The Art of War

[bandwraith at aol.com]

Thanks.

Interesting speech. I'd not heard Hedges speak
before, but for some reason thought he was more
feminine- weaker chin, higher voice. He comes
across as fairly masculine, in a Robert
Lowell/William Hurt kind of way.

Couple-three takes on his speech, which was more
or less a reading of a prepared text. It could have been,
if it were less prepared, something from a "waraholics
anonymous" meeting. Clearly, he was somewhat
tortured. He kept his emotions barely beneath the
surface.

I couldn't help feeling, however, that he was still
revelling a bit, by his own admission, in the ecstasy
of war. He was still being the journo, to some extent,
and looking for just the right way to encapsulate the
experience for consumption, and not just for
whatever compensation or fame his books generate,
but for the hoped for effect on his audience. That is,
there seemed to be a symmetry between the
motivations that brought him into becoming a war
correspondent and his addiction, and those that are
currently stimulating him since his "long trip out."
He is still struggling with his addiction, not just to war,
but to idealism, and well constructed sentences in
its service.

That said, his descriptions of the drug-like effects
of being in battle were compelling and accurate
from a cognitive neuroscience point of view, and
sounded just like those reported for any number
of addictive drugs. By the end, I felt like asking
him to step into the alley with me, and offer him a
few good snorts...of oxytocin.


-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com>
To: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
Cc: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>; Michael F <mff8785 at gmail.com>;
pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Mon, Jan 10, 2011 7:24 pm
Subject: Re: The Art of War


A few days late, but a tremendous book well worth reading on this
subject is Chris Hedges's War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning.  In
lieu of or addition to reading the book, you can watch Hedges speak at
UCSB in 2004 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2SaM8RJ30c



On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 7:47 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-vice-guide-to-everything-ep-4-the-business-of-war-sakawa-boys-bulletproof-tailor-norwegian-black-metal/1654484/playlist.jhtml
>
> The Business of War
>