The author William S. Burroughs used to say that nothing happens in reality unless a writer And when she sang, the sea, The composer William Osborne believes in the literal meaning as well. “We write (or sing) Why bring this up now? Because the horrific news from Iraq about American and British In one of the play’s scenes “a theatre director and his assistant arrange a protagonist, who “Cybeline” took the issue a step further. Osborne’s program notes explain that “under America’s all-volunteer military had to embrace advertising since it needed to compete for <\/P>
\nwrites it first. I take his meaning in a metaphorical sense, but he was speaking more or less
\nliterally. So was the poet Wallace Stevens in a signature poem,
\n
Whatever self it had, became the self
That was her
\nsong, for she was the maker. Then we,
As we beheld her striding there alone,
Knew
\nthat there never was a world for her
Except the one she sang and, singing, made.<\/I><\/P>
\n
\nour world into being,” he says, noting that it is the theme of
\nAbbie Conant, presented six weeks ago at the Walt Disney Hall music complex in Los
\nAngeles.<\/P>
\n
\nsoldiers torturing prisoners — as reported Sunday by
\nin the 1982 play
\n“Catastrophe,”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> which Samuel
\nBeckett wrote in honor of Vaclav Havel about the interrogation of a dissident. There’s a
\nremarkable equivalence between the torture
\nand scenes in the play. The equivalence (of abuse and humiliation) does not have pictorial
\nexactness. But the meaning is scarcely different.<\/P>
\n
\nstands on a black block submitting to their direction. ‘D’, the director, wears a fur coat and
\nmatching toque (a kind of hat) and
\nsmiling U.S. soldiers as they posed their abused prisoners for photos. These two photos from a
\nproduction of “Catastrophe” —
\nrevealed in Major General Antonio M. Taguba’s Army report, which Hersh obtained, but the
\nintended goal of abject human degradation is the same.<\/P>
\n
\nthe social engineering of the military,” exemplified “with special clarity” by the “history of 20th
\ncentury Germany,” a human being can become “a consciously programmed construct, or cyborg.
\nAs such, humans are not served by the media but are part of its apparatus, cyberbia.” It reaches
\nthe point where “society itself becomes a programmable cyborg.” He writes: <\/P>
\nThis is the fascistic reduction of human society, the mass programming of a
\nculture, to simplistic ideals generally formulating social identity based on slogans and the unifying
\nforces of hatred. Strength through joy, Blut und Boden,<\/I> and Lebensraum<\/I> were
\ncommon slogans during the Third Reich, but ultimately, media sound bites such as Weapons
\nof Mass Destruction, Liberation, Support Our Troops,<\/I> and War On Terrorism<\/I> could
\nhave a similarly reductive and imperialistic effect.
\n
\nhuman resources in a free market. It also has to manipulate the media to win propaganda wars.
\nThe military has thus entered the cultural wars of society. Since the military’s resources are
\nunparalleled, its ability to conduct a cultural war on its own people is without comparison. Be
\nall that you can be. An Army of One. A few good men. Join the navy and see the world.<\/I>
\nUnder the military-industrial complex’s massive social engineering, war has become the unifying
\nforce of American society. (Italics added.)<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
\n