Barry Eisler's Blog: The Heart of the Matter, page 3

Andrew Bacevich's The Age of Illusions

I’ve been a fan of Andrew Bacevich’s books for a long time—Breach of Trust and America’s War for the Greater Middle East, to name just two—but somehow I missed the publication of The Age of Illusions until recently. Well, oversight corrected, and this latest entry is as insightful, thought-provoking, and even gripping as the others, while also in some places being a bit more personal in ways that enhanced everything else that’s great about the book.

Bacevich begins with a quote from John Updike’s Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom books: “Without the Cold War, what’s the point of being an American?” It’s a question that animates the rest of the book, which in addition to being a solid critique of our rulers’ addiction to war, is also a meditation on what it means to be American.

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Of all the book’s insights, the one I found most resonant were its depictions of Trump’s ascendency as a manifestation of far more significant, longstanding, and consequential aspects of post World War 2 and post Cold War America itself. I tend to agree with this framework, and maybe some of that agreement is behind my praise for the insights. All I can say is that Bacevich himself strikes me as a non-tribal observer of events, motivated by a desire to illuminate the foundation of events rather than by the urge to score points.

It’s been my observation that when humans find a favored approach is no longer working as it once did, their first and sometimes continuing impulse is to do the favored thing longer, louder, harder. This might work for a while but is almost always counterproductive in the long term. In this regard it’s interesting—and disturbing—to consider what America’s post Cold War cultural defaults have become: domination and endless war. Yet the world is becoming increasingly multipolar regardless. If our rulers are true to my views of human nature, we are in for a long period of more of the same, but worse. At some point the never-ending wars and lust for dominance will become unsustainable, but there will be terrible suffering in the meantime, and perhaps worse.

On a brighter note, insights like Bacevich’s could help us change course now instead of drifting until it’s too late. Here’s hoping.

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Kevin Gosztola’s excellent Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange:

Guilty of Journalism is a terrific read and a critically important book. I think it can be read three ways.

First, it's the definitive account of the US government's chilling, vindictive persecution of journalist Julian Assange over the course of (depending on how you count) over 15 years. If you needed any further proof of the proposition that the most powerful people are also the most fragile and petty, this book provides it.

Second, it details the lengths to which the government will go to control the free flow of information. Some gambits are obvious—threatening journalists with life in prison for their journalism, for one. Some are less obvious, but more pernicious—such as conflating journalism with hacking, conflating journalism with espionage, and creating an exception-that-swallows-the-rule 1st Amendment carve-out for for journalism the government deems "irresponsible."

(As one of innumerable examples, consider the "But classified information didn't just land in Assange's lap; he solicited it!" Now try to turn that into a workable principle. It can't be done. Real journalism inherently involves publishing information the government wants to conceal. At the barest minimum, just calling yourself "journalist" inherently involves at least an implicit solicitation for classified information. And what if someone calls you essentially at random and says, "I have something sensitive I want to share with you." If you respond, "Don't say anything more; use Signal, it's more secure," have you just solicited the classified information? Conspired to receive it? Aided and abetted? Etc? There is simply no workable principle here other than turning over to the government the power to outlaw journalism it doesn't like—which is to say, to outlaw the only journalism that matters.)

And third, it's a cautionary tale.

The caution is this. Anytime the government claims OF COURSE to be adhering the 1st Amendment, BUT—

Citizens should keep in mind three axioms.

1. Real protection of free speech and the free flow of information is improbable and fragile—almost a miracle and an extraordinary civilizational achievement all Americans should proudly treat as a core part of our heritage.

2. Power hates free speech and the free flow of information and is constantly looking for ways to undermine both—meaning the government not only can't be relied upon to protect the 1st Amendment but must be understood as an ever-present threat to the 1st Amendment.

3. A good defense is always layered because you never want to protect something important with only one layer that, if breached, means the important thing is lost.

Simply put, citizens should never cut the government any slack on anything that even arguably infringes on 1st Amendment protections for anyone. Free speech infringements for the government are like a taste of heroin to an addict, like water looking for a crack to get into a basement. If ever the expression "Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile" applies, it applies to governments and free speech.

So the default position of citizens should never be "Protect me by curtailing some aspect of speech!" Rather it should be "Not one fucking inch you would-be despots."

I hope Guilty of Journalism will be widely read, and deeply appreciated. It deserves both.

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The Three Axioms of Free Speech

With regard to free speech and the free flow of information, I think there are three axioms people often lose sight of:

1. Real protection of free speech and the free flow of information is improbable and fragile—almost a miracle and an extraordinary civilizational achievement all Americans should proudly treat as a core part of our heritage.

2. Power hates free speech and the free flow of information and is constantly looking for ways to undermine both—meaning the government not only can't be relied upon to protect the 1st Amendment but must be understood as an ever-present threat to the 1st Amendment.

3. A good defense is always layered because you never want to protect something important with only one layer that, if breached, means the important thing is lost.

With these axioms as my basis, I'm disinclined to cut the government any slack on anything that even arguably infringes on 1st Amendment protections for anyone. Free speech infringements for the government are like a taste of heroin to an addict, like water looking for a crack to get into a basement. If ever the expression "Give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile" applies, it applies to governments and free speech.

So the default position of citizens should never be "Protect me by curtailing some aspect of speech!" Rather it should be "Not one fucking inch you would-be despots."

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American Exception

Wow.

As Blade said in the eponymous movie, “The world you live in is just a sugar-coated topping. There is another world beneath it—the real world.”

American Exception is about the real world.

It is deeply researched, coherently presented, cogently argued. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll wonder how you ever could have believed that things are what they seem or are how the powers that be present them.

Stay-behind operations in Europe. The Kennedy and MLK assassinations. CIA heroin smuggling. Nixon and the CIA having the goods on each other re JFK’s murder and Nixon’s interference in Johnson’s peace talks with North Vietnam. It’s all in here, and much more, all of it run by a tripartite structure, as Good describes it, consisting of the public state (politicians, bureaucrats, the sugar-coated topping); the security state (CIA, FBI, Pentagon, etc); and the deep state (Wall Street, think tanks, establishment media, and the unaccountable factions that exercise power alongside and beyond visible power).

Considering the amount of money and power at stake, it would be borderline delusional to believe that the powerful play by any set of rules other than “How much can I get away with?” I think what causes people to resist this obvious dark truth is emotional discomfort. We ordinary people are powerless, and it’s painful to acknowledge not only that mommy and daddy don’t love us, but that they look at us as something akin to food. It hurts to realize, as George Carlin said of our “owners,” that “They don’t care about you. They don’t care about you. At all. At all. At all.”

But there is some inherent satisfaction in clarity. And hope, too. Because if you can correctly understand the nature of things, your chances of improving them are dramatically better.

For that reason alone, I hope American Exception will be widely read. It deserves to be, and then some.

Graveyard of Memories Giveaway

Hi all, Amazon has agreed to do an advance giveaway of Graveyard of Memories to the first 100 people who ask. So if you want a free Kindle version of GOM, send me an email via the link below with "GOM Kindle Giveaway" in the subject line. If you're among the first 100 people to contact me, you should get instructions on how to download the book within a few days. :)

http://www.barryeisler.com/contact1.php

THE DETACHMENT #7 in Kindle Store!

Go Amazon! THE DETACHMENT has been as high as #6 in the Kindle Top 100 just days after its release by Amazon's Thomas & Mercer. Currently #7 and going strong. Love Amazon's ads here on Goodreads, too. As Dox might say... Oo-rah!

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Fear, With Good Reason

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