RAPS ON RACE: Just a few of Joe Scarborough's claims!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2021

Raps, propaganda and war: We were first "taught" (exposed to) the poem as a mere high school student at America's Aragon High. 

The school sits on the Alameda de las Pulgas (the road of the fleas) in San Mateo, California. Our exposure occurred in the last few years before drugs fully hit. 

(Altamont finally happened in December 1969.)

At present, we think of the poem every morning as we scan the major newspapers. For the record, the once-famous poem's once-famous title is drawn from a line from Horace. 

The leading authority on Horace explains that line in the manner shown below. Headline included:

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori 

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is a line from the Odes (III.2.13) by the Roman lyric poet Horace. The line translates: "It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland." The Latin word patria (homeland), literally meaning the country of one's fathers (in Latin, patres) or ancestors, is the source of the French word for a country, patrie, and of the English word "patriot" (one who loves his country).

Horace's line was quoted in the title of a poem by Wilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum est", published in 1921, describing soldiers' horrific experiences in World War I. Owen's poem, which calls Horace's line "the old Lie", essentially ended the line's straightforward uncritical use. Before 1920, the phrase had tended to appear in memorials and monuments to the fallen; after 1921, it tended to decry propaganda and war.

We were exposed to Owen's poem—to "Dulce et Decorum est"—when we were still in high school. It's with us every day at this point. 

According to the leading authority, the Owen poem changed the way the line from Horace was typically used. After the poem's publication, the famous line upon which the poem is based tended to be used "to decry propaganda and war." 

So says the leading authority. Sadly, we offer this:

If it's propaganda and war you enjoy today, you should turn on MSNBC (but also CNN). We especially refer to the horrific corporate channel's ongoing ugly, repulsive treatment of the Rittenhouse trial.

Full disclosure! A bit of irony appears when the leading authority on Owen's poem reports the poem's provenance, 

The poem was a bitter commentary on the price a nation or tribal group may pay when that nation or tribal group longs for the greatness of war. 

According to the leading authority, the poem was once influential, even "renowned." Its sentiments are almost wholly unknown today. 

At any rate, this is the way the leading authority describes the poem's creation:

"Dulce et Decorum est" is a poem written by Wilfred Owen during World War I, and published posthumously in 1920. The Latin title is taken from Ode 3.2 (Valor) of the Roman poet Horace and means "it is sweet and fitting". It is followed by pro patria mori, which means "to die for one's country". 

One of Owen's most renowned works, the poem is known for its horrific imagery and condemnation of war. It was drafted at Craiglockhart in the first half of October 1917 and later revised, probably at Scarborough but possibly Ripon, between January and March 1918. The earliest surviving manuscript is dated 8 October 1917 and addressed to his mother, Susan Owen, with the message: "Here is a gas poem done yesterday (which is not private, but not final)."

It was "one of Owen's most renowned works." Cue the sardonic laughter!

At any rate, the leading authority tells us that Owen's bitter anti-propaganda poem was "probably revised at Scarborough." To all intents and purposes, that's precisely our point!

Our badly failing liberal world is increasingly sunk in propaganda and tribal war. This is especially true when we conduct our increasingly disgraceful "raps on race."

As Mead and Baldwin may have shown, it's never been easy to discuss issues of race. By way of contrast, it's very easy—extremely easy—to memorize propaganda.

We've been appalled, in the past few weeks, by the propagandistic presentations our tribal tribunes have offered. On Wednesday, November 10, for example, Joe Scarborough offered this:

SCARBOROUGH (11/10/21): We have a 17-year-old kid, underage, said he bought an AR-15 because he thought it was cool. He drove across state—had his mother drive him across state lines. He appointed himself a militia member. He goes around and he ends up unloading, what, 60 rounds? 

We were watching Morning Joe when the cable star made that presentation. He made other gruesome misstatements during that propagandistic segment, but we're able to quote this part of his presentation because a different cable news host finally played the videotape on Monday of this week.

Inevitably, that other cable news host immediately launched one of his own trademark rants. Immediately after playing that tape, he ranted about it as shown:

UNNAMED CABLE NEWS HOST (11/15/21): Of all the people, you could find to comment on a killing, it's interesting who they chose. But just listen to the words—consider how totally dishonest the summary you just heard is. Virtually every word is a lie. 

The summary was "totally dishonest?" "Virtually every word [was] a lie?" 

That assessment may be accurate! It's also possible that Scarborough actually believed his howling misstatements—howling misstatements our own blue tribe's propaganda machine has churned again and again and again.

No, Kenosha! Kyle Rittenhouse's mother didn't drive him to Kenosha that day or that night. That has been clear for a very long time—unless you're watching Our Channel.

Rittenhouse did "cross state lines" when he came to Kenosha that day—but that's because he lives roughly one mile across the state line in Aurora, Illinois. The vaguely criminal-sounding claim is endlessly recited by our tribunes. Though it has a wonderfully criminal feel, it's also completely irrelevant.

Did Rittenhouse "appoint himself a militia member?" We have no idea what that claim is even supposed to mean, but it serves the tribal purpose. Meanwhile, Scarborough outdid the rest of the tribe with the ugly, vile and ridiculous claim that Rittenhouse "end[ed] up unloading, what, like 60 rounds" that night.

He'd pulled that number right out of his ascot. In this report, the New York Times seems to count eight shots fired.

In a perfect world, that would be eight rounds too many, of course. But we don't live in a perfect world, as the conduct of people like Scarborough makes increasingly clear.

Back in the day, propagandists of this stripe urged others to march off to war. As he relates in his once-famous poem, Owen trudged along behind the carts filled with the dying and the dead. 

(Also, see the famous scene in Gone With the Wind of Atlanta's dying and dead.)

Corporate multimillionaire stars like Scarborough engage in such conduct today. They recite their points to excite their tribe—and to send a teenager to jail.

(They may not know that their claims are misleading and false. It isn't part of their culture to check.)

We thought of Owen's bitter words when we watched Scarborough behave that way that morning. He made other statements which were even more ridiculous. 

(His performance of racial greatness left no script behind. Pathetically, he even went back to play the old "he was carrying Skittles" card!)

We thought of Owen's bitter words when we watched Scarborough propagandize. So too as we watched Claire McCaskill the very next day, or as we watched William Cornell Brooks, or as we read Robin Givhan's remarkable statements this week.

People have always behaved in such ways; some behave this way today. As for our own inexcusable tribe, we're currently Building Balkanization Better as our tribunes engages in this ugly misconduct and the silly children of our tribe reward them for their behavior.

By the way, who was the unnamed cable host who played the tape of Scarborough? That unnamed host was Tucker Carlson. This forces us to offer a simple truth:

Despite his trademark rants, Carlson's coverage of the Rittenhouse trial has been vastly more accurate and informative than the coverage being churned on our own cable channels. It's hard to have sufficient contempt for the behavior of our own corporate tools. 

They do this to send a teenager to jail—and to pleasure you and yours. To extend separation and war.

"Dulce et Decorum est" was a bitter complaint about propaganda and war. It's hard to have sufficient contempt for the behavior of the figureheads who mislead us night after night.

McCaskill? Brooks? Givhan? That stupid brainwashed kid at Slate? "Ardent for some desperate glory," there's nothing they won't memorize and say for love of propaganda.

Setting those trademark rants to the side, the basic coverage at Fox has been much more informative. We expect to explore this state of affairs next week.

Disconsolate experts keep telling us that this ugly, evil state of affairs simply isn't going to change. Nor will we stop cheering our Caesars as they parade about on TV, performing these new raps on race.

Next week: Information v. faux

What Owen saw: The wages of propaganda are death. This remains true today:

In all my dreams before my helpless sight
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning...

You can read the full poem here. You can even apply for membership[ in the post-tribal human race.