Will the Sleepers Awake? (May, 2002)

Whoa, Bob Guccione! Time was, I could do a passable impression of him, that would get laughs at parties. I Could neither read nor write in those days after 9/11. Lost interest in music as well. I did drink though, voluminously. Stopped visiting "The Last Exit" when they put the jersey barriers down the middle of Atlantic Ave. and occupied stools in the Slope...my, how I've changed in the years since...

Posted by Will at June 27, 2014 2:09 PM

Will The Sleepers Awake? The sleepers are in a bubble that is about to burst. They are so much in a false reality of security that I doubt anything will awaken them.

I have do doubt the Islamic monsters are in the late stages of planning the detonation of a very serious "device" in a major population center soon. They know the US would not know where to strike back. The slime at the top here is beyond incompetent. As far as they are concerned WE are the enemy.

Posted by Terry at June 27, 2014 2:10 PM

Bach - Cantata 140: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sj-NKqR0tw

Posted by Fat Man at June 27, 2014 3:03 PM

Straight from 1968. The lyrics are recited.

Soft Machine-Why Are We Sleeping? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwc_gosvQ_A

It begins with a blessing, it ends with a curse
Making life easy by making it worse
"My mask is my master," the trumpeter weeps
But his voice is so weak as he speaks from his sleep
Saying: "Why, why, why... Why are we sleeping?"

People are watching, people who stare
Waiting for something that's already there
"Tomorrow I'll find it," the trumpeter screams
And remembers he's hungry, and drowns in his dreams
Saying: "Why, why, why... Why are we sleeping?"

My head is a nightclub with glasses and wine
The customers dancing or just making time
While Daevid is cursing, the customers scream
Now everyone's shouting, "Get out of my dream!"
Saying: "Why, why, why... Why are we sleeping?"

Posted by Fat Man at June 27, 2014 3:26 PM

We have such men. Unfortunately, they're not in our government, our media, academia, the unions, or civil service. Most are in the military, but that too is being turned into a social experiment and will eventually drive those men away.

Have you ever been involved in a big disaster? Like a big fire, the collapse of a building, a flood, a forest fire? Leaders and heroes will emerge in such circumstances. The margin of safety and comfort in this country is such that the sheeple are still grazing peacefully as the wolves gather in numbers. They are reassured of their safety by a slick politician who claims, "Iran is a tiny country. They're no threat to us." "Russia is a poor country, our economy is much bigger than theirs. They're no threat to us." "Those who would enable 'man caused disasters' are a nuisance, but they're no threat to us." "The Iraqis must sit down and talk out their differences. When they do, ISIS will collapse." And so on.

Maybe we conservatives are like the mountain men of old. They watched for signs. Keeping their scalps depended on reading the signs right. A broken twig, an alarmed bird, a rustling branch - maybe no threat, but best to keep the rifle close and sleep with one eye open. Only we're seeing more than subtle signs. We've got arrows and tomahawks in the air. The Indians (Islamists) have declared war. And we're still at the mall.

I would rather we were at war and full out at war.

Posted by Jimmy J. at June 27, 2014 3:36 PM

Reminds me of a passage from Arthur Koestler's neglected 1950 novel, The Age of Longing. The action of the book takes place in France, where a massive Soviet invasion is clearly impending--but denial of this obvious reality abounds, especially among the intellectuals. Jules Commanche, a Resistance hero and a senior French security officer, explains this phenomenon to a young American woman:


"No, Mademoiselle, don't be misled by appearances. France and what else is left of Europe may look like a huge dormitory to you, but I assure you nobody in it is really asleep. Have you ever spent a night in a mental ward? During the Occupation, a doctor who belonged to our group got me into one when the police were after me. It was a ward of more or less hopeless cases, most of whom were marked down for drastic neurosurgical operations. When the male nurse made his round, I thought everybody was asleep. Later I found out that they were only pretending, and that everybody was busy, behind closed eyes, trying to cope after his own fashion with what was coming to him. Some were pursuing their delusions with a happy smile, like our famous Pontieux (a philosopher modelled on Sartre--ed). Others were working on their pathetic plans of escape, naively hoping that with a little dissimulation, or bribery, or self-abasement, they could get around the tough male nurses, the locked doors, the operating table. Others were busy explaining to themselves that it wouldn't hurt, and that to have holes drilled into one's skull and parts of one's brain taken out was the nicest thing that could happen to one. And still, others, the quiet schizos who were the majority, almost succeede in making themselves believe that nothing would happen, that it was all a matter of exaggerated rumours, and that tomorrow would be like yesterday. These looked as if they were really asleep. Only an occasional nervous twitch of their lips or eyes betrayed the strain of disbelieving what they knew to be inevitable...No, Mademoiselle nobody was really asleep."

Posted by david foster at June 27, 2014 4:38 PM

Wade McClusky was certainly no sleeper. A career naval aviator, he survived the war, made Rear Admiral, and lived until 1976, unlike the others mentioned in the box, who did perish at Midway. In fact, it was his decision to follow a Japanese destroyer heading back to rejoin the IJN carrier force that resulted in the successful US dive bomber attacks on the Japanese carriers.

Posted by waltj at June 28, 2014 12:05 PM

Gerard, I do value your company. I hope you have thirty sentient years left. I hope we all do. Thanks for all your deep mental ruminations.

Posted by Casca at June 29, 2014 8:13 PM