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VICE News interviews alt-right during the Charlottesville protests.

If you are a good and decent adult in the United States today, you need to watch this.

“Charlottesville: Race and Terror.”  Elle Reeve of Vice News interviews Christopher Cantwell and other white nationalists throughout the events in Charlottesville this past weekend.

 

“To speak of atrocious crime in mild language is treason to virtue.”

That’s Edmund Burke speaking, or at least we think it is — the statement was attributed to him by John Stevens Cabot Abbott in 1876.  It seems relevant with an eye towards Donald Trump’s apparent equivocation about the neo-nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.

There are two other Burke quotes that might spring to mind, too, after this past weekend’s alt-right rally and the murder of a 32-year-old counter-protestor, Heather Heyer.

The first is one I grew up hearing from my father, although today I discovered that it, too, may be apocryphal: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”  (I’ve read that there is no primary source citing Burke as the speaker here; he may have been paraphrasing John Stuart Mill.)

But Burke definitely penned a similar sentiment: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”

 

NPG 655; Edmund Burke studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds

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“Swastika Marks the Spot! Keep ‘Em Firing” poster, circa 1942

United States Office for Emergency Management. War Production Board.  Artist unknown.

 

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A review of Season 1 of “The Exorcist” (2016)

I liked the Fox’s take on “The Exorcist;” I just didn’t love it the way that I thought I would.

It has a lot going for it.  It’s easily the most intelligent horror show on television — its characters and plotting are detailed, thoughtful and well developed.  It actually occupies the same universe as the classic 1973 and 1990 horror films.  (We won’t mention the 1977 abomination here.)  And, like those movies, this is a skilled, methodical screen adaptation of the universe imagined in William Peter Blatty’s source material.  (This show establishes its continuity with the movies in ways that are interesting and surprising, too.)

The script takes archaic theology and otherworldly events and makes them seem plausible in its real-world setting.  It also succeeds in giving a distinct and frightening voice and personality to its demon.  I was impressed — I’ve seen a lot of movies with this plot device, but I’ve never seen this kind of antagonist so fully realized into a distinct character.  This owes a lot to Robert Emmet Lunney’s outstanding portrayal as the demon personified.

The rest of the cast is also roundly excellent.  Geena Davis shines as the mother of the afflicted girl; I had no idea that she was this good of an actress.  So, too, does Alan Ruck, who stars as her kindly father who is affected by a traumatic brain injury.  Ben Daniels is also very good as the experienced half of the duo of priests who serve as the story’s heroes.  By the end of this first season’s ten-episode arc, both priests seemed like three-dimensional characters that I could like and root for.  I was impressed again — priests in stories like this usually tend towards stock characters, and I can only imagine that it would be challenging for a screenwriter to make them relatable to the average viewer.

Why didn’t I love “The Exorcist?”  First, the show’s story elements felt too familiar.  Once again, we have a possessed young girl, a desperate mother beseeching the church for help, and a pair of priests, one of whom is experienced and one of whom requires instruction.  Once again, we see that the personal lives and the metaphorical demons of both clergymen can be used against them.  Once again, we find the girl secured to a bed while the story’s protagonists pray and shout at her possessor.  I do realize that these tropes are to be expected.  (This is “The Exorcist,” after all.  Do we really expect the writers to not depict an exorcism?)  I can’t deny, however, that my attention wandered.

Second, it was sometimes too slow for me.  I do understand that the show’s creators are probably being faithful to the storytelling pace and style originally established by Blatty, as well as William Friedkin, the director of 1973’s “The Exorcist.”  (Blatty actually wrote the screenplay for that seminal film, two years after his novel was published.)  The tension sometimes builds slowly in its realistic milieu, and events gather momentum over the course of the story.  The show also goes to great lengths to offer us more than its boilerplate exorcism story.  (There are some major demon-related events happening elsewhere in its troubled setting of Chicago.)

Still … I again found my attention wandering.  I might have enjoyed this more if it were edited down to six episodes instead on ten.  And I can’t write a glowing review for a show for which my interest occasionally waned.  (Admittedly, I have a terrible attention span when it comes to TV shows.)

All things considered,  I would rate “The Exorcist” an 8 out of 10 for being a smart, grown-up horror series, even if its slower pace and familiar story elements detracted slightly from my enjoyment of it.  I would recommend this show — especially to those who enjoyed the better “Exorcist” movies.

 

 

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“To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men.”

Protest,” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1914

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.

Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.

 

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WWII poster: “We Beat ‘Em Before …”

Source: National Archives.  Neither the artist nor the date are known.

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“He will only go so far in condemning the racist elements, because he still needs them.”

The following is reprinted with permission from my Facebook friend, Leo Kirby:

“This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back. We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That why we voted for Donald Trump. Because he said he’s going to take our country back. And that’s what we got to do.” – David Duke

This. I know Donnie supporters hate to talk about racism, unless they are calling President Obama racist, which many of them love to do. But racism is definitely a part of the Donnie Minion Movement. I remind them it’s the same thing they like to say about Muslims and terrorists. Not all Trump supporters are racist, but most white nationalist, anti-semite, KKK, American Nazi Party members certainly seem to be Trump supporters. What do you think that is about?

By the end of April, anti-Semitic attacks were up 86% over 2016, and one third of all incidents in 2106 occurred in the last 2 months of the year, after Donnie was elected. What do you think that is about?

If you listen to David Duke, he seems to think it is about taking the country back and that Donnie was speaking to the KKK when he said it. Donnie still has people like Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka in his administration, both with ties to the alternate right. And when he made a statement against “hate” he blamed “many sides.” That was so important to him he said it twice. Not unlike his statement about the holocaust where he didn’t mention the Jews because “many suffered.”

He can’t bring himself to say “white nationalists” or “KKK” or “Nazis,” and when a Mosque is blown up in Minnesota he ignores it while Gorka suggests the the left could have done it to blame the right. And when a White Supremacist drives his car into a crowd, killing one person and injuring 19 others, he can’t bring himself to say “domestic terrorism” or “white Nationalist terrorism.” And yet, it was so important to him to say “Islamic Terrorism.” He has just as much trouble condemning these people as he does condemning Vladimir Putin.

So in his absence Republicans like Marco Rubio and Orrin Hatch have to condemn these racist elements that support Donnie.

So maybe not all people who voted for Donnie are racists, and not all racists are Republicans. But the guy they voted for said this, long before he decided to run for president:

“A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market…if I was starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black, because I really do believe they have the actual advantage today.”

Even though there is virtually no proof for this, it doesn’t matter. Because he says, “I really do believe,” it. Just like the white nationalists, anti-semites, KKK, and members of the American Nazi Party believe it.

There was a study done by the University of Washington (and many others since that one) that showed that members of the Tea Party movement had a 25% higher probability of having “racist resentment” than others in the study who did not identify with the Tea Party. And studies done by several organizations showed that Republicans who who scored highest on racial resentment were 30% more likely to vote for Donnie.

Donnie was fully aware of this element that was in the country when he started his campaign by calling Mexican illegal immigrants drug dealers and rapists, and he pursued them and has been pursuing them ever since. This is why he will only go so far in condemning the racist elements, because he still needs them.

So Donnie Minions can whine when people talk about racism, but everyone who voted for him him heard him talk about the “Mexican” judge who was born in Indiana and the Muslim Gold Star Mother who “probably wasn’t allowed” to speak. It’s like one Tea Party supporter said when she was fuming about being called racist, “My pastor is black!”

So yeah. It makes sense that David Duke thinks he is fulfilling Donnie’s promises. Donnie has been speaking directly to him and people like him for years.

 

 

Like Something Outta Shelley by Dennis Villelmi

Linking here to another outstanding poem by Dennis Villelmi.  This one was just published by In Between Hangovers.

The piece is haunting and perfect.  The stream-of-consciousness style works beautifully.  It characterizes the speaker in depth, and it surprises us when it arrives at its terrible conclusion.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I envy this man’s talent.

Source: Like Something Outta Shelley by Dennis Villelmi

Nurse Your Favorite Heresies in Whispers