Ovi Magazine : "The Men without Chest" by Emanuel L. Paparella

Newsletter

Contact

A New Europe in Search of its Soul - Emanuel L. Paparella

BBC News : -

"The Men without Chest"
by Emanuel L. Paparella
2008-08-11 09:49:41

Print - Comment - Send to a Friend - More from this Author

In the beginning there was violence,
And violence begot Man’s inhumanity to Man,
The survival of the fittest and Man’s dehumanization.
That’s the way it was, it is, and it will be
Proudly proclaim the men without chest,
The Ubermensch, descendant of Cain
whose grandfather is Machiavelli,
And whose father is Nietzsche.

God is dead. The will to power is now the law of the land.
That’s the way things were, are, and will be, period.
We are not interested in the why but in the how
Proudly proclaim the men without chest.
We couldn’t care less of the way things were.
Even less of the way they ought to be.
It is useless to imagine things as they might be.

We are enlightened rational scientists
The Children of Descartes and Voltaire.
We look at things as they are, period.

Why call the Holocaust the worst crime in history?
The systematic rationalized murder of
Eleven million people is no big deal in the larger scheme.
Violence is in Man’s genes from the beginning.
That’s the way things are, period.
We couldn’t care less about the why
We are scientists and attend to the how.

Forget hope, embrace despair.
History itself is but a chronicle of crimes.

Nothing comes from nothing
Proudly shout the men without chest.
There is no paradigmatic natural law
We boldly make our laws as we go along.
We, the powerful and the arrogant
Make the laws that best suit us.
The powerless and the meek just succumb.
That is the way it is from the beginning,
It is and it will be forever and ever,
the weak lose, the strong win,
Proudly shout the men without chest.

Don’t talk to us of charity and compassion,
That’s the language of the weak and the meek,
Proclaims the Grand Inquisitor,
The enforcer of political correctness.
Embrace the will to power, forget the will to Truth,
Forget the Beautiful, forget the Good, forget the Just.
Embrace the real and the logical and the rational,
Shouts the Grand Inquisitor
As he prepares the instruments
Of mental and spiritual torture.

Don’t you see? We are free to deny the natural law.
Don’t ask why, just attend to the how.
Don’t you see? Nobody gets saved
Nobody needs salvation,
Nobody is surprised by joy.
We simply die and then there is the Nothing
Proudly shouts the Grand Inquisitor.
Don’t you see, don’t you see?
Anxiously asks the Grand Inquisitor
In his regal ceremonial vestments
Showing the instruments of torture.

The Grand Inquisitor has no chest,
shouts boldly a courageous little boy.
The Grand Inquisitor is perplexed by this impertinence,
Utterly perturbed by the boy’s bold implication,
A challenge to his authority and his rationalism,
but silently continues to grind his ax.

The Grand Inquisitor knows well that
He cannot logically proclaim that life is worth preserving
In and by itself, and at the same time assert
That the universe is meaningless; that it comes
From nowhere, goes nowhere and has no purpose.
All he can do is boldly impose his nihilism as
He continues to grind an ax in the dark cave
With a fire at his back and a shadow on the wall.

The shadow too has no chest! The shadow knows.

Print - Comment - Send to a Friend - More from this Author


Comments(26)
Get it off your chest
Name:
Comment:
(comments policy)

Sand	2008-08-11 10:28:37
Poetry, even bad poetry, is not propaganda.


Sand	2008-08-11 11:33:21
Propaganda is not poetry


Sand	2008-08-11 14:38:24
Take a little friendly advice from someone who has struggled to write a lot of poetry. First, you have to be fascinated with words and what they can do. But it's no use using other people's words, they have to be very much your own. My long contact with you has thoroughly informed me that you have, so far, very few words of your own. The overwhelming bulk of your writing has been a series of cut and paste jobs using other peoples ideas, phrases and words. And, in general, those words have been poorly thought out and rather clumsily assembled. There is, unfortunately, no music in your language whatsoever. You must learn to listen more carefully, not only to how other people do it but how intricately the sounds of words unlock the the sense and delight of reality. I am encouraged you have embarked on an effort towards poetry since, if you are assiduous and approach the discipline with integrity you will learn a great deal that you have sorely missed in your life to this point. I realize it is a totally new paradigm to approach at an advanced age but as long as you are alive there may be some hope. It's a great adventure.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 14:51:20
True to form, while the point is missed, the slanderous condescending propaganda machine is on the move. Thanks for exemplifying to the readers so well what the theme of the above piece: the reality (originally observed by C.S. Lewis) of the progressive blind “men without chest.” Surely, were those men emperors, clothed or otherwise, they would have banned and consigned Dante’s Divine Comedy to the bonfire a long time ago as inferior poetry and mere Christian propaganda. After all, if it does not agree with one’s “enlightened” superior mind-set, it must be propaganda to be burned; right? It’s intrinsic to the intellectual bully’s mentality. Didn’t the Nazis do exactly that in 1942? There is also a false assumption at work here: that what I forwarded to the editor is a poem on which we can tag our misguided judgments, and compare to other poems, and trivialize, and caricaturize. In fact, I do not label it as a poem and it was not sent as such; that’s a tag that you placed on it, Mr. S. If Derrida is correct that art is by its nature indefinable and it is trivialized as soon as we define it for our own devious agendas, then poetry too is more than mere versifying by which the emperor can parade his mental assets, and the narcissist can contemplate his figure in the pond, as most second rate poets unfortunately do. Indeed, the poetical can be found in any artistic medium, including prose and without it you are left with mere cultural philistinism.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 14:59:57
If there is one thing you could have learned from my conribution, Mr. S., but alas you missed too, was that rationalism and the poetical an oxymoron makes. But you seem to pursue that contradiction blissfully unaware ot it and in the process do no great honor to either reason or poetry. That is sad indeed but as long as there is life, one may hope that, as Neruda, says, poetry may appear and reveal one's destitution.


Sand	2008-08-11 15:06:23
I had hopes for you, Mr.P. It seems some strange motivation had prompted you to arrange your feeble prose in the stanzas and spaces of poetry to camouflage it's true nature of mere propaganda and now you flee into divesting yourself of even that obvious intent. Too bad. I had hopes.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 15:27:39
Indeed, some sicknesses, such as that of rationalism devoid of the poetical, are unto death but hope springs eternal accompanied by the poetical.


Sand	2008-08-11 15:36:45
Ah yes. The same old phrases served up in the same old way. After all, even prose can be totally crippled by avalanches of the trite.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 15:53:10
And the tritest thing of all is to confuse the content with the form and go around correcting typos while spewing forth cliches and prejudices based on no authority, not even that of reason. 2+2=3. Pretty sad stuff. The ambulance may have to be called!


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 16:00:31
It occurrs to me that the reaction to the piece above (even if it is nothing but the deafening silence of those who assist in amusement to the Punch and Judy show staged by the forum's Grand Clown) the message has been understood only too well and having been found uncongenial the decision has been made to attack the messanger. It's an old trick going back to Catilina and Cicero. Rationalists are masters at reinventing the wheel on their own authority which in the end dishonors even the authority of reason itself.


Sand	2008-08-11 16:47:53
Since you have no capability to produce more than the standard repetitive crap over and over again I'll wait for something novel to appear to comment further.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 17:10:15
Great idea. I support it 100%. You ought to reserve your precious jewels of wisdom for when something novel and fresh and insightful appears. Since you obviously have made it clear that you believe that I am incapable of it, are we allowed to fervently hope that such a silence will be permanent?


Sand	2008-08-11 17:25:20
That's about as naked a cry for censorship as I have yet seen. Evidently my comments are hitting their targets.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 19:54:50
Does this precious comment mean then that I just said is something wise novel and insightful? Thank you for the compliment. As you said, and surely as a gentleman you will keep your word: you will only speak your jewels of wisdom when something novel come up. I will interpret all your comments about my posting that way from now on. Miracle of miracles, Mr. S. is actually changing his attitude. Perhaps the voices have left?


Sand	2008-08-11 20:28:58
No.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 20:34:00
I must have said something novel and insightful again to deserve, noblesse oblige, a word from the self-proclaimed Grand Inquisitor in charge of political correctness of Ovi magazine. Thanks again for the largess.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 20:35:25
Sorry about the voices returning. Just don't listen to them. They are liars and deceivers.


Sand	2008-08-11 21:38:49
Still waiting. Say something new.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 22:11:59
Why do you keep commenting then since you said that you would keep quite till I said something new? Does that mean that your word is not worth a hell of a bean? Actually we already knew that but you could have exhibited a modicum of rational logical consistency. That consistency you are so proud of.


Sand	2008-08-11 22:19:52
You do seem to dislike me after all the effort I put in to educate you. Very ungracious! Not a comment, merely letting you know I'm keeping a friendly eye on you. Nothing new.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-11 23:11:41
Another comment from the Grand Educator of Ovi? He must be feeling generous today with his pearls of wisdom, espcecially since he said he would be guarding them jelously and not be dispensing them till he heard something new and novel. I must have said something new and novel. Thanks. I am overwhelmed with all those compliments, Mr. S., that is to say self-proclaimed Grand Educator. Are you sure you are not the reincarnation of Caligula, the self-proclaimed god? What do the voices say? I am intrigued; what prompted you to leave your country? Not good enough for you? To educate the Finns? To be a citizen of the world? To go where opportunities are and become an opportunist? Or something a bit more sinister? Since you have slanderously and egregiously speculated about my teaching competency on another posting, you don't mind if we speculate about your peculiar status of American educator abroad; after all what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Or do you consider that a fallacy?


Sand	2008-08-11 23:51:44
All those questions! I do believe you are addicted to me. Nothing new.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-12 00:09:47
I do believe that too many bullies have been let off the hook a little too easily. That is never a good idea as we ought to have learned from history.


Chris	2008-08-12 01:07:38
Emanuel, -- I actually liked this one. You do think. I admit I read your poem while listening to "Be The Rain" at http://www.nygreendale.com/ -- It's a free listen to Neil Young. I like Young's poetry.


Emanuel Paparella	2008-08-12 03:45:42
Thanks for the lead. Indeed, when poetry becomes nothing but form, albeit elegant and beautiful form, then we end up with the sad charade of the language purist, the ancient sophists who knew how to manipulate words for power, who may even think of themselves as poets of sort, policing for grammar and spelling errors, blissfully unaware that poetry too has a content and not to pay attention to it is to be clever by half. To give credit where credit is due, the inspiration for the piece was of course C.S. Lewis’ lecture series titled “The Abolition of Man” where he coins the slogan “men without chest.” I highly recommend its reading. What Lewis said there way back in the 50s is even more relevant today.


Sand	2008-08-12 05:39:36
But, as you yourself clearly said, it is not a poem.