Friday, June 12, 2009

"Dogs of war"

Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.


- William Shakespeare, from his play, Julius Caesar

"Havoc!": Permission from a high officer to pillage, destroy and create general chaos. In the play, Antony sees Caesar's death as herald for coming war. The phrase "Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war" is a well-known one, often quoted by anti-authority punks and wannabe gangstas.
I wish to take it back and return to it it's original meaning, deeply rooted in years of violence and war. War, also, has been bastardized and made to mean "any disagreement that cannot be settled by talking." I have heard the words "This is war!" so many times, it has lost almost all of it's original meaning. War should mean "a large-scale battle over important beliefs that history will remember as being either supremely well-fought and reasoned or supremely foolhardy." Reinterpretation is not always improvement. (Just don't tell that to Hollywood; you'll crush their fragile egos.)
So I say to the new generation, let us take back what is rightfully ours - the English language - and restore it to its former glory, rather than let it be mutilated at the hands of uneducated, uneloquent, "don't-know-any-better-or-simply-don't-care" poseurs.

Will you join me?