Out of the Shadows
Our friend "Hugo Zoom" walks into the light.
After several weeks of email correspondence and mutual blogship, we finally met for lunch, lingering in the restaurant long after the crowd had departed. Among the many things we discussed that day was Jon's desire to return to Iraq and produce a documentary. I was fascinated with the idea, but predicted a long period of instability and probable civil war. Privately, I wondered if Iraq would ever be stable enough - at least in this lifetime - to allow a documentarian, an American, to take a snapshot of everyday life in Iraq.
Yet, if anyone can achieve such a Herculean feat, it's Jon. He possesses an intelligent, curious mind tempered with humility and an unwaivering sense of humanity. And one doesn't contemplate a project of this nature if short on courage.
The blogosphere is littered with VISA icons and bloggers appealing for donations, but I often wonder just what it is those donations are supporting. Is the person who donates the cash and the blogger who takes it really doing something worthwhile? The participants in these transactions are often aware - deep down, anyway - the answer is no. But it is a charade which allows everyone to feel like they've done something meaningful. I know because I've made those kinds of contributions myself.
Donating cash so that someone may opine on the news dujour is fine, but haven't we reached a point where we should all be asking ourselves and each other "What else ya got?" Because 99% of left-leaning bloggers opine the same damn thing: "Those Democrats need to grow a spine!" What this accomplishes, aside from catharsis, is negligible. In an oligarchy - with the few governing the many - it doesn't matter if there are ten people or ten million people saying the same thing. What counts is whether we possess the courage of our convictions. What counts is action.
Yes, there are bloggers who do more than preach to the choir. Jonathan Versen is one of them. Supporting Jon in his quest to bring the truth out of Iraq is to do something. It is to break free of the insular Catch-22 of political blogging and engage the world in a meaningful way. It is to acknowledge, in real terms, the suffering we have caused the people of Iraq. It is to say NOT IN MY NAME to an omnipresent and tyrannical government which uses the blood and misery of innocent men, women and children to lubricate the gears of commerce and empire.
Although Jon isn't actively soliciting donations at the time of this writing, he soon will be. When he does, I hope you will respond to his appeal. If you lack the means for financial support, you may know people who have the resources and motivation to contribute to a project of vital importance. There will be a myriad of needs - financial and otherwise - throughout the development of this documentary, so if you find yourself unable to contribute in the short-term, please keep Jon in mind should such an opportunity present itself in the future.
Anyway, my name is Jonathan Versen and I'm going back to Iraq. I attended the equivelant of kindergarden there, having left in 1969 at the age of 5, so it'll be quite different from what I remember. Not to live there-- I am an American, and this is my home. I'm not one of those liberals who is willing to cede America to the jingoistic troglodytes who want non-jingoistic, non-troglodyte Americans to feel unwelcome in their own, our own, country.I met Jon shortly after starting this Carnival of Horror and following a search for liberal bloggers in and around Denton, Texas. Hugo Zoom was the only solid hit. Denton is a lonely place to be a liberal.
Rather, my intention is to go in the summer of 2007, to stay for about 3 months, and make a documentary. My intention is to try to be unbiased, my intense disapproval of George W. Bush and the rest of the neocon horde notwithstanding. You can judge for yourselves, irrespective of your political predispositions, how successful I will be.
After several weeks of email correspondence and mutual blogship, we finally met for lunch, lingering in the restaurant long after the crowd had departed. Among the many things we discussed that day was Jon's desire to return to Iraq and produce a documentary. I was fascinated with the idea, but predicted a long period of instability and probable civil war. Privately, I wondered if Iraq would ever be stable enough - at least in this lifetime - to allow a documentarian, an American, to take a snapshot of everyday life in Iraq.
Yet, if anyone can achieve such a Herculean feat, it's Jon. He possesses an intelligent, curious mind tempered with humility and an unwaivering sense of humanity. And one doesn't contemplate a project of this nature if short on courage.
The blogosphere is littered with VISA icons and bloggers appealing for donations, but I often wonder just what it is those donations are supporting. Is the person who donates the cash and the blogger who takes it really doing something worthwhile? The participants in these transactions are often aware - deep down, anyway - the answer is no. But it is a charade which allows everyone to feel like they've done something meaningful. I know because I've made those kinds of contributions myself.
Donating cash so that someone may opine on the news dujour is fine, but haven't we reached a point where we should all be asking ourselves and each other "What else ya got?" Because 99% of left-leaning bloggers opine the same damn thing: "Those Democrats need to grow a spine!" What this accomplishes, aside from catharsis, is negligible. In an oligarchy - with the few governing the many - it doesn't matter if there are ten people or ten million people saying the same thing. What counts is whether we possess the courage of our convictions. What counts is action.
Yes, there are bloggers who do more than preach to the choir. Jonathan Versen is one of them. Supporting Jon in his quest to bring the truth out of Iraq is to do something. It is to break free of the insular Catch-22 of political blogging and engage the world in a meaningful way. It is to acknowledge, in real terms, the suffering we have caused the people of Iraq. It is to say NOT IN MY NAME to an omnipresent and tyrannical government which uses the blood and misery of innocent men, women and children to lubricate the gears of commerce and empire.
Although Jon isn't actively soliciting donations at the time of this writing, he soon will be. When he does, I hope you will respond to his appeal. If you lack the means for financial support, you may know people who have the resources and motivation to contribute to a project of vital importance. There will be a myriad of needs - financial and otherwise - throughout the development of this documentary, so if you find yourself unable to contribute in the short-term, please keep Jon in mind should such an opportunity present itself in the future.
posted by Arvin Hill at 8/03/2005 08:57:00 AM
<< Home