Chinua Achebe on 'Heart of Darkness'

   At first sight these instances might be mistaken for unexpected acts of generosity from Conrad. In reality they constitute some of his best assaults. In the case of the cannibals the incomprehensible grunts that had thus far served them for speech suddenly proved inadequate for Conrad's purpose of letting the European glimpse the unspeakable craving in their hearts. Weighing the necessity for consistency in the portrayal of the dumb brutes against the sensational advantages of securing their conviction by clear, unambiguous evidence issuing out of their own mouth Conrad chose the latter. As for the announcement of Mr Kurtz's death by the "insolent black head in the doorway" what better or more appropriate finis could be written to the horror story of that wayward child of civilization who willingly had given his soul to the powers of darkness... than the proclamation of his physical death by the forces he had joined?

   This passage was taken from Chinua Achebe's essay "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'". I found this paragraph especially intriguing. If it had not been obvious before this point, it was made apparent in this passage that Achebe is quite offended with Conrad's description of the African natives, and thus uses some very strong language here especially. He purposely exaggerates Conrad's descriptions to get his point across that Conrad was as racist as he was brilliant. Achebe imitates some of Conrad's style throughout his essay, putting a large emphasis on the 'dark' and 'gloomy' wordage and ideas.
   At times it seems Achebe is looking a little too deeply into Conrad's writing, as here, and yet by revealing Conrad's incredible bias, he almost does Conrad a service, but inadvertently highlighting Conrad's exquisite skill and genius in writing. It's almost ironic, since Achebe's goal is to expose Conrad's work as racist enough to be censored, but at the same time showing that it is worthy of ranking "among the half dozen greatest short novels in the English language". The whole essay is masterfully crafted, an elegant evisceration of the ridiculous racism and literary brilliance and success of Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'.

The USA Patriot Act

The fundamental question facing Americans today is not the false tradeoff between security and liberty, but rather how we can use security to protect liberty. Any debate over security and liberty must start with the recognition that the primary threat to American freedom comes from al-Qaeda and other groups that seek to kill Americans, not from the men and women of law enforcement agencies who protect them from that danger. That the American homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack since September 11, 2001, is a testament to the remarkable efforts of law enforcement, intelligence, and homeland security personnel... Their hard work, dedication, and increased coordination have been greatly aided by the tools, resources, and guidance that Congress provided in the Patriot Act.

  This passage is taken from Viet D. Dinh's How the USA Patriot Act Defends Democracy. I believe Dinh makes several faulty claims in his essay. He seems to think that the US government is unable to make a mistake and seeks ONLY for the destruction of all terrorists and in no way wants to control their own citizens with laws such as the USA Patriot Act. He claims that "the primary threat... comes from al-Qaeda". Though this may possibly have been true in 2004 when this essay was originally published, the US government has always had other goals in mind. Most governments want more power than they already have and to think that they will always want what is best for its citizens is illogical.
  In addition, he seems to think that this Act has stopped all terrorist attacks on the American homeland. This seems improbable, since we took the war to them and have taken down a number of their leaders, including Osama bin Laden in 2011. The belief that the only reasons that no more attacks have landed in domestic America is because of homeland security seems oversimplified.
  Dinh also claims later that parts of the Patriot Act were announced in 2003 to not even be in use, but the possibility that the FBI would not use such tools later on is foolish. I don't believe we need to be terrified that the government is reading over our shoulders 24/7, but I also believe that its unwise to believe that the government only has its citizens' own good in mind, regardless of what they claim.

Heart of Darkness

  'I shall see this eloquent phantom as long as I live, and I shall see her, too, a tragic and familiar Shade, resembling in this gesture another one, tragic also and bedecked with powerless charms, stretching bare brown arms over the glitter of the infernal stream, the stream of darkness. She said suddenly, "He died as he lived."
  '"His end," said I, with dull anger stirring in me, "was in every way worthy of his life. ... I heard his very last words..." I stopped in fright.
  '"Repeat them," she murmured in a heartbroken tone. ... "Don't you understand I loved him -- I loved him -- I loved him!"
  'I pulled myself together and spoke slowly.
  '"The last word he pronounced was -- your name."'

  This is part of the last scene in Marlow's narrative from Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I thought this scene was very interesting. Conrad here compares Kurtz' fiance with the witch doctor lady from Africa, specifically their pleading for Kurtz to come back to them. Also, the fact that the fiance's name is never mentioned, but instead is referred to as the "Shade" is odd. This may be because of the way she looks -- dressed in black with a pale mourning face, another similarity to the native -- or because with the word "shade", Conrad links her to the overlying theme of the story, which is darkness. The whole tone of the book is dark, ominous, and depressing, yet the highlight is when Kurtz utters his last words, which are not her name, but "The horror! the horror!" and Marlow believes Kurtz has finally broken through the dark madness that had captured Kurtz's mind, returning to the path of light he had lived before going to Africa, making her words "He died as he lived" very possibly true. I found this scene and book highly complicated and in depth, very beautiful and still dark.
  Conrad seems to believe that when living a life of darkness, the light comes out at the very end, before it goes out forever. Marlow became very ill and nearly died, but seemed to reach a point of "enlightenment" as the Buddha he is compared to. And also, that even if the actions of one's life become selfish and distorted as Kurtz' seemed to have, if they find the light at the end, their life is one of justice and worthy of honor.