Another forwarded message

["Judy Diamondstone" <jdiamondstone@clarku.edu>]

I, Phil Chappell, and perhaps others on xmca have occasionally forwarded
messages from the LNC (Language in the New Capitalism listserve) to this
list. Phil Graham, who was once on xmca, set up the LNC list; I am
forwarding a recent message, with apologies to those who will be receiving
it twice.

I have been enjoying the discussions of math content/ technology &
education/ reproduction -- the following is not intended to derail ongoing
talk. It's in the spirit of those xmca messages that occasionally break out
of academia and theory to celebrate underlying values. I also think the
Dylan song at the end is particularly apt.

judy

-----Original Message-----
From: lnc-admin@listserv.cddc.vt.edu
[mailto:lnc-admin@listserv.cddc.vt.edu]On Behalf Of Phil Graham
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 12:29 PM
To: lnc@listserv.cddc.vt.edu
Subject: [LNC] Fwd: Secret Service checks out Dylan threat to Bush




Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mark Crispin Miller <mcm7@MAIL.nyu.edu>
> Date: 12 November 2004 11:56:40 AM
> To: mark.miller@nyu.edu
> Subject: Secret Service checks out Dylan threat to Bush
>
> Via Tom Durack:
>
> http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/
> 0,1299,DRMN_15_3323602,00.html
>
> Secret Service pays visit to Boulder High
> By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
> November 12, 2004
>
> Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" is a hard-hitting, anti-war song produced
> more than 20 years before any current Boulder High School student was
> born.
>
> More than 40 years after its release, the song has been resurrected at
> Boulder High with huge and confusing repercussions that prompted
> Secret Service
> agents to pay the campus a visit Thursday.
>
> Some students and parents apparently let the Secret Service and
> talk-radio stations know they were unhappy with the plan of a trio of
> students to do a
> poetry reading of the song, accompanied by background music, according
> to Ron Cabrera, the school's principal.
>
> Rumors were rampant that during an audition and rehearsal for today's
> talent show, the students changed Dylan's powerful last verse at the
> end of the
> song to say that they hoped that President Bush was going to die.
>
> The last verse begins: "And I hope that you die; And your death'll
> come soon."
>
> Secret Service agents interviewed Cabrera on Thursday to determine
> what all the uproar was about and whether any threats were being made
> against the
> president's life.
>
> "They were following up and doing their due diligence," Cabrera said
> of the agents' visit. "They had been receiving calls from the
> community and, in the course of the talk show, felt like they had
> heard (the students) inciting physical harm to the president."
>
> Cabrera said he talked to the students and teachers who have been
> working with them, and he was told the group, which calls itself the
> Coalition of the Willing, made no reference to Bush.
>
> "I don't know why it surfaced," Cabrera said of the complaints. "I
> think they're surprised by all the allegations."
>
> Cabrera said he also showed the agents the lyrics of the entire song.
> The agents appeared to have left satisfied that no bona-fide threat
> was being directed at the president, he said.
>
> The principal said the students' performance of the song at the talent
> show upholds their right to express themselves, and he did not think
> it was inappropriate in a campus setting.
>
> A Secret Service spokesman could not be reached for comment.
>
> Cabrera acknowledged that the group did consider at one time naming
> itself the "Tali-banned." A teacher persuaded the teens to drop the
> title because it
> was offensive, he said.
>
> ###
>
> It's remarkable that this 40 year old anti-war song is so easily
> interpreted as anti-Bush ....................
>
> Come you masters of war
> You that build all the guns
> You that build the death planes
> You that build the big bombs
> You that hide behind walls
> You that hide behind desks
> I just want you to know
> I can see through your masks
>
> You that never done nothin'
> But build to destroy
> You play with my world
> Like it's your little toy
> You put a gun in my hand
> And you hide from my eyes
> And you turn and run farther
> When the fast bullets fly
>
> Like Judas of old
> You lie and deceive
> A world war can be won
> You want me to believe
> But I see through your eyes
> And I see through your brain
> Like I see through the water
> That runs down my drain
>
> You fasten the triggers
> For the others to fire
> Then you set back and watch
> When the death count gets higher
> You hide in your mansion
> As young people's blood
> Flows out of their bodies
> And is buried in the mud
>
> You've thrown the worst fear
> That can ever be hurled
> Fear to bring children
> Into the world
> For threatening my baby
> Unborn and unnamed
> You ain't worth the blood
> That runs in your veins
>
> How much do I know
> To talk out of turn
> You might say that I'm young
> You might say I'm unlearned
> But there's one thing I know
> Though I'm younger than you
> Even Jesus would never
> Forgive what you do
>
> Let me ask you one question
> Is your money that good
> Will it buy you forgiveness
> Do you think that it could
> I think you will find
> When your death takes its toll
> All the money you made
> Will never buy back your soul
>
> And I hope that you die
> And your death'll come soon
> I will follow your casket
> In the pale afternoon
> And I'll watch while you're lowered
> Down to your deathbed
> And I'll stand o'er your grave
> 'Til I'm sure that you're dead
>
> -----------------------------

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