... on Ward Churchill. It's long, but so worth it. Matt Labash hangs out with Churchill for two days, observes him, has conversations with his supporters (and the lone guy protesting), and ends up in a bar with Churchill, drinking, smoking, arguing. Read it. Ward Churchill is obviously an idiot - not even an intelligent human being. Note to Churchill: No, Easter is not the day they crucified Jesus. Mkay?
Matt Labash is such a funny writer. He somehow is able to describe the entire experience with a mounting sense of absurdity. The whole cow-puppet section made me laugh out loud, and I pretty much laughed until the end.
Favorite quotes from the article:
Daniel Burton-Rose, a guy with hoop earrings and an AK Press T-shirt, is sitting in a nearby chair, reading a book on Chinese medicine. He is himself the author of Confronting Capitalism, and when I carelessly identify him as an anarchist, he corrects me, saying he's an "anarcho-daoist." Clearly I've reached the rarefied strata where even people's shorthand IDs contain dialectical disputes.
And:
All this anarchism has made me thirsty
And this one:
But after reading his Indigenist platform, I'm yearning for the carefree kegger that was Das Kapital.
"the carefree kegger that was Das Kapital". hahahaha Genius.
But you have to go read the whole thing. It's a great piece.
(Thanks, Steve, for pointing to it.)
Posted by sheilaIt didn't surprise me that his wife is Japanese. There are some Japanese who just go batshit crazy when released from the strictures of their society. Yoko Ono comes to mind.
Although Churchill's wife is Japanese-American, I did note that her parents were either traditional enough to not give her an English first name, or she wants to get back to her roots by only going by her Japanese given name. If I remember correctly, Japanese girls are more likely to marry outside their own ethnic group than any other women in America, so pretty soon Japanese-Americans who aspire to victimhood may be counting their blood quanta in 16ths as does Churchill.
Being in an inter-racial marriage, the whole concept of race in this country baffles me more and more as I age. Will my kids pick an ethnicity just to get preferential treatment? What will they call themselves? Americans, hopefully. F___ YOU, Ward.
Posted by: John at April 20, 2005 12:58 PMSee, I took Churchill's ignorance of what Easter was as feigned - as a sort of "I have so much contempt for the everyday culture of Christians ["the mainstream"] in this country that I'm going to pretend I don't even know about their most important holy day."
I mean, my atheist friends know what Easter is and why it's important to me, even though they don't believe as I do. I think it just shows Churchill's contempt.
I suspect he'd put the smackdown on anyone who tried, out of sheer politeness, to explain it to him.
Posted by: ricki at April 20, 2005 1:33 PM"Walking Eagle" pretty much sums it up.
Posted by: Ken Hall at April 20, 2005 1:41 PMChurchill seems to have fallen victim to the opposing extreme of "racial purity". You know the view where the profoundly bigoted hold that if you have any percentage of African-American parentage then you are a "n****r" and of course this is a threat to "real" white people.
His view is just as extreme in the converse.
The problem is we fallible human beings tend to use victimhood (whether it be ethnic, political, religious or whatever) when it suits our self interest. The hypocrisy is then conveniently over looked.
OTOH it does not mean that victimhood is not real and should not be addressed.
Oh, my stars and garters. I don't think I've read a funnier article in years. This was my favorite line:
"That is actually true," he nods wearily. "Three months ago I was not talking to a cow puppet. If I get my karma burnished right, I will probably not ever be talking to a cow puppet again."
Personally, I think his Karma is as burnished as it's likely to get. One can only hope his next turn on the Wheel will be as the Cow Puppet.
Posted by: skinnydan at April 20, 2005 2:03 PMj swift:
Do you remember the whole Micah Wright scandal that happened a couple years back? He lied about his past - saying that he had been, I think, a Green Beret. The thing about it was though: He made a name for himself pretty quickly following the invasion of Iraq by making these photo-shopped anti-war posters. He would use old WWII propaganda, and photo-shop them into anti-war and anti-Bush messages. Which is all well and good, whatever your viewpoint on his message ... He can do whatever he wants.
BUT - the REAL reason he became so famous so quickly is that supposedly he had been a Green Beret. Interviews were done with him, the preface to his book was all: "Listen, man, I've seen the horrors of war. So I know what it is I'm protesting."
He knew he was lying. There wasn't even one tiny bit of the story that was true.
Actual Green Berets had been calling into question the veracity of his story for quite some time. They smelled a rat.
Finally, and I can't remember how exactly it came about ... but he confessed to making up the whole thing. His huge book deal was dropped, and I don't know what happened after that.
It was very interesting to me because ... it seemed that he didn't feel comfortable just protesting the war on his own. He needed to have the extra "authority" behind him of a military background. Like: wow, wouldn't THAT be a cool story: ex-warrior becomes anti-war protester. He was, essentially, insecure about his position, and kept lying. Some of the interviews he gave when he was deep in the lie are SO entertaining to read. Because you know there's not a bit of truth in it - and it's all a pose, too.
It's embarrassing. To be so BUSTED.
Anyway, this reminds me a bit of Churchill. Now maybe he really did believe that he was part Indian. It sounds like he did. And - you don't have to be an Indian to be involved in their cause (ahem. Marlon Brando). But ... because of his essential insecurity, he felt he needed the extra "authority", and so he perpetuated the fiction that he was Native American. 1/16 to 3/16, who knows ... hard to keep track of the lies.
For whatever reason: he feels he needs to have more authority than just his opinion. Like, the obvious fiction that he trained the Weathermen in weaponry.
He seems like a deeply insecure man to me.
I could completely make something up about my background that would make me feel much freer and much less embarrassed in holding whatever opinion is ... Like the interior monologue is: "Hmmm, THIS story will be beyond reproach ... People will admire me and listen to me more readily if I use THIS story."
This seems to be the Micah Wright stance as well.
I am completley psychoanalyzing people I don't know ... It's just a hunch that these two people (and others, who fabricate life-stories) are insecure, and feel they need to prop themselves up with some great STORY (lie). That way people will admire them, and if the story is good enough - maybe no one will contradict them.
I mean, how could you argue with a Green Beret who had seen combat who suddenly became anti-war? That is what I think was Micah Wright's reasoning. "Nobody will argue with me if I tell them THAT story. They'll be all condescending towards me, and then I'll just whip out: 'Yeah, but have you been in combat? I HAVE.' And then watch their faces turn red."
It is a way to END debate and dissent. But it's a lie.
Posted by: red at April 20, 2005 2:07 PMskinnydan:
Isn't it hilarious? Yeah, the woman saying "I'm a video activist and puppeteer"
hahaha
Posted by: red at April 20, 2005 2:08 PMRed, I think you are right he is insecure and he uses his Native American ethnicity to prop up his esteem and his political views.
Hell, family lore says my great, great, grandmother was half-blood native american, and my great great great grandfather owned slaves in MS, that does not make me a bigot or a victim.
Posted by: j swift at April 20, 2005 3:04 PM
The thing that so fascinated me about the Micah Wright lie (as opposed to the Ward Churchill lie) - is that Micah Wright was more interested in using opposites. As in: I once was in the enemy camp, and now I have seen the light.
That is a VERY powerful position to take. You can't argue with experience, and many people were completely duped by it.
Ward Churchill took whatever percentage of Indian blood he has, inflated it, until he was Mr. Hot shot Indian Rights Man. (I like the point made in the aritcle - if someone was 1/16 Italian and headed up the National Italian-American League - wouldn't that be a bit of a pose?)
But even so.
Micah Wright's lies were faaarrrr more interesting psychologically to me. There were a couple of days there when I couldn't stop pondering Micah Wright, and how his mind worked.
Thank God for Jim Treacher - Treacher didn't stop berating Micah Wright for weeks on end, so at least I had an outlet for my weird little psychological obsession.
Churchill just seems like your basic insecure poseur. Micah Wright is a con-man.
Posted by: red at April 20, 2005 3:56 PMOh wait - just remembered: Micah Wright said he was a Ranger, not a Green Beret
Posted by: red at April 20, 2005 7:19 PM