(Photo from Playbill) I just came back from New York where I saw my uncle Gerry Bamman play Richard Nixon in "Nixon's Nixon." If you're in New York between now and October 28th, go see it. The New York Times recently published a very nice review, pointing out that the play, set in 1974 on the night before Nixon announced his resignation, has been re-staged at a rather apt point in time:
This vision of the country’s leaders retreating happily into a fantasy world of their own invention may strike some in the audience as having a certain grimly funny currency at the moment. The squabbling and finger pointing between politicians bent on burnishing their own images, even as they casually total the numbers of civilians and soldiers who have died on their watch, might also strike an eerily contemporary note (especially since Bob Woodward’s new book, “State of Denial,” suggests that Kissinger continues to play an influential role in United States foreign policy).
There's even an interview with the director, playwright, and the two actors available on YouTube. Check it out:
Woodward's book is good, but isn't it a little too late? The American media for some reason are extremely uncritical of their government prior to a war. And when things start going wrong, then everybody starts jumping ship and today it becomes alright to question the government.
If his book came out prior to the Iraq war(if that was possible), Woodward would be labelled as unpatriotic.
Today, you see the American press finally asking some good questions about the Iraq war when it is already too late. None of these mainstream presses were critical of the Iraq war prior to the war starting.
They toed the government line: Saddam defied UN inspections, but I remember darn well that he defied them because the inspectors were passing on information to the CIA and the UN failed to give them a time line on when inspections would end. Legit excuse in my book. All these details dissappeared from the counter argument at that time. But lately, they have resurfaced in the mainstream media when it is too late.
Today, Mr. Kim Jong Il finally ushered in the Nuclear age for all Koreans. And today, after nearly 6 years, the word "Agreed Framework" is finally making a comeback when it is all too late.
Today, the press is finally educating the American people about this deal with the North Koreans signed more than 10 years ago whcih the Americans did not make good on, clearly for domestic political reasons.
All the protests that was happening in Korea the past 4 years, outside the US embassy, outside US military bases were written off as pop culture influenced anti-American protests.
A few years ago and still now, we hear from the press that Mr. Kim Jong Il is a crazy mad man. So here's what I did to critically examine this claim. I did a websearch for Mr. Kim Jong Il's memoirs, interviews etc. etc. and read them. I found this:
http://www.kimsoft.com/2003/kji-tape.htm
Its an interview. After reading it, he sounded like a man with many visions for his country. He complains about lack of progress on the Agreed Framework. He doesn't come off as crazy to me.
I think this is the power of the internet. It allowed me to do something useful with my critical analysis. 20 years ago, I would have blankly believed what was written in the press. For me to do research to verify the authenticity of a claim would be too time consuming.
Posted by: mahathir_fan | October 16, 2006 at 03:24 AM
hi rebecca!
very interesting post!
but i think woodward's book is too late!
adib from tunisia;)
Posted by: adib | October 16, 2006 at 06:17 PM
Hi there, Marke here. I'm also from Tunisia.
I think Woodward's book is not too late at all. It comes at a perfect time, as our nation's leaders consider whether to invade Iraq. I say, let the weapons inspectors do their jobs! Hans Blix did not get to be chief weapons inspector by performing only cursory inspections.
Rebecca, you're pretty cute. Do you read my blog? (www.dontforgetyourstylus.com) If you are single and in the Tunisia area, please drop me a line.
Marke
Posted by: Marke Vibbly-Burr | October 18, 2006 at 07:28 PM
Haha! Nice try Marke... next time you claim to be in Tunisia I suggest using a Tunisian proxy so that you're not leaving behind your PacBell IP address, which kind of blows your cover... :P
Posted by: Rebecca MacKinnon | October 18, 2006 at 07:50 PM
Hi Rebecca,
So this is weird, I was looking for pics of Gerry since I was mentioning him in a blog post, and I came across your pic you used here, mentioning that he's your uncle. He's actually my second cousin (being my mom's first cousin. My mom is the late Alice Reinhardt, maiden name Kruger, who grew up in Alma, MO.) I remember as a kid some family gatherings, especially the death of Grandpa Kruger and the subsequent selling of the farm, and lots of Bammans.
Not exactly sure what that makes us, if anything. I just foudn it interesting to have a distant relative I didn't know about come cross my view.
Take care in your travels. Interesting blog!
Karl Reinhardt
Posted by: Karl | September 13, 2008 at 08:32 AM