Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
The attack on Dave Chappelle reminds us why we must never equate violence with words
BCF : The attack on Dave Chappelle reminds us why we must never equate violence with words. We don’t know why that man rushed comic legend Dave Chappelle
onstage at the Hollywood Bowl last night, allegedly wielding a replica
gun with a blade inside.
What we do know is that Chappelle’s attacker
got his arse handed to him by security, if the images of him being
wheeled into an ambulance, bloodied, cuffed and with his arm cocked at a
gruesome angle are anything to go by.
And we also know that Chappelle
handled it all like a pro, returning to the stage shortly after the
attack to quip that it was a ‘trans man’ who had tackled him to the
floor, a nod to the heat Chappelle has caught in recent years for his
jokes about gender ideology. We do not know what this man’s motive was – reports suggest he was
staying in a homeless shelter. But given all the flak Chappelle has
taken of late, it’s hard for the mind not to turn to the deeply
intolerant climate we find ourselves in.
The climate in which comedians
like Chappelle are routinely accused of inflicting ‘violence’ upon
various communities, shamed as bigots with blood on their hands, merely
for telling jokes about those communities. This is one of the most
dangerous ideas of our time. For if you concede that jokes are violence,
then some people will start to see violence as a legitimate response to
jokes.
