NOT blame, ACCUSE...

[renie408]

A friend sent me a link to this commentary and it is GREAT. If this is a dupe, sorry.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/plaidder/117885.html

"Blaming is what you do when you have to explain why you showed up late to work. It's what happens when your mother finds the broken lamp and wants to know who was playing ball in the house. You blame people for not using their turn signals properly, or for causing the toilet to back up, or for dumping you for someone else. You blame people for something that you suspect you might have responsibility for; or for something that pisses you off, but is not a major trauma.

<snip>

This is not a game. The dead do not come back. Suffering cannot be undone. There are no do-overs.

This is not a game. It is a crime. So I do not blame.

I accuse.

I accuse George W. Bush, along with every high-ranking member of his administration, of parlaying the tragedy of September 11 into a massive con game whereby, over the course of four years, they robbed us of our freedoms, our money, and our soliders in the name of security, without doing a single thing that would actually make us safer."

There is a lot more and it is very well said.

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. Wow, Emile Zola lives! nm

[renie408]

4. I think that is the most obscure reference I have seen in a very long time

So, I googled Emile Zola and now know that he was a French novelist. Why does this post remind you of him?

[bobbieinok]

5. Zola's article 'I accuse' about the Dreyfuss Affair

http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his9_jaccuse.html


"J'ACCUSE ...!" EMILE ZOLA, ALFRED DREYFUS, AND THE GREATEST NEWSPAPER ARTICLE IN HISTORY

....

...Written in the form of an open letter to the President of France, the 4,000 word article, entitled J'Accuse! (I Accuse!), rightly has been judged a "masterpiece" of polemics and a literary achievement "of imperishable beauty." No other newspaper article has ever provoked such public debate and controversy or had such an impact on law, justice, and society.

....

The article gave a detailed explanation of how it had happened that Dreyfus had been convicted of a crime he never committed; showed that the real culprit was Esterhazy and blasted his acquittal; revealed the immensity of the coverup; named the officers known by Zola to have been involved in perpetrating the coverup, and accused them of "one of the greatest iniquities of the century;" accused the tribunal that convicted Dreyfus of "condemning an accused person on the strength of a secret document"; and accused the tribunal which had found Esterhazy not guilty of having, "in obedience to orders, ... knowingly acquitt a guilty man."

....

Zola had two purposes in mind when he wrote his article. First, he hoped to provide the public with a succinct overview of the facts of the Dreyfus case and thereby mobilize public opinion in Dreyfus's favor. Second, he hoped to provoke authorities into criminally prosecuting him for having written the article, so that at his trial new evidence could be produced and made public concerning Dreyfus's innocence and Esterhazy's guilt.

Zola succeeded in both his objectives. As one historian puts it, "Zola ... achieved a miracle."

....

Even though the evidence introduced at the trial by the defense made it obvious that Esterhazy, not Dreyfus, was the traitor, and that the military was covering up the truth, Zola was convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty of a year in jail. To avoid prison, Zola fled to England and lived in exile near London for almost a year. He returned to France in June 1899, shortly after an appellate court reversed Dreyfus' conviction and ordered Dreyfus retried. By then public opinion in France had swung decisively in favor of Dreyfus, and the libel charge against Zola was dismissed. Zola was no longer in jeopardy of confinement for writing history's greatest newspaper article, but his support of Dreyfus had left him financially ruined.

Dreyfus's 1899 retrial, also covered by numerous reporters and watched by the whole Western World, resulted, absurdly, in Dreyfus being reconvicted. Dreyfus was, however, quickly pardoned and released from custody. In 1906 Dreyfus's 1899 conviction was reversed by the highest court in France and he was formally adjudged innocent, whereupon he was reinstated in the army, promoted, and awarded the Legion of Honor. None of the coverup conspirators was ever criminally punished.

more....

[renie408]

6. Did you just know that, or did you google it?

Cause I am starting to get a complex about this Zola guy.

[bobbieinok]

8. read some Zola in French course in college...remembered the J'accuse

I was impressed by the article I found......

all I remembered was Zola and j'accuse.....didn't really remember that the phrase dealt with the Dreyfuss Affair

I remembered the Dreyfuss Affair and that it was very important in French and European history.......

....recently retired from college teaching.....I was stunned that the Western Civ course all students are required to take spends about a paragraph on Dreyfuss, if that.......

[NVMojo]

2. KICK!!!!

[bluedawg12]

3. The words we use are vital to our message and

check this out on this subject:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4705587

[Kenneth ken]

7. Plaidder is a DUer and she posted this here Thursday.

if you want to read more of her writing, go to the DU home page scroll down and look on the right hand side.

:hi:

[texpatriot2004]

9. kick n/t