WOW - Didn't Shakespeare have a way with words? -K.

k wrote:
] [Crossposting from the Supernicety :
]
] Indeed, more proof that Shakespeare has already said pretty
] much everything that’s worth saying… Josh Marshall over at
] Talking Points Memo provides the following excerpt from Henry
] V in which the king, disguised, talks with two soldiers :
]
]
]
] KING HENRY. I dare say you love him not so ill to wish him
] here alone, howsoever you speak this, to feel other men’s
] minds; methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in
] the King’s company, his cause being just and his quarrel
] honorable.
]
]
] MICHAEL WILLIAMS. That’s more than we know.
]
]
] JOHN BATES. Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we know
] enough if we know we are the King’s subjects. If his cause be
] wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of
] us.
]
]
] MICHAEL WILLIAMS. But if his cause be not good, the King
] himself hath a heavy reckoning to make when all those legs and
] arms and heads, chopp’d off in a battle, shall join together
] at the latter day and cry all ‘We died at such a place’ - some
] swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives
] left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon
] their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well
] that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of
] anything when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do
] not die well, it will be a black matter for the King that led
] them to it; who to disobey were against all proportion of
] subjection.
]
]
] …Act IV, Scene I
]
]
]
] Our president wishes himself king, and wishes us to be Bates’
] — unknowing, unquestioning followers of his cause, which he
] believes both just and honorable. The neocon movement, by
] denouncing all forms of dissent, subverting open discussion,
] wontonly tossing Coulterian charges of Treason at anyone who
] would challenge their King, would simultaneously have
] themselves absolved of whatever wrong may someday come to
] light. “Our obedience…wipes the crime of it out of us”,
] they’ll say, in so many words… “Who are we to question the
] King… he said there were Weapons of Mass Destruction and we
] obeyed his call to war!” At the same time, they deny that the
] King Himself should shoulder any guilt either, for he is the
] King, whom God alone may judge, not mere mortals, not his
] SUBJECTS, not us.
]
]
] But we are not like Mr. Bates. We have more information and
] more freedom. We are *not* subjects, and we have the capacity,
] the right, and even the duty to challenge our leaders.
] Challenge them to justify their actions, so that we can be
] satisfied that their cause is just, their quarrel honorable,
] so that we can be sure that the crying dead have bought
] something of value with their lives. As such, we are all
] accountable as well. We owe no obedience to any King, and
] nothing but ignorance un-asked-for may absolve support for a
] dishonorable King.
]
]
] The burden is heavy for all, and I’m not so unreasonable as to
] believe that President Bush doesn’t feel it as strongly as
] any. I believe he is genuine in his respect for the fallen.
] But his reckoning has not yet come. More and more we learn
] that the cause was misguided, mishandled and ill conceived…
] and the price grows ever higher. The King’s reckoning must
] come in November, when the people voice their disapproval and
] choose a new leader; one whose causes will be worthy of our
] support.
]
]
]
] Just some thoughts I had while sitting idle this evening. -k]

RE: Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 02, 2004 - May 08, 2004 Archives