I was struck by a bit of nostalgia Friday night when Keith Olbermann spent five minutes of “Countdown” conducting an interview with William Blum, an old acquaintance of mine. In 1983 and ’84, we twice shared the dais with other panelists for a public discussion of Reagan’s murderous and (frequently illegal) policies in Central America where we had separately spent considerable time watching those policies spill the blood of some of the poorest human beings on the planet.
Like mine, Bill’s once-gray hair is now white, but he’s no dying ember in the war against U.S. imperialist designs. He unrepentantly brands as liars those who, both now and a quarter-century ago, propagandized the bloody slaughter they sired as the spreading of liberty and the improving of people’s lives.
Blum, who is also featured in today’s Washington Post and gets comprehensive treatment in Patsbard’s Diary, was quite a serious participant on “Countdown,” displaying none of his barbed sense of humor. It seems Blum’s been equally solemn in the radio interviews he’s given since Osama bin Laden gave his book, Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower, a big plug on what is purported to be the latest audiotape of the world’s most wanted man.
That is no doubt a good thing, because if you’re a radical critic of America’s role in the world, it’s best not to crack too wise when Osama’s in the news. Even the hint of a grin can be misunderstood by the average fellow that you approve of the bringing down of the twin towers, not to mention getting you labeled an enemy of the Republic by the likes of MSNBC’s resident hollowhead, Chris Matthews.
For all of those of you who’ve been ensconced internetless for the past three days, Matthews made an invidious comparison between Osama and Michael Moore, the smack-`em-in-the-head film-maker who, as “Hardball’s” huckster would apparently have it, has slaughtered thousands of Americans in acts of terror from coast to coast. You can sample some of reaction from left wwwLand to this latest Matthews idiocy in Senator John Kerry’s first-ever Daily Kos Diary, and in commentary by James Wolcott, digby, Peter Daou, Ted Barlow, Jane Hamsher, Matt Stoller, Steve Soto, at least 22,000 signers of a letter demanding that Matthews apologize, DarkSyde, Georgia10, Hunter, Kos, Grand Moff Texan, and dozens of others.
Blum’s publisher, who printed only 2000 paperback third editions of Rogue State might want to switch on the presses again Monday because Osama’s mention has sent the the book soaring from No. 205,763 to No. 26 on Amazon’s index of most-ordered books. Better a kind word from Osama, apparently, than a review in Publishers Weekly. Surprising that Matthews didn’t call Oprah a kindred spirit of Osama.
What struck me about Osama’s attempt to start the Al Qaeda Book Club, however, wasn’t his reference to Rogue State, but rather his quoting from another of Blum’s books, Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire. The statement in question can be found on the book jacket and also many places on the World Wide Web..
Which stimulated my curiosity. Did Osama read Blum’s hard copy? Or has he been dropping in at the local Internet café somewhere in outer Baluchistan to use a search engine? That would certainly put new light on the federal government’s bone-chilling efforts to obtain data on exactly where Googling takes Googlers.
If you were the world’s tallest terrorist and bored out of your skull hiding in some border-town hinterland, what would you be checking out on the Internet?
Obviously, you’d want to examine the nifty satellite photos of your hideout on Google Earth. And you surely wouldn’t want to miss the latest 11th Century sex advice. Afterward, you’d cruise over to eHarmony to fill out the compatibility profile. And you’d want to stay in touch with your far-flung minions with a thoughtful e-card from the Hallmark people.
Then a brief stop on eBay where you could bid on bomb-friendly cell phones in barrel lots and portable travel bidets. Watch out for those FedEx charges!
But, given your current mood, you’d probably prefer to spend most of your time on virtual tours in the Omaha or Amarillo areas preparatory to what you have planned for the American heartland – an assault on home prices that will finally burst the real estate bubble.
Or maybe not. Perhaps, if you had a $25 million bounty on your head and a wild hair up your butt, you’d stick exclusively to round after round of multiplayer interactive Doom.
[Cross-posted at The Next Hurrah.]
