{"id":449,"date":"2005-01-18T13:27:24","date_gmt":"2005-01-18T18:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vmalt\/?p=449"},"modified":"2005-12-06T07:51:13","modified_gmt":"2005-12-06T12:51:13","slug":"the-man-who-wasnt-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-man-who-wasnt-there","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Wasn’t There"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evidently, Errol Morris was so excited about being added to the Virtual Memories blogroll, he wrote a completely unrelated opinion piece<\/a> in today’s New York Times<\/span>.<\/p>\n

To me, John Kerry’s heroism encompassed both his actions in combat and his willingness to change his mind and stand up for what he thought was right. He realized that soldiers and civilians were dying in a war that wasn’t accomplishing its objectives. Yet he never tied this crucial piece of his biography into his campaign for the presidency. And in failing to do so, he left a blank space in his personal story – a blank space that made it possible for the criticisms of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to be alarmingly effective.<\/p>\n

By implying that his real heroism was fighting in Vietnam, Mr. Kerry also left himself open to the charge that he was somehow inauthentic. Americans have a complicated relationship with their military heroes: we expect them not to talk about their heroism. War heroes, in real life and in the movies, rarely speak about their courage in battle. Eisenhower didn’t. Nor did Kennedy, Bob Dole, or the president’s father.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Give it a read; Morris provides a pretty good story-based theory<\/a> on why Kerry’s campaign failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evidently, Errol Morris was so excited about being added to the Virtual Memories blogroll, he wrote a completely unrelated opinion piece in today’s New York Times. To me, John Kerry’s heroism encompassed both his actions in combat and his willingness to change his mind and stand up for what he thought was right. He realized … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Man Who Wasn’t There”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-7f","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1247,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/if-you-build-it","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":0},"title":"If you build it","author":"Gil","date":"December 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years ago, I was shooting the breeze about the anicent Greeks with a buddy of mine. It turned out that he was devoted to Herodotus' descriptions of the war against the Persians, while I preferred reading Thucydides' accounts of What Happened After. In a sense, it encapsulated how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":242,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/once-in-a-lifetime","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":1},"title":"Once in a Lifetime","author":"Gil","date":"May 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw some of Pat Tillman's memorial service yesterday evening. Senator McCain was speaking when I tuned in, followed by Chief Petty Officer Steven White, who served with Tillman in Iraq. I didn't catch his introduction, but I think he was a SEAL in the Navy.He spoke wonderfully and plainly,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6056,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/hard-drivin","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":2},"title":"Hard Drivin’","author":"Gil","date":"July 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After my wife read my previous post, in which I dithered about getting a new iMac, she said, \"If it'll help process photos better, then we should do it.\" Just because she was under the influence of headache medication didn't mean she wasn't right. I was ready to pull the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7389,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-wine-women-and-novel-writing","url_meta":{"origin":449,"position":3},"title":"Podcast: Wine, Women, and Novel-Writing","author":"Gil","date":"October 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories \u2013 season 3 episode 23 - Wine, Women, and Novel-Writing \"Restaurants follow the opposite direction of stories: they're like finding a book of blank pages and trying to come up with something to fill the space. 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