McVeigh's death spurs outcry against poetry, by Mad Cow Culture

[Declan McCullagh]

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MCVEIGH'S DEATH SPURS OUTCRY AGAINST POETRY
By Mad Cow Culture (madcowculture at madcowculture.com)
June 17, 2001

By misappropriating as his death bed chant "Invictus," the famous poem by
W.E.Henley, mad cow bomber Timothy McVeigh has created an infamous stink,
raising important legal, philosophical and academic issues.

W.E.Henley IV, great-grandson of the poet, is furious that a mass murder
would pervert lines written by a relative who overcame enormous suffering
to excel as a magazine writer. The great-grandson, who has threatened to
sue the McVeigh estate for "malicious misappropriation of iambic
pentameter," thinks authorities should have at least amputated one of the
bomber's legs so he, like the poet,  "could be one with the poem."

The original Henley lived to have quite a future. Robert Louis Stevenson
used Henley as the prototype for Long John Silver of "Treasure Island."
Rodin sculpted Henley's bust which is now found at the National Portrait
Gallery in London. Great-grandson Henley said "McVeigh committed another
crime by appropriating the poem without the suffering. Even the right wing
wackos understand this. No one is even buying bogus McVeigh memorabilia on
Ebay.  The guy is history."

McVeigh might be history but not the fuss caused by his deathbed invocation
of "Invictus." The Dallas School Board has opted to remove all literature
textbooks which contain the poem from its classrooms. Board President Dr.
Jerry James said in a prepared report "We will not expose impressionable
students to a poem that has been used by a mass murderer to justify and
celebrate his wicked acts. We are firm in our conviction that we will not
be party to making this fiend a cult hero. In fact we intend to be master
of our fate, and captain of our soul. I realize there are some First
Amendment issues involved, but the primary concern for the Dallas School
Board is the health and welfare of our children."

The Dallas News has reported that the Board's edict might go further.
Internet chat rooms are suggesting that during his high school years and
during his service in the Gulf War, McVeigh was actually an avid reader of
poetry. His high school sweetheart Jane Jones has allegedly claimed that
McVeigh was an avid reader of Dylan Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle," Hamlet's
soliloquy, and Robert Frost's "Out, Out--". Military friends have indicated
that McVeigh had read "Atlas Shrugged" at least six times and had a
fascination with Ahab in "Moby Dick." There is some speculation that
McVeigh was secret admirer of Walt Whitman and has a particular love for
"Song of Myself".

These post-mortem finding have dismayed members of the now defunct,
bankrupt and disgraced "McVeigh Fan Club" who lament that the "bomber
should have gone out showing his sensitive, compassionate side."  The
Dallas School Boards, however, according to the Dallas News, is dismayed
that this reading list, whether apocryphal or not, will become tainted by
an association with a murderer. According to Dr. James, "The last thing we
want is for students to be thinking that characters in Melville, Whitman,
or Shakespeare are to be admired and emulated because a mass murderer
embraced them. Frankly, we'd rather our students not read these works that
are even more likely now to contaminate their minds."

The Dallas School Board has not yet decided on a broader textbook ban but
already textbook companies are getting the message and without any apparent
coercion, are significantly reducing the amount of Thoreau, Emerson,
Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Crane, and Twain in American Literature
textbooks.

Some textbook companies are simply creating entire literature texts around
excerpts from the Bible, which has met with the quiet approval of school
boards in Texas. In Dr. James opinion this effort "serves as a reasonable
extension of President Bush's faith-based initiative. After all, there are
no surprises in the Bible, and we are reasonably certain the murderer never
read this book."

Not everyone is so sanguine about these developments. The American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) has already sought an injunction in Dallas Superior
Court against this "flagrant violation of First Amendment Freedoms." The
ACLU has lost the first round  the court, which invited further briefs,
wrote that "local school boards have the right to decide curriculum
content. It is not the court's job to find motive."

The ACLU has vowed to fight this "creeping religious hegemony that
threatens our schools."

Whatever the legality of the Dallas decision, school boards across America
are looking intently at the drama and the court's response to date. School
boards in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Mississippi and Florida who have already
removed "The Exorcist', "Huck Finn," "Black Like Me," and other books from
school libraries seem more emboldened. City schools in Detroit, Michigan
have already removed most of the Great Books of Western Literature from
school libraries and seem certain to complete the task, given the mood of
the country.

The American Library Association ALA) realizes it has a major battle on its
hands.  Dr. Gertrude Green, ALA President, said "We must resist punishing
our literature and authors for the despicable acts of a mass murderer.
Surely I don't have to remind people of the book burnings in Nazi Germany.
Books were seen as the cause of Germany's problems."

"Even school boards that act within the law will end up with a curriculum
filled with antiseptic literature written by second rate authors. That is
surely not what this country wants. After all, America is a multicultural
society."

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