Pink Houses
"Lil' Pink Houses," KiniArt (2004)Keep you doped with religion and sex and tv
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
--Working Class Hero, John Lennon
There's a black man with a black cat
Living in a black neighborhood
He's got an interstate runnin' through his front yard
You know, he think, that he's got it so good
--Pink Houses, John Mellencamp
So I bought a .44 magnum it was solid steel cast
And in the blessed name of Elvis well I just let it blast
'Til my TV lay in pieces there at my feet
And they busted me for disturbin' the almighty peace
--57 Channels (And Nothin' On), Bruce Springsteen
___________
[We chose that stanza from The Boss's song in honor of the recent passing of Robert Goulet, may he RIP.]
True, everyone has a different standard for what constitutes success. Speaking today with an Army reservist back from a tour in Iraq, Ranger was amazed to hear his read on the Army's successes. To wit: the average Iraqi can now view pornography on (presumably) his cell phone, and cable t.v. now offers 100 channels. I had heard as much from a Rush Limbaugh-listening fan, but didn't expect it from one of the "boots on the ground."
The soldier concluded, "Iraq is our baby; now we have to raise it." Presumably, she shall be a Larry Flynt incarnate.
The Limbaugh fan is convinced that the folks in Iraq need something to live for -- televisions with a multitude of cable channels, and laptops were the first things suggested. Of course, what if the introduction of ubiquitous porn is a backward step for the Iraqis? What if it rends the fabric which defines social and personal relationships? Women still wear abayas. Will their position be degraded by the introduction of a new "skin class"?
We can't knock the young soldier. He went; he put it on the line. But everything he said tells us he buys the con job, hook, line and sinker.
A commenter at a recent piece by Andrew Cohen at the Washington Post said, in defense of this administration's willy-nilly stance on torture, that he still likes to see America in the "Little Pink Houses" mode of singer John Mellencamp (missing the sarcasm of that erstwhile homage to homeyness.) Further he wrote, we don't lose if we don't leave.
What a dismal concept. Think of any losing endeavor you've ever been involved in. In a sense, it is technically not a loss if you don't fold. You can often live in a bad situation in the land of the "draw" or the "check" in perpetuity. My parents have been legally separated 25 years. It is possible to continue in limboland indefinitely, if you do not choose for something else.
Morse's choice of biblical verse for his first telegraphic transmission is as applicable today as it was 150 years ago -- "What hath God wrought?"
--Lisa
[Note: Word verification has been turned back on
due to a rash of spamming.]
due to a rash of spamming.]
Labels: america as john mellencamp song, victory for pornography in iraq
posted by rangeragainstwar at 8:25 PM
10 Comments:
looking back at the experience of vietnam where after over 15 years of bloodshed, often on a horrific scale, we achieved a "peace with honor" involving every thing that would have been achieved by recognising ho chi minh as the legimate leader of a unified country and saying "now grow uncle ben some good rice bitch. and serve it up with a side a rubber tree sap, most rickyticky."
it's hard to explain away all those lives lost when the real achievement is put into perspective isn't it? that's why they strive mightily to hide, not only what the end result was, but they make sure the effort is surrounded in mythology.
same same with korea. that was where the whole "the politicians wouldn't let us win." bullshit began. if macarthur had been allowed to use nukes, if he had been given free rein to invade manchuria while unleashing chaing kai shek from formosa (although chaing was a politician in uniform and a survivor more than a battlefield commander) while the brits and the french blasted up from burma and indochina, it wouldn't have been world war III or a continuation of I & II, it would have been victory for us and death to the communists.
they began this war with lies, they will continue to lie not only about how and why we got there, but why we stayed, and stayed, and stayed. aside from the deposition of saddam, what has been accomplished. what have they been able to show for the blood and treasure expended? hell, they can't even tell us what a victory would look like anymore.
maybe the guy who met the troops that first day in bagdhad knew the answer to the whole thing when he held up the sign that said:
America! Democracy! Sexy!
Ranger and Lisa -- someday, I've got to get my hands on your music library, which I suspect looks a lot like mine, only larger :)
Living in this particular "limboland" is making sure a lot of people...both American and Iraqi don't literally live at all. How our 'leaders' continue to misconstrue that as victory boggles what is left of my mind.
MB,
If we had nuked the Chinese in the Korean war, they mightn't be lending us money so prodigiously today. Then again, maybe they would; we nuked the Japanese and they're happy to sell us their cars. Maybe they understand more than we do that democracy really is messy.
Or they understand what we dare not say, namely, democracy is really capitalism in action, made palatable by a thick cloak of humanitarian rhetoric.
Per your comments on Korea and Vietnam, what would you win, if you did in fact win? I understand they have a nice tourist trade today. It is ripe for a Walt Disney World in Dong Ha. Some former Marines and SEALS could be their security elements, perhaps.
Neither wars were essential to the strategic welfare of America. Unless one gets into the domain of twisted logic.
I myself still find it doubtful that deposing Saddam was a beneficial or necessary action. The Middle East was much more stable with him in charge of Iraq, than us.
As for that chap's sign, well it's true -- we really screwed them.
labrys,
By any sensible lifestyle measures of victory, it is a failure. But I do not believe the lives of little men, both Iraqis and Americans, matter very much to the larger scheme.
Whatever that is.
d.k.,
I'm glad we do share musical tastes.
Ranger has quite an extensive music collection, which I know he'd love for you to see. I do not, but it is all in my head, ready for the mining!
"Walt Disney World in Dong Ha" ?
Na, too small. Quan tri, Hue, Phu Bai better choices!
TW,
Reckon you rode on those merry-go- rounds.
I always viewed RVN as a Disneyland for soldiers or so it seemed to this boy. All the scenarios were rides without tickets; it was such a great deal!
Yup!
Disneyland for soldiers. Great analogy! Makes me have deep thoughts about the boys today though. What they are experiencing and going through. The contrast always got me. From some walking in the jungle and digging a hole to sleep in half the night to others sleeping in air conditioned barracks on bases with clubs, swimming pools, PX's, etc. Guess it's the same in Iraq today. Huge bases with with all the modern convienences and only a few that have to go outside the wire, and what different worlds that wire separates.
trip wire,
Different worlds -- it all depends on what ticket you bought.
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