Again, don’t “Cliff Notes” it–try actually reading the book. Here in Canada, it was part of the early reading curriculum in what Americans would call “junior high school.” Everyone of my age has read it. Spend less time reciting the pledge of allegiance (not knowing that it too was drafted by socialists), and memorizing Dale Carnegie.

Agreed. That’s probably the only correct statement you made.

There is a post by Dawson following his AJP rant, that misappropriates the work of socialist George Orwell, like only an ignorant, ultra right wing American could do. He knows nothing about George Orwell, who was a committed socialist, and an anti-Stalinist, just like a great many socialists today. What he has done is to vindicate us twice: first, by resorting to the work of a socialist, and not a corporate **** sucker like himself; second, by using the work of someone who would never agree that “literature” and “activism” should never be “confused” (like Dawson argues about anthropology), since the vast majority of his literature is resolute advocacy against fascism, corporatism, and Stalinism.

I said that Mark Dawson was playing our game and losing by it — and here he loses again. Orwell would never endorse Dawson’s slavish, servile, uncritical, and opportunistic adherence to mass regimentation and groupthink, as embodied by the military and corporations. To praise Orwell is to denounce himself. That he should do so, in the false and dishonest name of egalitarianism, when advocating that anthropologists should serve hierarchical command structures of the worst sort, makes Dawson into one of the main pigs of the Animal Farm setting.

But does he know anything about Orwell? Has he even read Animal Farm? I doubt it. Instead of referring readers to the actual book, which can be read in its entirety for free online, he refers them to some stupid Wikipedia article, telling his readers they can “Cliff Notes” it — probably revealing one of the many shortcuts he took in his own “education,” with obvious results.

Now, I don’t provide courtesy links back to Dawson’s post, or active hyperlinks to his site; instead, here is the full text of Orwell’s Animal Farm:

http://www.george-orwell.org/Animal_Farm/index.html

I guess that means you don’t matter, but you made them matter for you and your readers. Now howzzat for a turd sandwich? Dipshit.

And yes, especially with their latest post, the whole thing stinks of grudge, payback, and a yearning for attention. Vapid.

see… you WIN!

Anyway, if I can help you with your reading, writing, or learning how to do an actual IP trace so you don’t post falsehoods, I would be very happy to help out. I can also offer you classes in ethics, since I can see you never had any, or at least not by a real teacher. I will do all this for free, because I am an activist, not an “applied anthropologist.”

PS: More than one anthropologist lives in Montreal, however, please feel free to post my IP, this should be another good laugh as it is rarely the same one twice on my own blog.

If you matter in the future, well, then good for you! You are right and I am wrong. Here, you get a cookie.

Yet somehow the delusional and incoherent Mark Dawson imagines that AJP is dedicated to slagging off soldiers — but then he claims to have read our manifesto (see below), which clearly he has not (or his functional illiteracy is rather more extreme than I imagined). His message boils down to this: support the troops. It’s tired, worn, totally unnecessary, and quite stupid.

He also needs some basic history lessons, because defending “science” with ignorance is unacceptable. He seems to think that the idea of a “manifesto” dates to 1930s Italy. I suppose the Communist Manifesto dates to the same time, and place. Neither Italy, nor the 1930s have any monopoly on the term “manifesto” — and if he were an anthropologist (as he pretends, for his crappy blog), he would have at least heard of Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto. Yes, some of us have even read it. It’s not in Italian, and was not published in the 1930s.

But let’s not let facts stand in the way of their propaganda. People of all stripes have posted, and continue to post here, and we have had some very serious debates with people from many walks of life. As Holden and his extremist, ignorant pal Wigon learned however, and only after Holden began to repeat himself for the third time, I won’t tolerate spam, trolling, or personal abuse (for long). Holden and that idiot Wigon fancy themselves as “counter” propagandists…you need to free yourself of that brainwash and stop spouting propganda yourself before you can counter it.

Finally, Dawson has posted another gem. He writes: “I simply don’t think anthropology, as a science, should be confused with activism.” Let’s leave aside his jejune notions of science for now, or his illegitimate definition of anthropology, or even his lack of concern for those peoples on whose backs anthropology was built (and the fundamentally unethical anthropology that he thus supports). Let’s turn instead to what he writes moments later: “I advocate that people with training in cultural anthropology can and should be applying their skills in a very wide range of arenas from universities to corporations to non-profits and including the military and intelligence communities and not have to worry about passing a political litmus test. But I am an applied person to my core, that’s what I like.” Get it? You can’t be an activist, but you can serve the military. Not recognizing this as activism, he also fails to note that he premises the whole thing on something that is at the very heart of all activism: “I advocate.”

What Dawson and his chorus applaud is disregard for the wellbeing of poor and powerless communities that anthropologists have studied — they should not be “activists” for them or with them — but should serve corporations and the military. On the one hand, he advocates social irresponsibility, and that once you have a degree in anthropology you should forget about being a good citizen. On the other hand, he is a very responsible fascist, and clear-cut, classic fascism is all it is. Back to 1930s Italy for Dawson, where he belongs (if he can face hanging upside down alongside Mussolini in 1945).

Thanks for posting Jérémy, I appreciate it, and likely will not be adding more on this.

For people willing to have a quick yet instructive overview of the politics of the “Project Hero”, I would recommend reading the following exchange between one of the professor from University of Regina opposing the propaganda and some angry chap :

http://anthrojustpeace.blogspot.com/2010/03/your-opposition-to-children-of-fallen.html