Howard Zinn, R.I.P.

“The best writing, for me, comes when I have sustained an unpleasant shock . . . or insults and abuse from a group of academic colleagues. Then I write to affirm my own dignity, humanity, and autonomy.”—Howard Zinn

I’ve never been a big fan of impartiality, which is why I would either be the best judge in the world, or the worst one—depending upon how you see things. It’s also why Howard Zinn dying the other day has gone over in my world like a lead balloon.

Howard, 87 when he suffered a fatal heart attack, was a true champion of the left but far outflanked even some of the heftiest lefties in his repudiation of the federal government. The fact is, he was so far left of the left wing that he would’ve needed a GPS tracker just to thumb his nose at those pussies.

In 1980, Zinn wrote a book called, “A People’s History of the United States,” which was basically the world as he saw it, his opinion, making the title that much more audacious. His was an uncompromising worldview and morality was not to be bartered. If something was wrong once, it was wrong in  every instance.

Virulently anti-war, Zinn spent a half-century lashing out at the United States war machine that, as he saw it, drove the country blindly into armed conflicts that were none of our goddamn business. He stuck up for the oppressed: minorities, immigrants and women. And continued to rail against corruptors in every parts of society.

Critics said that he warped the facts to fit his theses, and that is probably true in some cases. But no one could say that Zinn was unqualified to speak on such subjects.

A decorated World War II fighter pilot, Zinn dealt death upon German soldiers and, to his horror, French citizens, and that might explain his disgust at the Viet Nam war. He traveled to Hanoi 40 years ago this month, during the height of the Tet Offensive—which, I’m told was no fun—to gain the release of two POWs. He was a lion of the Civil Rights movement, teaching at Spellman College and mentoring budding activists and really good authors like Alice Walker.

If you are looking for a compelling recent documentary, check out, “The People Speak,” a collection of Zinn’s writings read by celebrity activists like Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Viggo Mortensen and Dina Lohan. (Just kidding on that one.) It was released just before Christmas.

I guess that’s all that’s left to say, although I could probably go on for hours. Howard Zinn, a pretty dangerous guy to those prescribed to the conservative orthodoxy, lived a good long life and hopefully, he died knowing that he left the world a bit better than he found it.

Although some of you may disagree, I think he was an amazing and courageous American. That’s my opinion and, as Howard would probably say, you are entitled to disagree. You’d just be wrong.

Right, Howard?