Be careful what you
praywish for!” and “The Law of Unintended Consequences”.Shouldn’t the Law of Unintended Consequences be called life?
When you want something really bad and you close your eyes and wish for it– God’s the guy who ignores you.
Caspian Tredwell-Owen, and Alex Kurtzman, The Island, 2005
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Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve are fun. Here is a video presentation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMIzhxcXnxA&mode=related&search=
Twain is one of my favorite authors and I’ve read this one before. This cartoon adaptation is awesome - it made my skin crawl.
I can’t watch youTube from work, so I haven’t seen/heard the segments.
Wanting peace is all well and good, but what do you do when other people don’t feel the same way? Turning the other cheek just doesn’t work.
I’m not talking about Iraq, but war in general. Hoping for peace and railing against war isn’t going to prevent war at all, human nature being what it is…
Rev, I realize that unfortunately we must have a defense if need be…but this president went to war because like in Twain’s story, “gawd told him to do it.”
“The War Prayer” is emphasizing how people pray to Gawd Almighty and believe that their sky daddy gives them special permission to go to war and kill others in the first place. Most of the people who support a country’s war don’t even understand anything about why, who, and where. Most could not even tell you on a map where the countries we are fighting in are located. And as long as it is they who can stay home in their little beds at night, they really don’t give a fuck either. Gawd has spoken to their leader, so it is the right thing to do. As long as a leader is godly, then they follow like lemmings.
I’m with you, Naomi. I’ve always hated the flag-waving crap over and over again. Pride is a bad thing much of the time, all it does is foment hate.
As for Iraq. I think it’s a damned if we do damned if we don’t situation. Saddam would have had to go eventually, or he would have made another stab at Kuwait or some shit. But really, I don’t care. We need to get away from oil just so those fucks can do whatever they want to each other and we don’t have to give a fuck.
Helping people notwithstanding, when said people have their heads firmly stuck in the Iron Age, then I have no sympathy for them.
Self defense is always acceptable. I just don’t believe in starting wars. Afghanistan was OK by me but Iraq was bullshit. It bothers me that I can’t love my country and be a patriot if I disagree with my country’s leaders and their policies. A blind patriot is a fool and should be treated as such.
Don’t know if it’s been covered here before, but have you read Twain’s “Letters From Earth”? Scathing but hilarious commentary on the Christian belief system.
As for the “War Prayer”, I find the same dichotomy in sports prayer, particularly in the “thanks for helping us to win” type. I would think it would be impossible for a christian to reconcile the new testament god with the idea of choosing sides. But then, I’m godless so what do I know.
More to the point for me, however, is the ridiculousness of patriotism, particularly for the Iraq war, and for that matter, ever war subsequent to World War II. How does the idea of young men fighting political wars of dubious importance bring honor to one’s country? How does the destruction of one country, of the death of its innocent population, of the devastation of its resources, confer upon the force of the stronger nation an inherent pride? All war should be treated not with fervent nationalism but with horror and sombre contemplation of death, and particularly by those who will not be facing this horror and death directly. Enabling war by convincing ones self that a national soul is endowed with righteousness is delusional. Waving the flag in the name of war in a country where one promise of its basic charter is “prosperity” is traitorous to that flags innate symbolism. You cannot welcome war without extending solicitations to tragedy. How these truths are perverted by those who would have us believe they “support the troops” by supporting the war is a woeful mystery to me.
Very thought-provoking. Suddenly, saying: “Support our Troops!” doesn’t seem so benign…
The so-called Human Race has, I think, been insane forever.
We’re existing here, on a rather dinky little planet, amongst a group of not really so highly evolved apes; segmented into races, tribes…and ultimately a multitude of rather self centered nations. Add, of course, to the mind boggling evolving mix, the insipid insanity of all the delusional, man-made religions; and you end up with a rather horrible tasting smörgåsbord for all of us to indulge our habitually brainwashed ‘taste buds’ in.
Regarding war, in general, I immediately think of the astounding waste of energy expended through history on creating our own…’Hells on Earth’. I don’t think a further delineation of all the ridiculous waste of lives, energy, treasury, etc. is necessary for me to even begin to list.
Yeah…that oft used unanswered question, now turned into a joke, mouthed by Jack Nicholson, in the silly (but very funny?) “Mars Attacks” film…
“Can’t we all just…get along”?
I guess not…
Certainly not in my (winding down) lifetime!
Every time I see a news item about one or another of the myriad “enemy nations”; it’s usually accompanied by a news file clip of one parade or another showing enormous…penis shaped…deadly weapons (My, how sexual!); with asinine goose stepping or high knee prancing, dickhead, robotic-like, soldiers…erm…
“Marching up and down the square”…
(Who else?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJ8ILIE780
And of similar insanity(?): “The first Zulu War”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p629R-whGlM&mode=related&search=
How utterly stupid the Human Race HAS been, and continues to be regarding all the machinations and terrible, insane waste, called War!
I think we atheists are probably strongly unified by at least ONE conclusion…that until mankind (KIND?…HUH?) sheds all the various religious delusions, there isn’t much chance of putting an end to the waste and futility of warfare.
[Yikes! I just flashed on that recent Post RE the Hagee, AIPAC Psycho madness!]
Am I wrong?
or ;( You decide! ?
Twain’s The War Prayer and Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front would appear to be self evident to people who are discerning and thoughtful. Others don’t get them at all.
People put things in compartments in their mind. Most people have no idea at what they really will get when they demand war. They have no idea of what the costs are, what will happen to those who actually ante up the flesh and blood in this poker game. They see it that way, you know. It’s a game.
I am a civil war reenactor, and you get to studying the causes behind it, I think of what happened to me and others like me, and one just shakes one’s head. A southerner actually offered to mop all the blood to be spilled with his handkercheif. If he’d have had to, it would have been a real snot rag and a half. The motivations behind the civil war weren’t what they say in any schools, and they leave out a whole lot of inconvenient facts. They make it something like a football game.
ChuckA, my friend and fellow musician, Peter Paul & Mary had the answer, but it wasn’t blowin’ in the wind. It’s in Where Have All The Flowers Gone, the circle: flowers, young girls, young men, soldiers, graveyards, flowers, and it starts without any lessons learned. The wheel turns, lots of torque, RPM, and horse power, just no real traction. We stay in the same place.
A young man I knew in civil air patrol went, did his bit, is now home and going to the same VA’s as me. He told me that he knew what I meant when I told him that I hoped he’d never know the things I know. He asks how I’ve been able to stand it all these years.
This probably peeves me more than any other single thing in existence. Especially in boxing and mixed martial arts. One person wins and he prays to gord, thanking him for allowing him to beat up a fellow human for money and glory. How xian…
Unfortunately Chuck, I don’t think getting rid of religion will get rid of war. We’d find another excuse, such as resources (wait, that’s been done), breathing room (oops, that’s been done), ok well, we’re good at finding excuses to kill people.
I once blogged about the differences between our closest genetic cousins, the bonobos and chimps, and concluded by wondering which ape we humans most resemble. I thought the violent, aggressive, territorial chimp was the clear answer given our species’ track record, although others, including Sean, weren’t so sure.
The bonobos’ way of life - settling differences, creating and reinforcing bonds, diffusing tension, and alleviating anxiety through sexual intercourse of all kinds - certainly seems a less destructive and much more pleasant social structure. But with humanity’s complex, often royally screwed up relationship to sex, I kind of doubt we’ll ever implement it in any systematically effective way.
I’m not saying the bonobos are as sweet, the hippie ape as they say, as imagined, and I’m not saying they’re not. I’m just saying they have only been extensively studies in captivity and hardly at all in the wild. Screwing to resolve differences would make the christian/atheist debate a whole new game, though.
For a lot more information about bonobos see the New York Time Sunday magazine of this week or last week.
Timely reference Eve.
But in a world with no wholesale carnage, how will I know if mine’s bigger than his?
I believe you’re supposed to assume it is bigger. Not a bad idea though, have war mongers of both sides meet in a neutral arena and bludgeon one another with “IT” until one side wins.
Ugh… horrible horrible visions…
Yeah, B80vin…
You somehow tweaked an ‘engram’ (Ron Hubbard-like?) regarding one of my rather old fantasy ideas; which entailed having world leaders…instead of starting wars…duke (dick?) it out…naked, of course…in a Roman-like Colosseum.
Televised, of course! Wait…there ARE some female ‘heads’ of state.
Hmmm…Chimpy vs. Germany’s Prime Minister Merkel f’rinstance. Could she win? [a well place kick?] ;shock:
Nowadays…similar to one of George Carlin’s more recent bits…it would more than likely end up as a HUGE ‘pay-per-view’ event; resulting, no doubt, in additional squabbles amongst various Cable, Satellite, and free public access providers. More fodder, of course, for other naked events amongst Corporate executives.
Then again, even more gals would be dragged into the mix.
“Oh what fun, it is to ride in a one coarse open Slay”?…
or maybe: “Whoop-de-friggin’-do”!…
And think of the advertising circus that scenario would instigate.
Hey, more Aflac, Cave man…and what’s in YOUR underwear?…shtick!
Yeah…ala another very old tune:
“Imagination is funny; it makes a cloudy day sunny….yada, yada!
B80, in a news report on the bridge disaster in Minneapolis, it was reported that at the Twins baseball game that night they began with “a moment of prayer”.
Praying for what? What’s done is done. Maybe turning back time and have jeebus come to hold up the bridge?
What the hell could they possibly be praying for?
That bridge, and probably others in the recent past and maybe near future, probably collapsed because xian Rethuglicans reduce taxes and refuse to invest in infrastructure upkeep and renovation.
That seems to be too difficult for the praying crowd to understand.
Praying for what? What’s done is done. Maybe turning back time and have jeebus come to hold up the bridge?
bernarda, I was thinking the same exact thing. It’s too damn late for any superstitious incantations to some imaginary sky daddy (which we all know is useless mumbo jumbo anyway). Why didn’t their god give the inspectors and safety officials a “divine vision” alerting them that there was a structure flaw and a disaster waiting to happen? Instead, their invisible friends seem to only leave unimportant and lame images of themselves on taco shells and chicken patties and fish filets.
Prayer is only a way to boo-hoo together instead of taking any kind of useful action and then they can go on guilt-free and enjoy the sports game.
More on prayer. The fuckin’ assholes at the archdiocese of St. Paul are going to hold a “prayer service”. These hypocritical clowns in clown suits should just shut up.
bernarda, atheists need to start showing up at these fucking prayer services and start shouting questions. There is a church nearby that is inviting everyone to come to their prayer services and my husband says he is contemplating going and then raising some big questions. He knows he will be thrown out, but he says he can plant a few seeds of doubt. He is already in the process of writing a “counterpoint” to the local paper that published an article by a local pastor about the power of prayer. I will put it up here as a post when he is finished with it.
I know this was tongue-in-orifice, but it’s just another form of war, and would escalate into full-scale conflicts over time. And, we’d end up with steroid-laden “professional wrestlers” as world leaders. Jesse Ventura aside, that’s not a place I’d want to be.
Your right, Rev, about my tongue placement in that fantasy.
In response to your mentioning of Jesse Ventura; I somehow think we’d have been much better off with him as Pres. than the numbnut we’ve had for the last 6 + years. Recalling Jesse’s interviews in the past; I think Ventura is closer to our atheist mode than the whole plethora of “hearts and minds” gord botherers, drooling over power in 2008.
As to the rest of the meathead steroid crowd; maybe it’s what the ‘brains up the ass’ world deserves, if it continues on its present course. (ala, a sort of bizarre Karmic Justice?)
Even the three Stooges are starting to look somewhat intelligent! And at least they made some of us (guys, at least) LAUGH!
And let’s not forget the Marx Brothers…Whoa…GENIUS!
Yeah, I know (duh!)…
They’re all dead! Say What?..
(Places tongue back again in its programmed, familiar position; saying):
“Our sthauthes and prayerth are with them?” (wipes drool from keyboard)
Hey…you try saying that with tongue in cheek!
ROIT!!!
Not that there isn’t everything wrong with it BUT: in their plastic minds the pray-ers could be mumbling for the 20(?) people reported missing or those injured. I’m just playing (insert embodiment of eternal evil here)’s advocate. I note that the number of dead has dropped from 9 to 4. What agent of the Great Invisible will take credit for THAT first?
Perhaps more to the point, which light of the ever-present zombie lord will claim this is said lord’s punishment? I not GiFs has a link to Pharyngula. PZ Myers lives in Minnesota. Coincidence? Who dare say…
Another example of irrational xian behavior. I feel sorry for this family’s loss of a dear one in the bridge collapse, but this comment is just delusional.
“She’s a great person. She’s a person of great conviction, great integrity, great honesty and great faith in her God,” he said. “We’re just hoping and praying here.”
What does “great faith in her God” have to do with being a good person? Why didn’t her God save her? Apparently all the praying doesn’t change her God’s mind.
Such absurdity doesn’t seem to be on the way out.
Yeah, Chuck, I gained a good deal of respect for Jesse when he caught flak (FLugzeugAbwehrKanone) for saying religion was for the weak-minded. I don’t know how he was as a governer otherwise, but it’s obvious the people of Minnesota were just voting for a wrestler because they’re mostly morons. They obviously didn’t know the real Jesse Ventura.
Rev, because of your post I decided to look up Jesse “The Body” on youtube. Here is one or two.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kVbbTGSt6E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whWx0XLVBEw&mode=related&search=
He’s a bit of a conspiracy theorist, still thinks Oswald didn’t act alone, when it’s been absolutely proven he did.
Ahem, Revenant, that issue will be unresolved for a while yet. It seems E.Howard Hunt tried to insert himself back into that mess; his son identifies him as one of the three “tramps” being escorted away. Another tramp is purported to be another CIA tool.
And so it goes - on and on and on…
Well, the problem is that none of Kennedy’s wounds were consistent with a shot from the front where the grassy knoll would be. There was no magic bullet.
There’s a recent documentary narrated by Peter Jennings which uses 3d graphics and trajectory maps to show that everything points to a shooter from the 6th floor school book depositor window where the casings were found.
And the movie JFK by Oliver Stone pretty much lies about everything. Oswald was an excellent shot, scoring almost as high as one could in the Marines. And the three shots were fired over 8 seconds, not 6, a very do-able thing with a bolt action rifle by an experienced marksman.
I think the Mythbusters did an account of the JFK assassination as well. They too proved it could be done with one bullett. That doesn’t mean that there was not a conspiracy but in this year (2007) we need not worry about it. It is over.
ChuckA
The stooges were pretty great, but I am one who can show proof due to scars that when hit with a shovel that it does not go “BOINK” LOL
So far as the bridge disaster goes I have to say that this happens on a regular basis. Some event that is unavoidable comes along. Sometimes it is only 3-4 people and other times it is 500 people. The scale seems to be when and how it is reported. To those who are involved it doesn’t matter if others are involved or not. It is a highly personal matter and needs to be dealt with in that regard. More people died in their beds last night, does that mean that beds are dangerous?
Here are some other looks at the “closed” Kennedy assassination case.
http://www.john-f-kennedy.net/orvillenixfilm.htm
Was Oswald a good marksman?
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/PG/PGchp9.html
Re: Kennedy Assassination:
The first link doesn’t really say anything, it’s just talking about this other film, but you can’t see anything of value in the brief clip. There are some interesting statements, though:
Meaning it doesn’t shed any light on the subject by those who’ve studied it.
And this:
Lol, I’ve never heard that Jackie was trying to pickup anything, but was trying to get out of the car, plain and simple. Expecially since the skull shattered at the right frontal lobe, not the rear, which indicates a shot form the rear, not the front where the grassy knoll was.
As for the second link. The documentary I referred to actually had Oswald’s Marine range cards for 200m targets, I think, and he scored 48 out of 50, 49 out of 50, and 48 out of 50, for all three. That’s pretty damn good.
As for hitting a “moving” target. Kennedy was moving away in almost a straight line, which meant the movement would have been a non-issue. Kennedy himself was stationary within the vehicle, so he was not, as the link suggests, moving around and trying to avoid being hit. Also, the bolt would NOT hit one in the face unless you were a left-handed shooter. Even if Oswald did have to move his eye away from the eyepiece of the scope, repeated tests have shown that re-acquiring the target at such a short range isn’t difficult, especially when you’ve got the rifle on a rest.
As for “evidence” of more than three shots, there isn’t any. So-called audio evidence has been disproven by multiple video shots of the motorcade as it entered the plaza, and reconstruction of the time lines. The audio analysis of the open mic tape from one of the motorcycle officers was inconclusive at best, and said that the officer would have been at point x when the fourth shot occurred. Video evidence conclusively disproves this putting him at least 100 feet away from the spot the audio analysis said he would have had to be for the sound they heard to have been a gunshot.
The second link also talks about Kennedy’s and Connoley’s wounds, and how they would had to have been caused by more than one bullet, but no evidence is presented for that. The popular theory, presented by Stone in the film, is that the bullet would have hit kennedy in the back, came out his throat, turned left, then right, then left then right and then hitting Connoley. This is patently false. Connoley was in a jump seat, which was lower and closer to the passenger side of the car than Kennedy’s rear seat, the angle from the shooter’s vantage point to hit both men was perfect, especially considering Connoley’s postion at the time of that shot. He had heard the first shot and was turning to his right.
So many people make a big deal out of the fact that kennedy’s head moved “back and to the left” as the Stone film repeats so often, to prove that he was hit from the front. They’ve seen too many movies. Bullets hitting a person don’t move the body in any significant way. Mythbusters busted that one too. The motion was most likely a muscle spasm from the brain suddenly receiving a huge trauma.
Whether or not the Warren Commission got it perfectly right or not is irrelevant. 40 years of hindsight has shown time and again that Oswald was the only shooter, and that there was nothing at all indicating two or more shooters. The various conspiracy theories are speculation, picking on every little thing, true or not, which supports their view and not reality.