Thursday, June 14, 2007
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
For years, Wendell Berry’s poem “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” has always struck me as a bit of a mission statement for my life as a media activist. Below is the copy with some annotations of my thoughts and connections.
Manifesto:
The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
I love how the introduction is an indictment of the corporate world, the business world. Key words like “quick profit” and “ready-made” operate as a criticism of our modern throw-away world—a world where everything is disposable, not just our products, but even our relationships. Anything for a buck.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Here, Berry takes a turn from the bleak world he describes, and provides hope. Live like the first two stanzas describe, and you will ultimately be used by the system that seeks to use you for personal gain. But on line four, Berry provides a solution, a strategy for fighting the system. Every day, I try to do someting that won’t compute. I’m not a religious man, but I love the world, and I do plenty of work for nothing. Such people are the ones who cannot be controlled by a system because they cannot be bought, or sold.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
What I love about this stanza is Berry’s use of the word “ignorance.” Many people will show their ignorance by thinking this means something other than what it does, and then complaining or hurling insults. That is a different kind of ignorance, based on closed-mindedness and wrongness.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Here is a radically different view of profit, if we take the time to consider it. Such investments are the only kinds that bring real returns, and not temporary returns based purely on ego and greed.
Listen to carrion—put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
I love the line “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” I try to live this constantly. On the one hand, I am rather pessimistic, but I still enjoy myself and do work that I think, ultimately, has much less impact that I probably like to believe.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Unthinking reactionaries will have an instinct to call this sexism. But if you consider it, you will see that such behavior from men would cause much more peace and compassion in the world.
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
Yes. Maybe it doesn’t consider gay people, but you can’t write something for everyone all the time, and I’m not gay, so I like that stanza. Love is a good thing, both the noun and the verb.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go.
For me, this is the most important stanza of the piece, and my career as a media activist has largely been based on following its advice—to the best of my abilities, when I remember not to lose my focus.
Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
I love the idea of making more tracks than necessary, “some in the wrong direction.” It really fits with the previous stanza’s message. I also love the line “Practice resurrection,” but not for any religious purposes. Periodically, we all experience psychological turmoils—little deaths, if you will. When that happens, we can let our own minds oppressive us into the death of inaction, or we can practice resurrection. I always choose the latter.
(source for poem)
• Share This Article!
 Listen to this article
Help The Cincinnati Beacon Grow! Participate in Social Networking!
Members
Register
Tell us what you think!
Anonymous comments are allowed, but you can log in above to stamp your name and to avoid typing the anti-spam code.
|