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Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California

January 19, 2008 by Barky

[Alcatraz is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.]

Missed Opportunity – Sort Of

I actually didn’t make it to Alcatraz Island itself during my recent trip to San Francisco. If you go, don’t make the same, dumbass mistake I did. Call ahead and get your tickets in advance! Don’t assume visiting off-season will help you …

An Alcatraz tour an impossibility, I had to settle for second- (or perhaps third- or fourth-) best: a craptastic bay cruise put on by some local outfit. (I’d also add in “expensive”, but everything in San Fran’s expensive, so why bother mentioning it). The boat was a pit, the crew uninspired, and they had this annoying tape of some drunken lout reading a horrible script over lousy speakers. I had to block out these fabulous accommodations, and just zone in the bay itself.

San Francisco is really beautiful, and a great place to take a quick cruise. The bay is frothy and windy and cold, but the views are terrific! You’ve got the city itself, the tony suburbs of Sausalito and Tiberon, the park on Angel Island, and, of course, the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. The greater Bay Area is truly beautiful.

Well, until you get to Alcatraz Island, that is.

Seals and Alcatraz — © 2008 America In Context

In my travels from sea to shining sea, I’ve never seen a place so truly ugly, so exuding of evil from its very pores, as Alcatraz. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of miserable slums and decrepitude, but nothing like this. Its ugliness lies in such stark contrast to the beauty of the Bay, it’s shocking. It’s simply … vile. I’m not sure I want to set foot on the island now. Yeah, it might be fascinating, but it’s a morbid fascination: a fascination with criminals and punishment, two things that don’t particularly interest me.

It’s Gotta Be a Sickness

I don’t find crime interesting in the least. I find it repugnant. On top of that, I find it repugnant that people are fascinated by crime. Well, let me be more specific, here. I can see how investigating crimes, tracking perpetrators, and interpreting the criminal mind can be fascinating. I’m a big fan of CSI, for example, and not just because I’ve had a crush on the lovely Marg Helgenberger since China Beach. There’s a whole science to criminal investigation that is incredibly fascinating.

Pit of Hell — © 2008 America In ContextWhat I do find repugnant are those folks who dwell on criminals and criminal acts themselves. I’m talking about those who follow cases that have nothing whatsoever to do with them or anyone they know, just for the sheer sick pleasure of doing so. I’m talking about those who follow the lives of criminals, or the suffering of the victims, with a morbid, twisted pleasure at a level much, much worse than traffic-accident rubbernecking or attraction to snuff/torture films like Saw or Hostel. I’m talking about folks like Nancy Grace and other media scumbags who will dwell on the horrors of individual crimes solely for ratings, couching it under terms like “news”, gratuitously amplifying stories to ludicrous extremes that a term like “exploitation” doesn’t seem to do it justice. And yes, I’m talking about folks who watch those shows, too. Jon Benet Ramsay, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald Goldman, Laci Peterson: these were all victims, folks! Their deaths are tragedies, not entertainment! Show a little bit of respect for the victims and their families, and leave them alone! And don’t give the media weasels the gratification of high ratings, turn the channel to something more wholesome, like South Park or WWE Wrestling or something.

Crime? Or Punishment?

I’m sure there are a lot of visitors to Alcatraz who have this morbid fascination with crime and the criminal underworld. But there are also others who simply want to see “The Rock” out of curiosity, and that’s fine. The stories of Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelley are interesting, and there are the Alcatraz ghost stories, and the story of the American Indian occupation in 1969. So there is a lot of cool stuff about the island.

But, me being me, I see Alcatraz and have to think, not about crime, but about punishment.

Indians Welcome — © 2008 America In ContextCrime, unfortunately, is a reality in America. It’s a price to pay for living in a free society (ironically, the most “crime free” nations throughout history were really harsh dictatorships). So how is a free, advanced society supposed to handle crime? I look at how we do it here in America, and I have to think “there must be a better way.” But I can’t figure out what that way is. We seem to focus an awful lot on punishment, but not a lot on rehabilitation. But rehabilitation itself seems a farce, look at recidivism rates. Yet we can’t just keep punishing, for those who chronically punish are themselves lessened by the act (to see more views on what I mean by that, see my Andersonville post). And if punishment is bad, what about the death penalty? But contrast execution of criminals with lifetime imprisonment at public expense, and something doesn’t quite compute there either. It seems like the right answer is to stop creating environments where criminality develops, but until we take seriously the problems of inner city poverty and development, and find a real resolution to the drug problem, that’s a complete pipe dream. Of course, a lot of criminals have nothing to do with inner cities or drugs (John Wayne Gacy, Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson, etc.)….

I don’t know what the right answer is. Clearly, with about 2.5 million prisoners nationwide, and a recidivism rate of about 50%, America hasn’t figured it out, either.

Bleagh, what a wretched topic. I’m gonna go watch South Park now.

The Rock and the Bay — © 2008 America In Context

See my other photos of Alcatraz Island here.

Links:

Alcatraz Island (part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area)

Alcatraz History

Alcatraz is Not an Island

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Google map to Alcatraz Island

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Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery, Sharpsburg, Maryland

January 16, 2008 by Barky

Failure In Success

Antietam is one of the great battles of the American Civil War, involving 130,000 soldiers (infantry, cavalry, and artillery). There’s only one way to describe the Battle of Antietam: a bloody, awful mess. It is remembered in history as the single, deadliest one-day battle ever fought on American soil. The Union won the field that day, in spite of bad command decisions by General George McClellan and his field commanders. Lee was driven away, his weaker numbers unable to take victory, despite his own tactical brilliance. By the end of the day, over 3600 men were dead, and another 19,000 injured (and likely dead shortly thereafter, thanks to medical practices in the 19th century). A bloody, awful mess, indeed.

Confederate Dead — public domain photo courtesy of Antietam on the Web

A lot of men died in the Civil War. Over 600,000 men gave their lives on the field of battle through the course of the war, and (as always happens in war) an uncountable number of civilians lost theirs as well. But Antietam holds another special place in American history. The pre-Grant Union Army could do what only the pre-Grant Union Army could do: it snatched defeat from the claws of victory. If Gen. McClellan was any kind of able commander, instead of the pompous ass he was, he would have crushed the Confederate army right then and there, and ended the war within 18 months of its inception at Fort Sumter. But McClellan lacked something that defines winners from losers: energy and drive. He allowed his forces (thousands of whom didn’t even fire a shot) to rest on their laurels while Robert E. Lee’s men retreated southward. If only McClellan had acted then and there, and whupped Lee in the fields of Maryland, the war would have been over.

Lincoln and McClellan — public domain photo courtesy of Antietam on the WebI really want to let that soak in a bit. If McClellan had acted, the Battle of Fredericksburg would not have happened (2,000 dead). Spotsylvania would not have happened (4,000 dead). Chancellorsville would not have happened (est. 5,000 dead). Chickamauga would not have happened (est. 6,000 dead). The Battle of Gettysburg would not have happened (8,000 dead). Richmond would not have been sacked and looted. New York would not have had its draft riots. Atlanta would not have been burned to the ground. Virginia would not have had its entire countryside scoured by war. And maybe an assassin would not have claimed the life of the greatest President we ever had.

But McClellan sat on his lazy ass, Lee got away, and country had three more years of war. Good job, Georgie!

I suppose there is success in failure as well. One good thing came out of Antietam (beyond McClellan’s immediate firing): Lincoln’s most famous, yet most misunderstood, act — the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln had been working on it for some time, but needed the right moment to release it. As lame as McClellan’s actions were, he gave Lincoln that moment: a Union victory over the Confederate army. Lincoln released his document to the public, gave a wonderful speech, and America turned a vital corner away from slavery (read more commentary on Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation here).

Walk the Path of History

A Lone Grave — public domain photo courtesy of Antietam on the WebEven though I love the National Park Service and the sites they protect, I have to admit: many of the Civil War sites are nearly undecipherable. You have to really use your imagination to envision the order of battle or the strategic importance of the terrain. It’s hard to imagine a line of Union artillery in a Wendy’s parking lot. What were they firing at, the Avis Car Rental?

Antietam, on the other hand, is a great park to envision an old battle. The Dunker Church still stands, the Cornfield has been replanted. Bloody Lane is still discernable, and the sturdy Burnside Bridge remains. The latter represents the greatest blunder of the Civil War behind Pickett’s Charge. Union Major General Ambrose Burnside ordered thousands of men to storm across the stone bridge, where they were easily slaughtered by well-placed Confederate riflemen. Old Dumb Ass didn’t realize he could send his thousands of troops across the creek itself, where their numbers would simply swarm over the enemy positions. The ruddy thing was only a couple of feet deep! Nothing I could write could explain the idiocy of funneling all your men across a tiny bridge where they could be slaughtered like crawdads at a Cajun restaurant. The Antietam National Battlefield preserves this land so perfectly that a short visit and some clever observations will reveal what should have been so obvious in 1862.

Antietam is a wonderful park to visit. It’s not a long drive from Washington, DC. Next time you’re in the nation’s capital, stop by Antietam. Make sure you stop by for a pint at Brewer’s Alley in Fredericksburg, MD!

Burnside Bridge — public domain photo courtesy of Antietam on the Web

Sadly, I didn’t own a digital camera when I visited Antietam. Historical pictures courtesy of a terrific Civil War website: Antietam on the Web.

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Links:

Antietam National Battlefield and Cemetery

Antietam on the Web

Brewer’s Alley Restaurant & Brewery

Google map to Antietam

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Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Greeneville, Tennessee

January 12, 2008 by Barky

A Monument to Failure … And Fine Tailoring!

What can one say about a site dedicated to the memory of one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history? Not much, really.

Andrew Johnson was, indeed, one of the worst Presidents ever. Talk about wrong place/wrong time! Why, oh why, did Lincoln have a lout like Johnson as Veep in 1865? Well, politics, of course. Just like today, the vice presidential candidate is primarily chosen to gain the votes of a certain constituency. As military governor of Tennessee, it was hoped that Johnson’s nomination as Vice President would bring more War Democrats into the Republican Party. Of course, it did, and, of course, we were stuck with that choice after Honest Abe was shot in the head.

Andrew Johnson — publid domain photo courtesy of WikipediaJohnson would later go on to near-total failure as President. He started Reconstruction on horrible footing, famously vetoing the Freedman’s Bureau: “This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men.” He also blocked initial passage of the 14th Amendment (which includes the extremely important Due Process and Equal Protection Under the Law clauses). Real enlightened there, Andy…

Johnson would later be impeached, but acquitted, just like another, more recent President. Let’s let that sink in for a moment: here we are, America, over 230 years old, and we’ve had back-to-back Presidents that can be mentioned in the same breath as poor, miserable, drunken, uneducated Andrew Johnson: one for impeachment, and the other for incompetence.

He wasn’t a total failure. He did pressure the French to get out of Mexico. I’d rather have taco stands than escargot wagons on the street corners of San Diego any day. His Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, negotiated the deal for Alaska, which is a wonderful place. Of course, Seward was appointed by Lincoln, so even then, Johnson was effectively useless, but hey, gotta give our Presidents props wherever we can, no?

I guess it goes to show that anyone, no matter how incompetent, can get a few things right after all. According to legend, he was a damn fine tailor in his younger days! I’m sure, in 50 or 100 years from now, there will be a site in central Texas dedicated to the damned fine brush-clearing skills of another lackluster American president.

Good People, Though

I do want to state, however, that I think Greeneville itself is a real nice place. I liked walking around the town as I visited Johnson’s home. It’s clean, and quiet, with a couple of good diners and a pleasant, small town atmosphere. It’s also really proud of its heritage. I met two nice ladies who were so proud of East Tennessee’s history, they begged me to take the town’s official history tour that afternoon. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I had to head back to my motel near the Smokies before that great tourist trap known as Gatlinburg got too ridiculous.

I still have a fondness for tiny little Greenville, Tennessee.

Johnson Home — public domain photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Sadly, I didn’t own my digital camera when I toured Andrew Johnson NHS, so no pictures. Sorry.

Links:

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site

C-Span Survey of Presidential Leadership

Google map to AJ NHS

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Andersonville National Historic Site, Andersonville, Georgia

January 10, 2008 by Barky

Torture and Corruption 

Two sites in the National Park System have actually brought tears to my eyes. They represent events of such travesty and abhorrence; tears are a more-than-reasonable reaction. One of these sites is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a topic for another post. The other is the Civil War prison, Andersonville, and its accompanying National Prisoner of War Museum.

National Prisoner of War Museum Placard

What does war do to humanity? Textbooks love to spout out casualties: how many died, how many wounded, how many missing, how many captured. How many sorties, how many megatons of TNT, how many cities bombed, how much damage done. The list goes on: how many refugees, how many homeless, how many orphans, how much disease, how much starvation, how many exterminated due to simply being of the wrong race in the wrong place at the wrong time. Numbers: simple, cold, heartless, textbook numbers.

None of these statistics can actually tell us what war does to humanity. That’s what places like the Andersonville are for.

Andersonville was a huge Confederate prison, not much bigger than your average Big 10 Conference college football stadium, except instead of 10,000 drunken fans, it held over 30,000 Union prisoners-of-war in absolutely fetid conditions. The sleeping arrangements, food quality, water purity, and sanitation were so horrid, 13,000 men died in a span of 14 months. At its peak, it was shoveling 100 corpses a day into the red Georgia clay.

Anderson Birdseye View — Courtesy of Wikipedia

If you think it was the Confederacy that left these men to die under such deplorable conditions, you’re right, but the Union did it, too. Camp Douglas in Chicago was as bad as Andersonville, it’s just that, as the victor, it was easier for the Union to ignore. Andersonville was run by the enemy, who must be held accountable. Our crimes, well, they’re justified because we won. Hurrah.

The civilized world should not ever tolerate inhumane treatment of any man, enemy or friend. Of course, a wartime society is anything but civilized. There’s something about war that turns people into something other than “human”. People look at all the atrocities from wars past and present, and say “oh, look what happened to those poor victims?”, and they are right to do so. But take a look at it from another angle. What happened to those poor perpetrators? What would drive a man, any man, to the point where he would starve another man, or poke a prisoner with sharp sticks, or Napalm children, or gang-rape young girls, or burn old women alive, or firebomb a city to ashes?

Freed WWII Prisoners — courtesy of Naval Historical Center

Man’s inhumanity to man: the real Neverending Story. But here’s the story that no one tells too often: all of these perpetrators of brutality, they were all created, too. It took thousands of soldiers to run Andersonville and the other Civil War POW camps. It took thousands of Nazis to exterminate millions of Jews. It took thousands of soldiers to execute the Bataan Death March. It took thousands of Hutus to slaughter the Tutsis. No sane man could believe that this many evil men are born every day, and that they also just happen to be born in pre-WWII Germany or mid-20th Century central Africa. No, these men, these masters of cruelty, are made.

Anti-Japanese Propaganda — courtesy of WikipediaHow is evil created? The answer: on purpose. Through dogma, or jingoism, or biased textbooks. By stating that the enemy are lesser creatures, creatures who would kill you given the chance, creatures less deserving of God’s grace, creatures who must be removed for the good of all. And then, by repeating that message over and over and over again, until the sheep-like masses buy into it, and agree. It’s hard to kill a fellow human being, but it’s easy to hate, torment, torture, and kill lesser creatures. So all you have to do is convince your people that “the enemy” are lesser than they, and your people will do your dirty work for you. Then you can go back to your secret retreat in the mountains and feast on banquets, or snog your high-priced whores, or choke on your pretzels, for you have created your own force of evil, ready to sacrifice their own humanity to the misfortune of the enemy.

This is why war must be avoided for all but the most vital and necessary of causes. As soon as you declare war against another, you are sacrificing the very souls of your own people. To wage war, your people must become monsters, and lose their humanity. War must not be used as a means to an end unless there is absolutely no other means: it is a weapon that leaves casualties for both the vanquished and for the victor. For one, it’s death. For the other, it’s inhumanity.

I think every American, regardless of political persuasion, should visit Andersonville. The lesson it has to teach is invaluable. It’s a lesson on what happens when society loses its humanity. If we all learn the lesson then maybe, just maybe, we can regain and keep ours for a long, long time.

Public domain photo

Sadly, my visit to Andersonville preceded my ownership of a digital camera. So no photo links this time.

Links:

I would be horribly remiss if I didn’t post a link to Amnesty International after this post.

Andersonville National Historic Site

Google map to Andersonville

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