....In Idaho.
...When news of his (Hemingway's) death made headlines in 1961 there must have been other people besides myself who were not as surprised by the suicide as by the fact that the story was date-lined Ketchum, Idaho...
{snip}
...Standing on a corner in the middle of Ketchum it is easy to see the connection Hemingway must have made between this place and those he had known in the good years. Aside from the brute beauty of the mountains, he must have recognized an atavistic distinctness in the people that piqued his sense of dramatic possibilities. It is a raw and peaceful little village, especially in the off season with neither winter skiers nor summer fishermen to dilute the image. Only the main street is paved; most of the others are no more than dirt and gravel tracks that seem at times to run right through front yards.
From such a vantage point a man tends to feel it is not so difficult, after all, to see the world clear and as a whole...
A music festival organized by a white supremacist group and featuring bands that reference Nazi history will take place in Boise this weekend, according to an event poster shared on social media. The event, called “Hills of Hate Camp,” will be held in Boise on Saturday, the poster showed. The poster was shared on Telegram, a social media site, in a group promoting white nationalism in the Pacific Northwest. The group has called itself the “Pacific Northwest Territorial Imperative.”It was also shared on Twitter by Redoubt Antifascists, an anonymous group that calls out extremism in the region.According to the poster, the festival will be held by Northwest Hammerskins and Crew 38, off-shoots of the Hammerskin Nation, which is considered “the most violent and best-organized neo-Nazi skinhead group in the United States” by the Anti-Defamation League. The Anti-Defamation League identifies the national group as a white supremacist group.The poster advertised an unnamed “special guest speaker,” as well as three bands — Beer Hall Putsch, 13 Knots and Ironwill — with ties to white supremacy. Beer Hall Putsch refers to a failed 1923 Nazi coup attempt that sent Adolf Hitler to prison, where he wrote “Mein Kampf.” 13 Knots has released music under Wewelsburg Records, a German label affiliated with the white power Rock Against Communism movement. Ironwill has released music under the white power record label Label 56...
4 comments:
Well, Papa being the kind of man he was and being on the side of the underdog and somewhat of a lefty and definitely not a fascist and also a very worldly person, I’d say it’s entirely possible he’d have had something to say about such a gathering and while he was a gun aficionado and hunter he believed in their safe and responsible use. Which is to say, I don’t think he’d bring one or two of his favourites down for a demonstration. They say he could shoot the cigarette right out of someone’s mouth and not injure the owner of the mouth. I don’t know who the nut job is who let him do that.
Your piece here ties in somewhat with the Tyee article yesterday about the proud little boys and how they haven’t gone away but just melted into groups such as you have mentioned.
I don’t know how it will manifest but at this rate, at some point, something will happen. There will be a clash of some significance and there will be blood. I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise to those who are meant to protect us.
Graham--
This is a subject I find seriously concerning, particularly with respect to those that aid and abet fascism, whether writ small or large, for politically expedient reasons as this just seems to embolden the susceptible to engage in bad behaviours that range from giving people who wear masks in the grocery story a hard time to laying in wait for the police after robbing a bank in homage to a similar operation 25 years ago.
Even more concerning, in my mind, is when the actions of the politically expedient who visibly support fascist actors are deemed 'effective' in political terms by members of the media who are afraid to denounce them outright. Even Stephen Maher did this recently which really surprised me.
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As for Hemingway and Thompson...Unfortunately, in the end, they both went out the same way....If you enjoy Thompson's writing this is an interesting piece because, even though it was written well before Gonzo journalism was breech-birthed in the Kentucky Derby piece six years later, you can see where he's starting to go with the Ketchum piece.
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I agree Ross. Much of the “support” is done in the name of freedom. ,any seem to think one should be able to say anything at any time about anyone or anything and that it’s the listener or reader who must do the work to determine if is true and if it is right to be consuming as such. With that I disagree. Too much hate is now trying to hide behind “freedom”. Those that do this are often intimidating in their demeanour and presentation, on purpose. Having been part of a few demonstrations in my day I can’t recall them ever being intimidating. And, at the speech end of the demo many said things such being disappointed with government or wishing that we could go in another, better, more inclusive direction but never was it suggested that the crowd should try to overthrow a government. Maybe write a letter, sign a petition, call the local representatives office or get involved with a political party.
Your piece got me to look up Hemingway and how it all ended. It sounds like the last few years were not too good for him.
It would be very interesting to hear what these two would have to say on the state of affairs these days. I suspect they wouldn’t be shy in denouncing where and when required.
Excellent point about all the hate hiding behind faux freedom Graham.
Not sure about Hemingway but Thompson had a lot to say about the state of affairs of his nation just before his demise back in the early middle years of Bush the Younger.
'We're the Nazis in this game, and I don't like it. I'm embarrassed and I'm pissed off. Yeah. I mean to say something and I think a lot of people in this country agree with me.'
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