Daniel is a 'stop lossed' soldier serving for his second time in Iraq. Though forbidden to express himself freely, he has created this site to remind himself that he is more than just another of the king's horses.
Soldier/blogger Daniel Goetz officially became just another king's horse yesterday:
For the record, I am officially a supporter of the administration and of her policies. I am a proponent for the war against terror and I believe in the mission in Iraq. I understand my role in that mission, and I accept it. I understand that I signed the contract which makes stop loss legal, and I retract any statements I made in the past that contradict this one. Furthermore, I have the utmost confidence in the leadership of my chain of command, including (but not limited to) the president George Bush and the honorable secretary of defense Rumsfeld. If I have ever written anything on this site or on others that lead the reader to believe otherwise, please consider this a full and complete retraction.
Ah, but what a clever, clever "compliant" horse we have here. Almost ... Trojan in nature, it appears.
Transmit the Message to the Receiver
Goetz's "full and complete" retraction - which at first reads like the painful scene in Cool Hand Luke in which Paul Newman breaks down, pleading for beatings to stop and claiming he's "got his mind right" - is totally undercut and undone by the headline of yesterday's same retractive post: Double Plus Ungood.
One pictures military censors standing over Goetz's shoulder as he types, shaking their heads and shrugging, completely oblivious of this:
"Double-Plus Un Good - (another NewSpeak term from 1984). In NewSpeak, there is no word for bad or evil, there is only ungood. Modifiers are also ambiguous. One uses the modifier plus for emphasis, so plus ungood means especially ungood. The most emphatic modifier is double-plus, so double-plus ungood is the worst thing you can say about something.
Hard not to suspect Goetz's mind - from the military point of view, of course - is still not quite "right."
Can't Write a Letter, Can't Send a Postcard
Perusing Goetz's blog, it's clear he's been quite the pain in the ass for quite some time. He's been aware of his edginess and the risks he's been running:
Every time I add a new writing to my site, I ask myself if I've gone too far. I have a pretty good grasp on what constitutes a violation of the laws I am bound to; in specific, I am very familiar with the sections of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that strips every servicemember of his or her First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, the laws are purposely vague; designed to muzzle even those of us who tread with caution.
I Can't Write Nothing at All
But the timing of yesterday's retraction strongly suggests that what pushed the military authorities into crackdown territory was Goetz's "Mesopotomac" essay published recently on the Operation Truth website, which among other must-read gems, contained this:
Even soldiers not stop-lossed feel The Betrayal. They know it might be them next time. Dissent will not change anything for us now because our voices are muted. Still, there is hope. It is that in twenty years, it will be these men and women in office. Perhaps, that alone should make me feel better. I don't think it is enough, though, for our wounded and fallen. I can't speak for them, of course. Not yet, at least.
Goetz's amazing gift for words - and truth - is indeed a fearsome and wonderful thing.
We Dress Like Students, We Dress Like Housewives
Most of us will never be put to the test of wits that Goetz so cleverly won with his "retraction." Our individual circumstances, and the opportunities for ordinary challenge and every-day subversion of the current order probably will never be (alas) so clear-cut.
Still ... we can learn. In fact, we must learn, if our country is to be reclaimed from the Dark Age in which it seems to be sliding. We each must find our own unique way to push and push and push further at the edges of mandated and unquestioning compliance. Armed revolution, setting one's self on fire, buying pitchforks wholesale and using them ... while they all have a certain dramatic and decided appeal, will probably - at this stage in our political history - end up silencing the actors quite efficiently in a penitentiary sort of setting.
So what's a nascent rebel to do?
Wing it, I suggest. Travel light, think smart, move fast, use humor, slip under the barricades. Invent, invert and conspire. Reach into the most creative and passionate part of yourself to take your country back. Use official channels. Use unofficial channels. Use whatever spark or flash is at hand to cast a little light.
The recent debates here about political strategy, about bashing "spineless" Democrats, about whether peace protests "work" or not, about compromise with the enemy, seem to me to entirely miss the most important point of all ... politics is about the lives of all of us, collectively. Why bash one tactic over another? Such limited thinking brings me (in my dark moments) to the brink of despair.
It's not ever a case of legislative action OR a citizens' peace vigil, a Senate filibuster OR an ANSWER parade with aging hippies.
It's not either/or. It's not even and/or. It's and and and and and and and and and ....
It's a fat and flamboyant documentary filmmaker shoving truth in America's face.
It's a grieving mother standing in a ditch in Crawford, demanding answers.
It's a comedian with a "fake" news show broadcasting real analysis.
It's The Onion, it's Orwell, it's Green Day, it's Frank Rich, it's Joe Wilson.
It's Daniel Goetz.
Or in a Suit and a Tie
And yes, it's a senator from Illinois using reason and compromise to nudge nudge nudge and nip at the heels of beltway blusterers. It's a minority leader with the demeanor of Grandpa Joe and the mind of a principled Machiavelli. It's yesterday's Democratic radio address, in which Sen. Mark Pryor urged fiscal responsibility, energy independence and restoring our social safety net.
We Blended with the Crowd
In the blinding theater lights of this happy happy joy joy stage production we now call America, it's about US - the guerillas in the mist that can dart in and out with a clever strike here and a creative blow there, while still managing to write letters to the editor and contribute to campaigns and sign petitions and walk precincts.
We can do this, together. With all our hearts and souls and passions, we can exert constant and immutable pressure, from all sides, with all strategies, all at once without ceasing. It's time to leave either/or thinking behind as a relic of the 20th century and embrace - with an enormous yes - the and and and and of every imaginable human solution to the problems of our country and our planet.
My chest is aching. Burns like a furnace.
The burning keeps me alive.
(Kudos to The Tattered Coat blog, which has a masterful summation of Goetz's predicament.]