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Loving Cold War II
August 28, 2008 |
My article, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cold War II, is on Pajamas Media. It will be interesting to see how the site’s mostly conservative readers respond to a combination of cultural analysis and satire. Here is an opening taste:
The past two weeks have been a virtual Cold War flashback. Russia invades Georgia. The U.S. condemns Russia. Like during the Cold War, the local particularities of the whole affair matter little. All that really matters is the grand game between the “superpowers.” Like in decades past, they didn’t disappoint. Rhetorical potshots between Moscow and Washington zipped back and forth. All of the familiar signs, codes, and tropes were back.
Still, even though it looked like a Cold War and quacked like a Cold War, there was a constant denial of the Cold War. Secretary Rice emphasized that in no way did the increase in tensions with Russia signal a “new Cold War.” The Russians were also reluctant to embrace the “new Cold War.” When Dmitrii Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, announced that Russia would freeze cooperation with the alliance, he assured reporters that “there won’t be any aggressive action from anyone on our side. We will behave in a pragmatic manner. … There will definitely not be a Cold War.”
Not a Cold War? Everyone is making arguments that the U.S. and Russia are not in a “new Cold War.” Why engage in the old psychological trick of repressing what you really desire? Especially when the truth is so blatantly clear: officials in Washington and Russia truly desire a new Cold War. There is just something comforting in that predictable, bipolar world, where two grand adversaries face each other in a real-life game of Risk. It’s like two arch enemies at battle. Neither can ultimately defeat the other, yet they seem to complement each other perfectly. As the Joker endearingly told Batman in the Dark Knight, “Kill you? I don’t want to kill you. What would I do without you? … You … you complete me.”
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God knows what the comments at PM will make of the article. It does do a good job of taking down the yearnings for Cold War II, but I wonder if preaching to the deaf is much better than preaching to the choir.
But mainly, I’m popping out of lurkerosity to question, in a mild manner, the use of Marshak’s poem as an example of inverse empty dark doubling from the Soviet side.
First, Marshak’s poem, if you pay attention to it, actually includes an analysis of racism that goes beyond of question of morality and the superiority of Soviet values to the superiority of the Soviet system in eradicating racism. Not only does the State (via its tourist agency) prohibit racism, but when the daughter tries to circumvent this policy through buying up a new home free from unwanted elements, the father had to hand in his famous line, “You’re not in Chicago, my dear.” Looking back on white flight in America, this is actually an interesting point, no?
Second, Marshak wasn’t just pulling characters like Cook out of thin air. The US State Dept. received a number of complaints from US businessmen in the Soviet Union about there being too many Chinese at the theater or the status of black men in the USSR. Or black teachers gaining employment at English-language schools that the children of businessmen attended. I’m not saying that the Soviets didn’t orchestrate these moments and milk them for what they were worth. But let’s not imagine that Marshak was being overly fanciful.
Finally, Marshak knew a thing or two about American racism. When the CPUSA specialist on the “Negro Question,” James S. Allen, visited the Soviet Union he got to know Marshak. Conversing in Yiddish (their lingua franca–Allen was born Sol Auerbach), they discussed the nationality problems in the USA and USSR at length.
Now, the reception of this poem and its mul’tik spin-off are another question (especially the latter with its production date in 1963). But to paint a gifted translator, writer and thinker like Marshak as a simple Party hack is a little unfair, in my opinion.
Sean, I’m sure your dear friend Kim will be full of accolades.
Good stuff Sean. I hope you have your teflon suit back from the dry cleaners!
Personally I would suggest resolving the situation by locking all the actors in a room and force them to listen to Aerosmith’s ‘Love in an Elevator’ until they came to agreement.
Sometimes you just have to think out of the box.
In case it lost among pajamas I post my comments here
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ivanov:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
DoktorNo wrote:
“You know why presidents of five former Estern Block countries had expressed a joint statement about Georgian crisis?
Because in our part of Europe we KNOW what reviving russian imperialism mean. We have enought historical experience with that thing for CENTURIES.”
Wrong answer, Doktor.
Historical experience shows that as long as people of unknown five countries are unable to look at the reality - they will be f*cked every time they think Great Germany or Great Turkey (not saying about other Great Greats) would protect them from Russian Bear. What GG and GT were/are wanting from these “countries” (that exist or appeared because of Russia) - to use them to poke RB. It’s naive to think that these “countries” would stay untouched when GG/GT are clashing with RB…
“Go ahead. Call me “russophobe”.”
You are not smart enough for that title, Doktor
Aug 28, 2008 - 9:01 am
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Interesting reading but…
1. I’m not sure that Batman needs Joker.
2. If I agree that Americans consider themselves Batmen I don’t think that Russians think about themselves as Jokers…and much less Batmen
Buster, thanks for coming out of lurk mode to give your thoughtful comments. My apologies if I made Marshak come off as a Party hack. That wasn’t my intention. I didn’t know of his background so thanks for that.
Don’t worry Aleks, I did a rush job on my teflon suit as soon as Pajamas asked me to write something.
I’m not sure that Mister Twister is relevant. Written in 1933 - when both USA and CCCP were so different from what they are these days.
PS. Who is Batman and who is Joker, Sean?
ivanov, Twister’s cultural relevance goes way beyond when it was written and certainly recyclable for the Cold War. This is the beauty of texts they can be interpreted and reinterpreted regardless of the authors original intent.
As for who is Batman and Joker, well if you’re asking which one the US and Russia is, I think that they are interchangeable. That is the beauty of the hero/archenemy dynamic, at some point the lines between the two are blurred.
Sean,
The main personage in Marshak’s poem is ‘Mr. Twister’ himself, not Mr. Cook, who is only a travel agent.
Marshak may have done some good work translating English poetry but ‘Mister Twister’ is one of the most nauseating hack jobs in all of literature, especially because it was written by a talented poet.
The poem itself may have been considered somewhat poignant in 1930-s, but it is very telling it was still used for anti-US propaganda in the 1960-s, when sweeping social and racial reforms in the US were proceeding at great speed.
Soviet state was stagnant from the start and simply couldn’t absord and relate to its subjects that there can be Civil Rights movements making great progress all over the capitalist world. This sclerotic tendency was only getting worse with time and was one of the main reasons of the USSR collapse.
Oh, God.
One thing I learned is that I’m really out of it. I have not seen the vast majority of the movies Sean mentioned–the Rambo and Rocky movies, Batman, Syriana, Charlie’s War, Flight 93, WTC, Red Dawn, etc.
I recommend watching Rambo III through a GWOT lens. That is if you can stomach it. Actually Rambo: First Blood is a great movie. Red Dawn is a downright classic and personal favorite. Russians, Cubans and Nicaraguans invade middle America, local high school kids take up arms in the Colorado mountains, call themselves after the school football team “Wolverines”, Soviet re-education camps in the small town movie theater, and Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen to boot! It’s absolute genius. A virtual guide to guerrilla warfare for the young American patriot: pick-up trucks, hunting, guns, football and freedom.
The GWOT films just can’t muster that kind of patriotic pizazz.
“I’m not sure that Mister Twister is relevant. Written in 1933 - when both USA and CCCP were so different from what they are these days.”
-I haven’t seen Mister Twister, but it reminds me of ‘Circus’ (Цирк), in which an American circus performer has to flee to Stalinist Russia after giving birth to a black baby. I think her evil manager was German, though. Anyway, the best scene is at the end, when the circus crowd - comprised of all the nationalities of the USSR - sings about the fraternity of peoples and passes around the performer’s black baby.
When I was at school - it was part of Soviet literature HISTORY. Just after Pushkin tales. Nothing more. BTW could you remind when segregation was droped in US?
Will consult with my daughter if she ever heard about Mister-twister.
very diplomatic answer
I think when you were writing the text you knew кто is who…
I’m not an expert neither fan of the comics culture…
When I saw it for the first time (and the only one) - I was laughing all the time. It’s absolute idiotic. Till last moment I couldn’t believe it was not comedy.
Seems to me that US instructors used this guide in the training of Georgian army. Well, Georgian “army” is not known for its military achievements anyway. Osetians, on the contrary, has many Героев Советского Союза.