Something published a few days ago in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette seemed worth sharing. Here's a few points from Jack Kelly's March 22 article, "O-bailout and AIG":
- The Obama administration knew about the controversial $165 million in bonuses paid out by AIG several months before the public outrage regarding the bonuses occurred
- Some commentators suspect the administration feigned surprise and a sudden burst of outrage regarding the bonuses to seem "onside" with the public. The administration also chose to focus public attention on the $165 million in bonuses in order to divert attention away from how the $180 billion they gave AIG was spent.
- How was the $180 million spent? Well, AIG had to make payments to creditors such as Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup, and JP Morgan Chase. Each of these companies contributed significantly to the Obama campaign: Goldman Sachs, $955, 473; CitiGroup, $653,468; JP Morgan Chase (whose founder, J.P. Morgan, made his first profits selling defective rifles to the U.S. Army during the Civil War) contributed $485,823.
- The conclusion you might draw from all this? The patronage system of North American politics continues, and the bailout is another manoeuver to take care of the elite monied caste of our society.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Ozymandias: All Good Things Must Come to an End!
Spoiler alert: if you haven't finished reading Watchmen and don't want to know the ending of the forthcoming movie, don't read this!*************************************************
When I teach students about the graphic novel Watchmen, we usually talk about the significance of the name Ozymandias and the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem of the same name (find it online here: http://www.bartleby.com/106/246.html).
Let me quote the relevant part of Shelley's"Ozymandia." In the poem, a traveller explains that he once saw a statue of Ramses II (who was also known as Ozymandias).
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Although these lines suggest that Ozymandias had achieved something great and long-lasting during his reign ("look on my works"), the traveller of the poem explains that nothing remains alongside the decaying bust, but "the lone and level sands."
The inference to be drawn from the poem is that Ozymandias believed he had built a enduring kingdom, a legacy that would outlive him. However, Ozy's achievements are impermanent - the decaying statue and barren sands stand in contrast to Ozy's claims to lasting greatness. His reign and achievements are temporary, transient, ephemeral.
Ozy's hubris in the poem mirrors that of the similarly-named character in Watchmen. Adrian Veidt (AKA "Ozymandias") assumes that, by staging a fake alien attack, he has compelled the nations of the world to forge a lasting piece - a testament to Veidt's genius and benevolence. However, when the discovery of Rorschach's journal (which contains the truth about the staged alien attack) is foreshadowed at the end of the novel, it's implied that Veidt's triumph (like the real Ozymandias') will be short-lived.
***************
Now, a group of students may not make all those connections themselves; they need to be unpacked through discussion. Accordingly, I usually provide a bit of background on Ramses II, then pose the following questions:
- What "works" do the words on the pedestal refer to?
- How does Ozymandias feel about his "works"?
- How does the area around the statue look?
- Why does the traveller point out that the status is "decaying" and that "nothing beside remains"?
- What is Adrian Veidt's goal in the novel? What similar goals does he and Shelley's Ozymandias have in common?
- What happened to Ozymandias' "works" in the poem? What might happen to Adrian Veidt's "works" or achievements in the novel? What evidence do you have to support your answer?
When I teach students about the graphic novel Watchmen, we usually talk about the significance of the name Ozymandias and the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem of the same name (find it online here: http://www.bartleby.com/106/246.html).
Let me quote the relevant part of Shelley's"Ozymandia." In the poem, a traveller explains that he once saw a statue of Ramses II (who was also known as Ozymandias).
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Although these lines suggest that Ozymandias had achieved something great and long-lasting during his reign ("look on my works"), the traveller of the poem explains that nothing remains alongside the decaying bust, but "the lone and level sands."
The inference to be drawn from the poem is that Ozymandias believed he had built a enduring kingdom, a legacy that would outlive him. However, Ozy's achievements are impermanent - the decaying statue and barren sands stand in contrast to Ozy's claims to lasting greatness. His reign and achievements are temporary, transient, ephemeral.
Ozy's hubris in the poem mirrors that of the similarly-named character in Watchmen. Adrian Veidt (AKA "Ozymandias") assumes that, by staging a fake alien attack, he has compelled the nations of the world to forge a lasting piece - a testament to Veidt's genius and benevolence. However, when the discovery of Rorschach's journal (which contains the truth about the staged alien attack) is foreshadowed at the end of the novel, it's implied that Veidt's triumph (like the real Ozymandias') will be short-lived.
***************
Now, a group of students may not make all those connections themselves; they need to be unpacked through discussion. Accordingly, I usually provide a bit of background on Ramses II, then pose the following questions:
- What "works" do the words on the pedestal refer to?
- How does Ozymandias feel about his "works"?
- How does the area around the statue look?
- Why does the traveller point out that the status is "decaying" and that "nothing beside remains"?
- What is Adrian Veidt's goal in the novel? What similar goals does he and Shelley's Ozymandias have in common?
- What happened to Ozymandias' "works" in the poem? What might happen to Adrian Veidt's "works" or achievements in the novel? What evidence do you have to support your answer?
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