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Jan. 28, 2005 I recently reread the Mark Twain classic, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I first read it over twenty years ago as an assignment in my college Political Science class. I remembered very little of it, so it was like reading something I had never read before. I was struck by the similarities between the main character, Hank Morgan, and George W. Bush. In the novel Hank Morgan works as a foreman in a arms factory. After he's struck on the head, he's somehow transported back in time to the world of King Arthur and his knights. Using knowledge of a forecoming eclipse, he saves himself from an unjust execution, and outdoes Merlin the Magician. His influence becomes so powerful that he becomes known as the boss, and with his yankee ingenuity and modern moral sensibilities, he seeks to transform the sixth century into a modern utopia. Eventually, his plans backfire, and he ends up murdering tens of thousands of soldiers with machine guns. The theme of Mark Twain's book (which accurately anticipated the horrors of WWI) is that man can never rise above the brutality and ignorance of the human species. George W. Bush's stated goal of taking our value system and forcing it on Iraq reminds me of Hank Morgan and his idealistic goal. The first similarity is a little trivial, but worth noting. Mr. Bush began his career in the modern oil industry; an industry that is basically the cause of modern wars as the armament industry was one of the causes of WWI. The military- industrial complex has done little to discourage war, and a congressional investigation discovered that the armament industry in the U.S. egged on this country's entry into WWI. The other similarity is obvious. Hank Morgan wanted to take his value sytem (supposedly superior) and force it on sixth century humanity. Mr. Bush is trying to do the same thing by forcing democracy in a land dominated by theocrats. In the end Hank Morgan became as bad a butcher as the nobility who dominated this time period. Mr. Bush is rapidly becoming comparable to Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed by his unjustified war. And Mr. Bush is already active in revisionist history. In a recent interview with Barbara Walters he claimed that Saddam refused inspections--a blatant lie that this worthless journalist let stand. Saddam allowed inspections. Inspectors found nothing based on the exact same intelligence that was used as an excuse to invade. Mr. Bush made the decision to invade, despite the inspections. In addition to murder, Mr. Bush seemingly has supported torture(only a very naive person would think the systematic torture that occurred was the result of a few "bad apples") of prisoners in the same prison Saddam where Saddam tortured people. Mark Twain was right. Man can't seem to rise above brutality and ignorance. ------------ About the author Mark Gelbart: My book, Talk Radio, is a black comedy about a radio talk show host who gets kidnapped and psychologically tortured by a loser. It will be published by Publish America within the next year. Email: agelbart@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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