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"With
U.S. troops occupying Iraq and the Bush administration making noises about
Syria, let's consider some rarely mentioned words from the most revered
writer in American history."
"As
far as [Mark] Twain was concerned, 'Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet
broke a chain or freed a human soul.' 'I am an anti-imperialist. I am
opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.'"
"At
the turn of the century, as the Philippines came under the wing of the
U.S. government, Mark Twain suggested a new flag for the Philippine
province -- 'just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and
the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.'"
"'Each
of the world's strongest nations,' [Twain] wrote, was proceeding 'with its
banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand and its loot-basket and its
butcher-knife in the other.'"
"What
Mark Twain had to say is all too relevant to what's happening these days.
But policymakers in Washington can rest easy. Twain's most inflammatory
writings are smoldering in his grave."
"'None
but the dead are permitted to speak truth,' Twain remarked."
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With U.S. troops occupying Iraq and the Bush
administration making bellicose noises about
Syria, let's consider some rarely mentioned words
from the most revered writer in American history.
Mark Twain was painfully aware of many people's inclinations to go
along with prevailing evils. When slavery was lawful, he recalled,
abolitionists were "despised and ostracized, and insulted" -- by
"patriots." As far as Twain was concerned, "Loyalty to petrified
opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human
soul."
With chiseled precision, he wielded language as a hard-edged tool.
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word,"
he once commented, "is the difference between
lightning and the lightning bug." Here are a few
volts of Twain's lightning that you probably never
saw before:
* "Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a
handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the
oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth;
the valuable personages; the workers; they that
make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat."
* "Why is it right that there is not a fairer division of the
spoil all around? Because laws and constitutions have ordered
otherwise. Then it follows that laws and
constitutions should change around and say there
shall be a more nearly equal division."
* "I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put
its talons on any other land."
At the turn of the century, as the Philippines came under the wing
of the U.S. government, Mark Twain suggested a new flag for the
Philippine province -- "just our usual flag, with the white stripes
painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones."
While the United States followed up on its victory in the
Spanish-American War by slaughtering thousands of Filipino people,
Twain spoke at anti-war rallies. He also flooded
newspapers with letters and wrote brilliant,
unrelenting articles.
On Dec. 30, 1900, the New York Herald published Mark Twain's
commentary -- "A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th
Century" -- denouncing the blood-drenched
colonial forays of England, France, Germany,
Russia and the United States. "I bring you the stately matron
named Christendom, returning bedraggled, besmirched and dishonored
from pirate-raids in Kiao-Chou, Manchuria, South
Africa and the Philippines, with her soul full
of meanness, her pocket full of boodle and her mouth
full of pious hypocrisies. Give her the soap and a towel, but hide
the looking-glass."
Twain followed up in early 1901 with an essay titled "To the Person
Sitting in Darkness." Each of the world's strongest nations, he
wrote, was proceeding "with its banner of the
Prince of Peace in one hand and its loot-basket
and its butcher-knife in the other." Many readers and
some newspapers praised Twain's polemic. But his essay angered
others, including the American Missionary Board
and the New York Times.
"Particularly in his later years," scholar Tom Quirk has noted,
"the fierceness of Twain's anti-imperialist convictions disturbed
and dismayed those who regarded him as the
archetypal American citizen who had somehow
turned upon Americanism itself."
What Mark Twain had to say is all too relevant to what's happening
these days. But policymakers in Washington can rest easy. Twain's
most inflammatory writings are smoldering in his
grave -- while few opportunities exist for the
general public to hear similar views expounded
today.
"None but the dead are permitted to speak truth," Twain remarked.
Even then, evidently, their voices tend to be muffled.
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