either/or

Americans are vaguely familar with the Faulkland Islands war, but not as familar with the impact on Argentine history, nor with the fact that the Islas Malvinas, as they’re called in Castellano, have their status as Argentine territory written into the Constitution. Further, that the war, triggered by the occupation of South Georgia by Argentina in March of 1982, was a huge boost to Margaret Thatcher. Of course i learned this mostly from Wikipedia, and from this really nice guy I met on craigslist who came to buy some of our furniture in Seattle. He was a walking encyclopedia on the whole war.

I found this Elvis Costello song today and though I think i’ve heard it before I never realized the subject was the war, and the fact that the BBC calls it the most lyrically deft and intelligent protest songs ever written.