{"id":446,"date":"2020-10-15T18:57:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T22:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/?p=446"},"modified":"2020-10-15T21:48:22","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T01:48:22","slug":"believability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/2020\/10\/15\/believability\/","title":{"rendered":"Believability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In class last week we spent some time discussing whether or not we found Tom Hayden’s version of the events that took place in Chicago believable. I tried to keep that conversation in mind as I read Fr. Berrigan’s writing. I was struck by the conclusion I reached after reading The Trial of the Catonsville Nine<\/em>: I think I found Voices of the Chicago Eight<\/em> more believable. Believable might not be the best word, as I don’t feel that Dan Berrigan was lying<\/em>. It is more accurate, perhaps, to say that I found Voices of the Chicago Eight<\/em> to be more honest and therefore more persuasive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that there are two primary factors that brought me to this conclusion. First, the way the text itself was written, formatted, etc. Second, the content, i.e. the actual story. I talked in class last week about how struck I was by the level of detail Haydon included in the memoir part of the text. The specificity made the events very personal for me. On the other hand, this attention to detail makes me hesitant to completely trust this story, as memory is so fallible. As far as the play portion of the text, it was meaningful to me that the playwrights detailed the relationship between the court manuscripts and the dialogue. While editing is, of course, important, there is something profound in absorbing the dialogue and knowing that those words were really said in court. The Trial of the Catonsville Nine<\/em> felt much more put-on to me. The infusion of the quotes and the way the defendants’ testimony was formatted more like poetry than a traditional piece of dramatic literature was almost off-putting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our discussion about the nature of the trial itself in Baltimore was further thought-provoking for me. The fact that the defendants declined to participate in jury selection at first felt like some kind of respectful protest by non-participation. Processing the idea that the defendants still elected for a jury trial changed my perspective though. American citizens have a right to trial by jury, but they also have the prerogative to opt out and pursue trial by judge. The Catonsville Nine didn’t go that far, though. It was still about putting on a show, as demonstrated by the appeal to the jury in the closing statement to emphasis character over the law. The Chicago Eight were so openly theatrical; they made no attempt to appear anything but. The theatricality of the Catonsville Nine felt more calculated to me, especially considering that the Chicago Eight were forced together into their trial while the Catonsville Nine planned for it all along. This is why I think I actually find Voices of the Chicago Eight<\/em> more “believable”. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In class last week we spent some time discussing whether or not we found Tom Hayden’s version of the events that took place in Chicago believable. I tried to keep that conversation in mind as I read Fr. Berrigan’s writing. I was struck by the conclusion I reached after reading The Trial of the Catonsville … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Believability”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3835,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/bloodycoflict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}