I live by the border. The blood is still spilling and it seems that characters like the Judge and Glanton would brutally thrive in current Mexico. Excellent bloody literature.
It spills on the boarder but barely anywhere else, Mexico isn't a depraved dangerous place where few can travel because you can look up people walking through the most dangerous cities and towns according to Americans and yet you don't get hurt and you'll be offered hospitality by the locals (look it up, people vlog in these places to prove how basic things are there). The idea that Mexico is still some lawless land of slaughter is just rediculous to think and it shows how ignorant you are towards the country, a country founded on illegal immigrants can't stand when illegal immigrants come into the country so you shoot them dead at the boarder. Plus Mexico is partly in such a bad state because of the U.S with its wars, control over its trading, ownership of land and pollution by U.S companies, and of course the drug war which was proven to be pointless because your government was selling any drugs they took from south america to minority populations to make them unstable which has been proven true by your government itself. Considering the U.S has only had 15 years of peace, we all know who is really the gross violent warmongers and drug pushers in the world
Blood Meridian is quite literally a cautionary tale of what humans are without competent law enforcement and compulsory education up to the age of 16 There's plenty of layers deeper than that but it already excels on this basic level
I've always read Blood Meridian as a kind of anti-western and a critique of manifest destiny. I think because McCarthy rarely, if ever, discusses his work and his process its easier for people to project their own ideas onto him and his work.
You cannot read this book without being attracted to the savagery. It’s too visceral and pervasive. Odd that most people cannot admit this, even to themselves. Thats the most horrifying real aspect of Blood Meridian lol
@Orpheuslament I would argue he is correct, just look at the popularity of horror films and people's fascination with the true crime genre of TV and RU-vid, and the intrigue people have with serial killers, it doesn't mean you have to agree with it but if people weren't attracted to violence and the like then it wouldn't be such popular subject matter. And never forget people have been evil for a long time, I would argue that any person is capable of great evil and if you can't recognize that in human nature that would be a huge folly
@@dwilliams6642 I strongly dislike horror movies as a genre and think the fascination with 'true crime' is a cultural embarassment. How can you say that everyone is capable of commiting evil when there are countless people in the historical record who were tasked with evil deeds and refused even to the point of death? That would seem to disprove your unjustified certainty, wouldn't it?
McCarthy's narrative is amoral. That is to say, he describes the most horrible actions and behaviour without emotion or reflection. He simply frames the behaviour for what it is. McCarthy relies on the intelligence of the reader to discern when something is evil, kind or anywhere between. Dostoevsky was a master of this style, not allowing his personal ideas to manifest within the narrative. I have spoken to people on both sides of the left/right paradigm who confuse this style of writing with the author somehow endorsing the most disturbing acts of violence. It is an age old problem with ideology. So many people who invest their time and energy into a particular ideological view point appear to lose the nuances of life its self, simply applying their political beliefs to any given subject
I disagree with your opinion that McCarthy's narrative is 'amoral' - the kid himself does not participate in many of the evil behaviors of the Glanton gang or the Judge. The kid's refusal is a pretty clear sign of some kind of moral judgement. Also, if one reads any of McCarthy's other books the morality of Blood Meridian becomes even more obvious than it is. You make a very good point in the rest of your comment though. Things are becoming more and more ideological.
@@Orpheuslament Ok, that's interesting. Yh, also read all of McCarthy's. Check out Lester Ballard in Child of God. Nightmare behaviour, but not judged, just told as it is
My bloodline is Apache .. I trully love and respect the honesty andrealness in this book. It has shown the most honorable way of displaying them times. Finally i myself can say in my opinion i feel a sense of closure in what i felt was missing in all our history. To be so descriptive and graphic as the author has done i can only imagine he put himself in every individuals shoes, from the killers to the victims . Imagined everydetail and shared it to the world ... Id rather know than not know. Respect.
" ...the squatters in their rags nodded among themselves and soon were reckoning him correct, this man of learning in all his speculations, and this the judge encouraged until they were right proselytes of the new order, upon which the judge would laugh at them for fools."
Blood Meridian is a book you cannot un-read.... a terrifying masterpiece. It can be difficult to read with modern sensibilities. Astounding that some people see it as a blueprint....
The passages you read are chilling. When thinking about it all I can’t help but feel loss for any glimpse of good in the world. On another note, hearing people in college or even out of college talk about how they don’t know about a specific historical event because they “weren’t taught” baffles me. If anything it shows their complacency with being ignorant. And yet, these will be the same people who will shout from the roof tops that their isn’t enough representation or discussion about a given topic. The horrible irony. This is one of my favorite videos you’ve made.
"I think you could think of some contemporary political groups that do this same thing, and they are generally viewed as enemies of civilization" Ahh yes, the infamous Puppy Drowners Party lmfao
Thank you for making this. I've been quite frustrated by a lot of "analysis" of Blood Meridian online as well, so I'm really glad that this video will now be available when people search "Blood Meridian" on RU-vid. The amount of people I see here and on reddit who seem to endorse the judge or Glanton is insane - it seems rather clear that McCarthy is critiquing these belief systems, though I've been called "too woke" for pointing this out (God help you if you mention the word "whiteness" when talking about McCarthy). I really liked your connections to Bury Your Heart at Wounded Knee. I might have to get my hands on that text - that sounds like it might help when I teach BM, as, as you said with the story about your student, many of them aren't really taught about any of this (I had students in the fall who hadn't heard about "manifest destiny"...). Anyways, this was a really compelling defense of a book that, in my mind, is incredibly important right now.
@@stolenflowers4775 Thanks for the recommendation - I remember coming across that book when I was researching the "legion of horribles" passage in Blood Meridian. I'll check it out!
Thanks for the comment. I commend you for teaching it. Depending on the type of student I'm sure I would become disheartened with the inevitable misreadings and ignorances which are very hard to ignore when they are immediately present.
@@Orpheuslament I haven't heard of that one - I'll look it up and add it to the ever-growing list of Blood Meridian adjacent books. Thanks for the recommendation. There's a book by Greg Grandin called "The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" that doesn't directly relate to BM, but it talks a lot about the sorts of myths, legends, and inevitable ideologies that are born out of our perception of the history of this region. I often use that as a way to introduce BM, but it's a pretty interesting history book, if overly political. Anyways, thanks for the discussion - you've made me want to reread it again already.
I think the ‘whiteness’ reference totally misses the point (although I must say I didn’t fully understand why you brought it up, and may have other reasons) the Judge is like Chigurh in the sense he is the world, the uncaring world that does what it will, it does not care and it will take what it wants. There are people who sacrifice themselves against the world, and they give us hope, but the forces of the world hold sway. Some people have tried to control the narrative in our society and cherry pick some parts of history to pin badness on white people, but that is patently false - any look through history shows the universality of war, genocide and goes beyond race or region.
Great video, good insights. I don't mind the idea of "war is god" separate from the work. It's like flipping the script on the conception of eternal peace. Neither has a great flavor I feel, but for war It reminds me of the fire of Heraclitus, some dissonant cosmic structure, or even like when Ahab says "clear spirit of fire".
I remember seeing certain groups of people react the same way in regards to American History X. They act as if the movie reflects and validates their ideology when it actually does the opposite.
Well said and obviously heartfelt. I’m amazed that you’re teaching these ideas, not to mention the Holocaust, to high-schoolers, and haven’t been run out of town on a rail. Private school, maybe? Whatever - keep it up.
What world do you live in? The holocaust is drilled into your head at every grade of the US school system beginning at the age of literacy. Do you actually believe there is any legitimate opposition to it in western academic life?
I haven't read that one but I am interested in reading War of a Thousand Deserts by DeLay. It's about the raids across the border during the Mexican American War.
What did you mean when you were talking about Blood Meridian’s trajectory? Could you explain what you were saying when you named it after those other works.
@@Metro8k Each work builds on the previous one and for the literary works of art I view them as the same level of quality. The patterns of character that show up in Paradise Lost, Moby Dick and Blood Meridian all coordinate and even the aesthetic sense of the language has a fairly recognizable trajectory to my eye.
I would add the Iliad to the sequence of books you listed leading up to Blood Meridian. It also has allegorical characters and endless graphic brutal violence…described with terrible beauty. It also has the theme of the inevitability of war and cruelty. In the passage of BM that you focused on in the first half, I find also a cryptic reference to what Judge will do (or has done already) to the Kid. “A thing already accomplished.” Is it referencing the murder…or maybe also the rape, which is possibly actually happening while the Kid is drugged…😮 Unfortunately I don’t think this long discussion of intellectual fine points will make any Nazis rethink their disgusting evil “philosophy.”
It's an awful book to read, it's a book about the very worst of human beings and I think it's important for people to see these kind of characters. The worst thing is that people kept mistaking them for normal people and they pay for it dearly.
Steve Donoghue incessantly refers to Cormac McCarthy as "bro lit". On another note, I've always wondered about the lurking psychopathy that must occupy the minds of readers who interpret The Judge as some kind of unironic moral exemplar.
Yeah, Steve is an enigma. He’s obviously extremely well read, but he’ll often act like some independently published YA fantasy novel is better than anything McCarthy or Saul Bellow ever wrote. But then at the same time he’ll call out YA BookTubers who focus more on video production than reading. I think he measures books by how much he enjoys them instead of by their merit.
@@valpergalit It's unfortunate that no matter how well read you are, if you're a mindless, bloviating gasbag of a human being, the most you can ever be is a well read mindless, bloviating gasbag. That he brags about reading 150 pages an hour, and then appears to spend most of that time reading romance novels or science fiction is simply bizarre. But it seems to be directed toward an audience that eats up all of his lies, including the ones about the dozens of languages he can speak despite the fact that he's never spoken (or read aloud from a book) one word of anything other than English on his channel.
@@nezahuatez It's entirely charitable and fair. If you've only heard him claim to know Latin and French, then you should watch his videos more often. He's definitely a liar. A liar with a gigantic ego and absolutely nothing to warrant it.
@@architchaudhary1285 He's proud of being the "book editor" of a no-name newspaper in Georgia, and probably mentions it weekly on his channel, as if it were on par with being a regular TLS or NYRB contributor. And the way that he tirelessly laughs at his own jokes is just sad. He's sad all around.
Thank you so much for your deep and thoughtful comments. Inspired by British Benjamin MacEvoy, Hardcore Bookclub I took the BM plunge at 80 years old. My advantage: we were taught in grammar school about these battles as well as the Holocaust. A few years after 1956 it all seemed to get covered over. MacEvoy believes the Judge is the wickedest villain in all of literary history. Surpassed Richard lll, no easy feat. To me what was done to Native Americans (yes, and the buffalo) is beyond atrocious, beyond words and still goes on. The prejudice by organized groups seems to be taking root, growing and gathering force. It is unreasonable and horrifying at the same time. Wish there were more teachers like you that delve deeply into our history and present the whole ball of wax, so to say. Looking forward to seeing you again. Diana, Chicago.
Your contribution is invaluable and needed, I know who you are talking about in your videos response as I have found those videos under the same circumstances. It is frustrating and disturbing to see someone propagating blatant white supremacy and anti-semitism from McCarthys scathing novel on violence and race motivated violence. Thank you for this video.
Knew an ex Neo-Nazi who said Blood Meridian was Iron Gates but good (both share gnostic themes too). Given National Socialism is just updated genocidal settler colonialism I can see why they like it, same reason soldiers like Full Metal Jacket.
It's insane to me that anyone would think that Blood Meridian endorsed the Judge and Glanton's actions in any way. Even though the Glanton gang's actions are described mostly without emotion, the plain depiction of their slaughter of the people they were supposed to protect (They made their way through towns, waving to those who they would slaughter weeks later), the Judge's rape and murder of children, and Glanton's wanton attitude to his men, who him with his crimes, being killed all show the gang and its leader as being vile and lacking any sense of morality, in addition to being unable to sustain themselves (Glanton and most of the gang's deaths at the hands of the Yuma, who were attacking after Glanton betrayed them after their offer to help the gang get control of the ferry). Violence for the sake of it is what seems to drive Glanton, at least for much of the book, and were it not for the betrayal of the Yuma(who were entirely willing to help a gang sent to take Native scalps), Glanton may have gone on living. I question how anyone could look at Glanton and the Judge's philosophy and works and see them as correct or helpful to their practitioners in the long term, abhorrent actions aside.
saved my watching of the video until after I finished BM which was just only a couple days ago. I'm incredibly disturbed, yet even more saddened to be unsurprised that nazis, far righters, and their ilk misread mccarthy so gleefully. When you have no truthful, centering enterprise upon which to found your beliefs, you will cling to anything that purports to support it. Great reflections on the Judge and his rhetoric. I have many thoughts floating around but am seeing the judge--among many possibilities--as a kind of representation of Western enlightenment in the vein of Adorno and Horkheimer. His speech about knowledge, existence, and I think a keyword of consent, reminds me of what adorno wrote about with the folly of enlightenment rationality permitting humans to create a false hierarchy of existence that could easily be used to subjugate any and all who aren't 'human': a new myth. god over man over the rest of creation becoming man over the rest of creation with western enlightenment (my quick summary being somewhat reductive)--the connection of this to the events of blood meridian however should be obvious. All the ways that the judge is into categorizing, classifying, documenting, drawing, etc. refer in my mind to knowledge procurement as it relates to enlightenment.
I’m confused, I can’t find these “neo-nazi” people you’re referring to anywhere on youtube (unless the videos or channels no longer exist) and i’ve been searching for a pro-judge take on this book for hours now! I want to hear these guys’ opinions, too! It is not very productive to call out someone’s opinions as bad and then refuse to cite their own words, just characterizing them in your own way like you have here. For what it’s worth I agree with the things you’ve laid forth but you can’t say “these guys are just objectively wrong” and basically not allow the viewer to even see the original source.
How professional of you. Why are you afraid of someone hearing their opinions if they are so obviously reprehensible? Would it not make more sense to just display it all openly and let rational people form their own opinions? Seems as though you’re afraid of them being heard. Only one conclusion i can draw from that!
@@bm7024 Don't expect everything to be handed to you. I am not so naive to believe that only the people who follow a link will view it. I have seen some extremely small-minded people read Blood Meridian and end up with totally distorted views of it. I hope they find my video instead of the vile expressions I hint at.
Guilt for past cultural transgressions is not typically thoughtful. It is emotional and of no benefit to anybody. What is of benefit is embracing everyone into the dominant culture. Those sorts of cultural transitions are a part of the ancestry of all living humans. Clinging to dead cultures as if they are of higher priority than any other dead culture through all of history, only relegates people to relentless sadness and loss, for no benefit.
For those who indulge in this behavior, it’s no different than any television show or work of fiction. They have no actual connection to the past and use it for emotional masterbation
@@Orpheuslament nobody talks bad about BM and if they do then they’re dumb. And people look too deep into it. I’m not a psychopath and I love the book because I like horror and westerns and I’m into blood, guts and gore and I’m not a neo nazi, I love villains.
As an Apache dude and lover of literature, I dont see the need to defend the book. It shows the ugly side of that time period in it's full entirety. I don't see it as offensive or attacking the legacy or history of the Apache people. Love the video and great points that it could be problematic that these select few would be brain dead enough to use the book as confirmation bias to their weird rhetoric
