Posted by kid a on September 11, 2002, at 19:26:46
> "We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army..."
((Sorry, but I don't think I can consider quotes suggesting that others be harmed to be civil, let alone supportive, so please refrain from posting them. --Bob))
Okay, I thank the other posters (Alii and Beardy) who have come to my support in this matter, but I think I need to make some additional clarifications on this particular matter.
First off, if you have read or seen any documentary or criticism of the movie I quoted, Apocalypse Now, you would know how vehemently AGAINST the war, and the killing, and the destruction, director Francis Ford Copola was.
The line I quoted was spoken in the movie in anger by Colonel Kurtz, what would be in reference to Conrad's Kurtz in the short novel, Heart of Darkness.
It vehemently criticizes the United States Army's act of violence in colonialism, it is NOT endorsing violence. At the same time it is on the defensive for crimes that pale in comparison, crimes that are mainly aimed at ending violence in the region. The line, "Those nabobs. I hate them. How I hate them..." specifically admonishes colonialism, if you know the definition of the word nabob. Nabobs, also called nawab, were word for the British colonialists who took control of India and profited most from it's occupation. It's use in the quote seems quite appropriate once you understand it's meaning.
[Hindi nawb, nabb, from Arabic nuwwb, pl. of n’ib, deputy active participle of nba, to represent. See nwb in Semitic Roots.]
The title of the post is a direct quote from Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which is also in fact referenced in the movie, as read from the poem The Hollow Men, by T.S. Eliot.
The movie can also be read as a loose adaptation of the Fisher King myth, Kurtz's kingdom, his encampment that he has established is dying, Kurtz is dying. In the end there is a transfer of power from Kurtz to his assassin, Captain Willard, in the end, it is in so many words only Willard who can SAVE Kurtz.
In my not so humble opinion, my posts are neither arbitrary, nor illiterate. They are meant not to cause anyone duress or consternation, yet to provoke thought. I do not often reference non-poetic work because I think the words themselves act as a sort of picture that can be read without a set frame of origin.
You might also want to PBC or block me for a few posts I made from the movie American Psycho, which though not descriptively violent, one of which describes the torment that the character feels over his IMAGINED murders. You see, the movie, and the book it was based on is a satire, not unlike Swifts' Modest Proposal. Swift never really endorsed eating Irish children as a means to solve the British hunger problem and in the same light the novel American Psycho is not meant to glamorize or fetishise murder. It is a direct criticism of the greed and shallowness of the wealthy elite of the Reagan era 1980's. What people don't get is that the murders NEVER happen... It is all imagined, it is all a metaphor for the vast wasteland that enveloped all of power hungry, consumer conscious, wealthy elite.
I won't draw this out any longer, but I will ask one thing, and state another. Must I provide reference for every piece of literature I post, and should I only post literature that might be deemed sterile and safe for any and all readers?
Secondly, would you prefer that instead of what I post, this board continue to act as a Psycho-Babble-Flirting-and-Dating board? Bob, people being criticized for asking women to get in the hot tub is ludicrous. This type of behavior is crass and inappropriate. It puts a black mark on all the male posters of this board and ignores the multiplicity of sexuality that this board consists of. I for one don't want the few male posters of this board to be considered sexual predators... I can put up with the mutual flirting, if it seems to be consensual; but lets not let this board devolve into a random display of meat market bar chat up lines...
That is all.
poster:kid a
thread:7354
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020725/msgs/7354.html