Joshua Minton’s Online Pulpit : Do Not Fuck with Ken Burns!

Posted by Joshua Bradley Minton in September 26th, 2007

It seems that some out there still refuse to heed this Universal maxim.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, let me express my ongoing and aggregating disgust at the Hispanic lobby group (composed of various sub groups) which continues to cry like babies about Ken Burns’ latest masterpiece The War not focusing solely on Hispanic cultural efforts in World War II.

The whole thing started last year when a formal complaint was filed with PBS by el conglamarati alleging Burns was deliberately excluding the Latino story from WWII. Fine, so Burns went back, shot, and edited in an additional 28 minutes of footage which focused on not only two Latino soldiers but a Native American as well. And even though a little part of me shudders at Burns having to compromise his artistic vision–I believe that any script which tells more about the War is going to get us closer to the secret heart of wisdom that all history and especially war has to teach us (watch the clip at the end of this post to understand what I mean) and is a blessing and a gift to our culture.

Here’s the thing–Burns’s work, popularly aimed though it may be-helps us as individuals to rise above the dryness of history to see the human heart and soul embedded in the embers of the past, to hug the specters of what has been close and let them whisper simple truths so we can carry the sublime into our daily lives of monotony. His work takes us beyond the barriers of culture and bigotry.

So now you can feel my disgust at this conglomeration’s continued campaign of mediocrity which aims at taking a work of art that soars and dragging it down into the hole of simple-minded cultural morality.

DO NOT FUCK WITH KEN BURNS!

PS: Watch this. If you’re not moved to tears by the reading of Sullivan Ballou’s letters to his wife over the gorgeous song Ashoken Farewell, then you’re a puss with the heart of a chicken liver.