Anyone like Mark Twain? He's one of my favorite authors and a recent video I saw about one of his books called the Mysterious Stranger absolutely mystifies me. But Mark Twain's posthumous autobiography reveals the author's darker side. Other than the "Disneyfied" history of the man as avuncular satirist, Mark Twain was vociferously opposed to American imperialism, fulminating in suppressed passages in the Autobiography against 'the iniquitous Cuban-Spanish War' and pouring scorn on a U.S. attack on unarmed tribal peoples in the Philippines, a 'long and happy picnic' for 'our uniformed assassins' who have 'nothing to do but sit in comfort and fire the Golden Rule into those people down there and imagine letters to write home to the admiring families, and pile glory upon glory.' At this day and age, I'm not new to historical editing done by near every and anyone, but I particularly hate this kind. Because he's not speaking about "harsh stuff that is sensitive to our kids" he's speaking about matters that seriously effect them. Which is worse, your son listening to Mark Twain discuss the brutal evils of war or having you son shipped over into Iraq or Iran under the pretense that he is fighting for the good of the world? In some sense, if Mark Twain and people like him were around today, I would hope that he would be able to change peoples minds, but that is a fond dream and a lesson. He was alive. He did exist in a time of war. And as evidenced today, neither he, nor Gandhi, nor John Lennon, nor any vocal activists sincere efforts have ever paid off.
