Prometheus caused blind hopes to live in the hearts of men.
~ Aeschylus' "Prometheus" (fifth century B.C.)
The ancient Greek myth of Prometheus is the tragic and enduring narrative of a heroic figure who many publicly despised but secretly venerated, because he did feats of strength that others had neither the vision, intellect nor the heart to achieve.
Prometheus, renown for his clever intelligence, became a champion of humanity when he stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals. For this crime Prometheus was bound to a rock by Zeus while a giant eagle ate his liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day for eternity.
In the earliest treatment of Prometheus found in the epic poet Hesiod's "Theogony" (700 B.C.), Prometheus is introduced as a lowly challenger to Zeus' omniscience and omnipotence. Likewise, 15 years ago Michael Savage began his unheralded radio career bound with the self-appointed mandate to return America, a once great republic, to her founding principles bequeathed to us by the Constitution's framers – Borders, Language and Culture.
Prometheus challenged the awesome authority of Zeus by stealing fire from heaven, which gave warmth to the earth thus saving all humanity. Likewise, Savage has put his reputation on the line daily for 15 years as a Ph.D. trained scientist, autodidactic philosopher and historian, zealously defending America's national heritage and waging battle in the arena of ideas against the Zeuses of our time – like Jacqui Smith, the recently deposed home secretary of England who on May 5 libelously and slanderously placed Savage on a blacklist of 16 people banned from England, a list of infamy that included Muslim terrorists, homosexual hate-mongers, neo-Nazis and Russian mobsters.
Zeus meted out unjust and sadistic punishment to Prometheus by chaining him to a rock and commanding an eagle to eat his liver every day, only to have the liver grow back anew each day. Likewise, a similar Sisyphus-like torture was heaped upon Savage by Great Britain whose unprovoked defamation of his name and reputation has daily caused Savage's life and the physical security of his entire family to be brought into mortal danger. When Savage pleaded with the Obama administration and sent a personal letter to the president and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to intervene on his behalf as an American citizen, all he received in return was the tormenting cacophony of crickets ringing in his ears.
Another famous treatment of the heroism of Prometheus was Percy Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound" (1820). Shelley reworks the lost play of Aeschylus so that Prometheus refuses to bow to Zeus (Jupiter), but instead defeats him in a victory of the human heart and intellect over oppressive religion. Likewise, Savage's iconoclastic, defiant nature would never allow him to compromise his moral principles by kowtowing to Zeus (e.g., Obama, England, the GOP, socialism, censorship) even as his fellow conservatives (Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Joe Scarborough, Fox News, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, American Enterprise Institute, National Review), as well as the government-controlled media, all stand in silent acquiescence as the eagle (the literal symbol of the U.S. government) daily seeks to devour Savage's singular voice.
Lord Byron's poem "Prometheus" characterizes the Titan as rebellious. For the Romantics, Prometheus was an irresistible paradigm of The Man, alone in the arena who refuses to be corrupted by any form of institutional tyranny as personified by Zeus – church, monarch and patriarch. Romantics like Shelley, Byron and others compared Prometheus with the spirit of the French Revolution, Christ, Milton's Satan and the creative inspiration of poets and artists.
Likewise, Savage is indeed a Titan, a man's man who due to his fiery nature at times hurls ad hominem attacks at his conservative colleagues and enemies of Veritas (truth) and liberty. However, I do not begrudge him. For why is it acceptable for progressives, liberals and Democrats to relentlessly attack conservatives and conservative ideas, yet Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Scarborough and the other conservative oligarchs don't seem too offended by these insults?
On the contrary, these conservative commissars constantly mention liberals by name, promote their books and even frequently invite them on their programs while concurrently ignoring Dr. Savage. I consider that rank hypocrisy! If they have an argument against Savage, then have the courage to appear on his show to debate him man to man in the arena of ideas.
In a BBC Radio interview Savage had with host Victoria Derbyshire the day before his false accuser, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, was fired by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in part because the defamation against Savage backfired, Savage was asked if he would ever consider coming back to visit England. Savage said as soon as the socialist Labour Party is swept out of power, he would accept an invitation to return to England to tell his side of the story before the British Parliament.
Prometheus, brother of Atlas, risked all to steal fire from heaven to heat the earth and save humanity. Likewise, with superlative credentials, including a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, transcendent ideas codified in over 25 books, five of them New York Times best-sellers, for over 30 years Dr. Michael Savage risked all to speak truth to power, to relentlessly attack the hydra tentacles of the government-controlled media complex.
His reward? Little men are content only to gawk at our modern-day Prometheus as he wages battle in the crucible of the gladiatorial arena … alone.
I end this intimate tribute of my friend and intellectual mentor the same why I began, with the enduring words of that magnificent Greek tragedian, Aeschylus, who in his "Prometheus" said: Prometheus caused blind hopes to live in the hearts of men. Consequently, who can argue with any level of credibility against Dr. Michael Savage's "blind hopes" in valiantly defending freedom of speech and freedom of expression for all mankind? Surely, in England and in America this man should be memorialized as our modern-day Prometheus.
Thank you, Prometheus. … Thank you, Dr. Michael Savage.
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