WAR IS PEACE

 

I read this book..

The Unfinished War: 

Vietnam and the American Conscience

Walter H.. Capps

Beacon Press, 1982

Veterans of the war..

it said..

were damaged further by the lack of a proper welcome home..

and appreciation for their service..

and that the folks at home did not want to talk about the war..

and sought to sweep it under the carpet..

at the time of writing no memorial..

had been agreed upon..

and as such..

I was attempting to respond to this using..

oil paint on canvas..

however..

there is now and has been for many long years..

a truly great monument in place..

The black granite wall of names is one of the most familiar media images associated with the war, and after three decades the memorial remains one of the nation's most visited monuments. While the memorial has enjoyed broad acceptance by the American public, its origins were both humble and contentious. A grassroots effort launched by veterans with no funds, the project was completed in three and a half years. But an emotional debate about aesthetics and the interpretation of heroism, patriotism and history nearly doomed the project.

anyway..

I steamed ahead in the studio..

with my idea for a series of paintings like the one above..

There were to be 10 in all..

and each one was meant to represent a mood or state..

of american love or hate or grace..

remember pearl harbour..

and the american resolve and response..

these paintings are not political but emotional..

emotional states of a nation..

anyway..

STATES OF GRACE

AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

obviously..

none of this got anywhere..

per usual..

still I played around with the idea..

for some time..

and also..

this url

hope you got this far..

and liked the story..

it occurs to me that all the technology on display..

in the photo above..

was not available in 1982..

and will soon be superseded by newer stuff..

technology becomes obsolete so fast..

in 40 more years..

these devices may not exist or be so changed as to make these items..

laughable..

the painting though..

will have aged hardly at all..

and the idea will still resonate..

and lastly this url

TWENTY TWENTY

yo!.. under the spreading chestnut tree... innit!

in palookaville..

Big Brother is Watching You..

it's OK..

I've changed the date..

in the title..

so no one will think..

we are talking about the present..

AT LAST THE 1948 SHOW

 

Let's face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.

Aye, you were lucky!

We lived for three months in a rolled-up newspaper in a septic tank!

Aye. Every morning we'd 'ave to get up at six,

clean the rolled-up newspaper,

eat a crust of stale bread,

then we'd 'ave to work

fourteen hours at t' mill,

day in, day out,

for sixpence a week!

Aye, and then we'd come 'ome,

Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt! 

1010 YEARS SINCE 1010

this time it's binary..

 War is peace.  Freedom is slavery.  Ignorance is strength.

for this great anniversary..

the party has arranged a circus..

with all the famous actors..

and all the clowns in the world..

and a novel virus..

to keep us home..

and out of harm's way..

We are living in a world in which nobody is free, 

in which hardly anybody is secure, 

in which it is almost impossible to be honest..

and to remain alive..

all flights are cancelled..

all borders shut..

meat is murder..

gold is illegal..

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.

“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from from ordinary hypocrisy..

 they are deliberate exercises in doublethink”

virus is the only real enemy we have. 

Remove virus from the scene, 

and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever..

 

War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking into the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” –  Homage to Catalonia 

“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. 

He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, 

he is too weak to pull the plough, 

he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits.

Yet he is lord of all the animals. 

He sets them to work..

he gives back to them the bare minimum..

that will prevent them from starving..

and the rest he keeps for himself.”

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? 

In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible..

because there will be no words in which to express it.”

…the object of waging a war..

is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war.”

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?

nobody expects you to read this..

what relevance could there be..

room 1010 

The Most Historically Significant Person Born in 1010 is..

Emperor Renzong of Song..

Hisham II the Nephast is restored as Umayyad caliph of the Caliphate of Córdoba..

succeeding Muhammad II al-Mahdi. 

... June 2 - The Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr takes place..

in the context of the Fitna of al-Andalus..

resulting in a defeat for the Caliphate of Córdoba.