As Pinter explains so eloquently, the truth is elusive.  One has to grapple with it, to get beyond its ephemeral nature to see something that can be held onto.  But that’s the problem: it’s really hard to hold onto it.

I’ve at times thought I held the truth.  I was sure of it, and then at a glance it was gone.  As I listen to Pinter relate the tragedies of El Salvador and Nicaragua, I can’t help but to kick myself somewhat for always forgetting the dates and names.  I guess that’s why I like this blog.  It allows me to remember Romero, the coup in ‘54, the Sandinista victory in ‘79 and darker things like that thug’s summer camp in Fort Benning, Georgia. These things I’ve always known, but forgotten the details.  But none of us should ever forget these things.  They are the same things that are dealt with in Perkins’ books which I’ve referred to previously. They are truly central to the whole problem we face as humanity in crisis, and they point to what Pinter has distilled for us: the loss of “the dignity of man”.  To get that back, we have to raise this stuff to consciousness.  There’s no better way break the hypnosis, as I see it, than to listen to this essential speech.