by Anonymous Logician, Copyright February 06, 2007, all rights reserved.
Fox's hit show 24 gets some flack (rightfully, I'll admit) for justifying a utilitarian, end-justifies-the-means approach to countering terrorism. Season Four was particularly rife with instances of Jack Bauer torturing suspects and making life-and-death decisions. Yet Season Five saw Jack hesitant to follow through with this utilitarianism; at one point he disobeys a direct order to let civilians die so that CTU can get a lead on the terrorists. Jack saves the civilians (many of which are children) and still ends up saving the day.
Last night's episode showed a remarkable improvement in how the show deals with constitutional issues. President Wayne Palmer, tempted by an "anti-terror" proposal written by a power-hungry advisor, almost gives in and sacrifices Constitutional liberties for the sake of "security." And indeed, the detonation of a nuclear device in Los Angeles is a formidable fear.
But Palmer points out that the Constitution does not only apply during times of peace. He even cites a form of originalism, saying that the founders never meant our freedoms to be put on hold because of the politics of fear. For Palmer, the Bill of Rights is part of what defines America; defending America includes defending these freedoms–or else there's nothing left to protect. In another post I tried to point out that though some sacrifices must be made to fight terrorism, a line remains which we cannot cross. Fighting the "bad guys" only works so long as we're not ourselves the bad guys.
If we get to that point, isn't "security" rather pointless?
-----Posted in Politics & Current Events • 0 Comments • Permalink • 583 views
by Anonymous Logician, Copyright February 05, 2007, all rights reserved.
"You Know My Name," the Casino Royale theme by Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, is not only musically electrifying but ably written. Cornell and co-author David Arnold weave themes from the film into arresting images that blur the lines between rock and poetry.
If you take a life do you know what you'll give?
Odds are, you won't like what it is.
When the storm arrives, would you be seen with me
By the merciless eyes I've deceived?
I've seen angels fall from blinding heights,
But you yourself are nothing so divine
Just next in line.
Chorus:
Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you;
The odds will betray you,
And I will replace you.
You can't deny the prize it may never fulfill you
It longs to kill you.
Are you willing to die?
The coldest blood runs through my veins–
You know my name.
If you come inside things will not be the same,
When you return to the night.
And if you think you've won,
You never saw me change
The game that we have been playing.
I've seen this diamond cut through harder men
Than you yourself.
But if you must pretend,
You may meet your end.
(Chorus)
Try to hide your hand;
Forget how to feel.
Life is gone with just a spin of the wheel. . . .
Posted in Music & Film • 1 Comments • Permalink • 686 views
by Anonymous Logician, Copyright January 30, 2007, all rights reserved.
Thanks for bearing with me in this lengthy literary survey. I hope readers of this blog will find it at least interesting, and maybe even catch some of my passion for literature.
I have one final twentieth-century movement to look at. This movement, perhaps the closest to Frost we've seen so far, comprises the schools of the New Criticism and the New Formalism. The first of these schools was led by poets like the southern agrarian John Crowe Ransom, and the second felt Ransom's influence. Both schools reacted sharply to the prominence of free verse and the break with convention, arguing that a return to traditional meters and rhyme was the only way to continue literary progress. Just as in the fashion industry white is sometimes said to be the new black (or, to use Jay-Z's words, thirty is the new twenty), so for Ransom and others convention was the new innovation. Though Ransom technically was a contemporary, not a successor, of Frost, Ransom's poetic influence extended past Frost's death in 1963 (Ransom himself died eleven years later).
Ransom's work is possibly the closest to Frost's we've covered. Ransom remains very close to traditional rhyme schemes, as in "Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter": "For the tireless heart within the little / Lady with rod that made them rise / From their noon apple-dreams and scuttle / Goose-fashion under the skies!" In addition, Ransom's agrarianism and mistrust of monolithic industrialism may make him Frost's kindred rural spirit, like the unseen mower in "The Tuft of Flowers."
Yet as with the other poets we've considered, Frost remains distinct. Two major differences appear when both poets are compared closely. First, Ransom's language emulates the exalted poetic tone of the nineteenth century, while Frost sought to create his own modern, rural voice. Classical allusions, not uncommon in Ransom, are nearly nonexistent in Frost. Second, Ransom cultivated more variety in his rhyme and meter than did Frost. Frost seems to prefer blank verse and basic rhymes; Ransom prefers to alternate lines (ABAB) or follow the interwoven rhyming style of Milton and Donne, as in "Janet Waking" or the sonnet "Piazza Piece."
So it looks like Frost–at first glance a simple homespun poet from New England–has carved his own distinctive niche in American literature. Frost is amiable and accessible; his conversational tone speaks to modern and postmodern Americans where they are. Frost is earthy and concrete, couching his poems in vivid images. His quick wit and ironic sense of humor guard his work from triteness, and his subtle insights into human nature and experience provide ample opportunity for deeper poetic digging.
Frost isn't too proud to learn from those who went before him. Nor does he fail to influence those who followed. Yet despite his similarities with other great American poets, Frost remains resiliently unique, impossible to pin down.
Maybe, as a "swinger of birches," Frost would have it no other way.
Posted in Literature • 1 Comments • Permalink • 737 views
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