Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- Unlikely Stories

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Date Posted: 15:21:28 07/18/03 Fri
Author: jp
Subject: Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate
In reply to: Resa 's message, "Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate" on 14:38:49 07/18/03 Fri

>THANK YOU!!!! SOMEONE WHO HASN'T SPENT HIS ENTIRE LIFE
>LOOKING AT THE INSIDE OF HIS RECTUM!!
>Anyone can take a few lines out of context and turn
>them into a complete misinterpretation. The truth is
>a prism. Art, especially literature, in it's most
>effective form is contreversial. Remember Allen
>Ginsberg? Baraka had every right to say the things he
>said, and more if that is how he feels. We allow
>politicians to lie and side step and make fools out of
>us constantly, but a poet can't make a point? A poet
>can't express the truths he holds in his soul? There
>are many artists that see Baraka as a role model, not
>necessarily for his beliefs, but his belief in his
>beliefs. After all, isn't that the idea this country
>was founded on? How much did tax payers have to pay
>to fund this sham in Iraq? How many of those tax
>payers were in opposition? How long will we let our
>government gag those who stand up for their own rights
>before we take action? Amiri Baraka is more of a
>patriot than most of us could ever hope to be. That
>American flag on your bumper doesn't make you an
>American. McCarthyism died for a reason... don't help
>bring it back. P.S. Israel has weapons of mass
>destruction too!

It's difficult to argue with someone who isn't making any coherent points, but I'll try...

Of course Israel has weapons of mass destruction, and Saddam didn't. Therefore Jews are evil? Is that what you're saying? Art is a prism, Bakara has a deep soul, therefore the Jews blew up the Twin Towers?

I've been an anti-war activist as long as Bushes have been invading Iraq. When I make a point as an activist, I make a coherent one, based on the facts at hand. When I protest our government, which I've been doing my entire life, I seek to identify the problems in our government and offer solutions as to how they can be corrected.

Baraka is boogeyman-chasing. His status as a poet does not excuse his poor fact checking; it does not give him permission to blame an entire race for crimes they did not commit. I am not taking his statements out of context; I have provided, in this thread, a complete analysis of his complete poem, and his poem says, to anyone who can read, that Jews are the great menace which oppresses the entire world.

It's horseshit. Hiding behind artistic merit (and I maintain that he doesn't have any) is cowardly and a form of lying.

McCarthyism? I expect people to take responsibility for their statements. That includes politicians and poets. I have very little patience for people who make up facts to increase their own notoriety.

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Replies:

Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- JLW, 15:38:18 07/20/03 Sun