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Friday, June 23, 2006
A War on Dandruff
One of my English professors in college was an admitted operaholic. Once, at his insistence, I tried to watch an opera, but couldn't make it through the whole thing. My teacher was so convincing, I gave him the benefit of the doubt until I tried it for myself. But, like he failed at forming me into a great writer, he also failed in teaching me to appreciate opera.
Name any year, and my teacher could give you the Academy Award winners - any year! He knew something about every television show and every type of music. He said that his memory was no better than anyone else's, but you just remember what you're interested in. Anyone who knows me knows that I am interested in many things, but my memory is a black hole.
Gore Vidal was the epitome of a writer, according to this professor whose name I can't remember right now (see? black hole). Once again, I failed to get what I was being taught, preferring Hermann Hesse and Kurt Vonnegut to Vidal. The article "An American icon: Gore Vidal on Italy, Iraq - and why he hates George Bush" from The Independent has motivated me to revisit Gore Vidal. Actually, I think he and Kurt would get along just fine.
Some excerpts:
How is it, then, to live full-time in the United States?
"If you care about America it's dreadful," he said. "If you are making money you don't care.
"Benjamin Franklin was shown the new American constitution, and he said, 'I don't like it, but I will vote for it because we need something right now. But this constitution in time will fail, as all such efforts do. And it will fail because of the corruption of the people, in a general sense.' And that is what it has come to now, exactly as Franklin predicted."
We have arrived in short order at Vidal's core message. As he points out, he has "lived for three-quarters of the 20th century and a third of the history of the United States", and listening to him talk one feels in the presence of history as with few Americans.
Why is it so dreadful to live in America, I asked.
"We have been deprived of our franchise," he says. "The election was stolen in both 2000 and 2004, because of electronic voting machinery which can be easily fixed. We've had two illegitimate elections in a row ...
"Little Bush says we are at war, but we are not at war because to be at war Congress has to vote for it. He says we are at war on terror, but that is a metaphor, though I doubt if he knows what that means. It's like having a war on dandruff, it's endless and pointless. We are in a dictatorship that has been totally militarised, everyone is spied on by the government itself. All three arms of the government are in the hands of this junta.
"Whatever you are," he goes on, "they say you are the reverse. The men behind the war in Iraq are cowards who did not fight in Vietnam - but they spent millions of dollars proving that John Kerry, who was a genuine war hero whatever you think of his politics, was a coward.
"This is what happens when you have control of the media, and I have never known the media more vicious, stupid and corrupt than they are now."
Regarding "It's like having a war on dandruff", my ex used to have dandruff, and he used a certain dandruff product religiously for years with no results. I used to say to him that if something isn't working, why do you keep doing it? Why don't you try something else? That is what I have to say to our policymakers. Let's try something new! It appears that violence begets violence. Let's stop the cycle. But then again, I guess it IS working for the people it's working for!
Name any year, and my teacher could give you the Academy Award winners - any year! He knew something about every television show and every type of music. He said that his memory was no better than anyone else's, but you just remember what you're interested in. Anyone who knows me knows that I am interested in many things, but my memory is a black hole.
Gore Vidal was the epitome of a writer, according to this professor whose name I can't remember right now (see? black hole). Once again, I failed to get what I was being taught, preferring Hermann Hesse and Kurt Vonnegut to Vidal. The article "An American icon: Gore Vidal on Italy, Iraq - and why he hates George Bush" from The Independent has motivated me to revisit Gore Vidal. Actually, I think he and Kurt would get along just fine.
Some excerpts:
How is it, then, to live full-time in the United States?
"If you care about America it's dreadful," he said. "If you are making money you don't care.
"Benjamin Franklin was shown the new American constitution, and he said, 'I don't like it, but I will vote for it because we need something right now. But this constitution in time will fail, as all such efforts do. And it will fail because of the corruption of the people, in a general sense.' And that is what it has come to now, exactly as Franklin predicted."
We have arrived in short order at Vidal's core message. As he points out, he has "lived for three-quarters of the 20th century and a third of the history of the United States", and listening to him talk one feels in the presence of history as with few Americans.
Why is it so dreadful to live in America, I asked.
"We have been deprived of our franchise," he says. "The election was stolen in both 2000 and 2004, because of electronic voting machinery which can be easily fixed. We've had two illegitimate elections in a row ...
"Little Bush says we are at war, but we are not at war because to be at war Congress has to vote for it. He says we are at war on terror, but that is a metaphor, though I doubt if he knows what that means. It's like having a war on dandruff, it's endless and pointless. We are in a dictatorship that has been totally militarised, everyone is spied on by the government itself. All three arms of the government are in the hands of this junta.
"Whatever you are," he goes on, "they say you are the reverse. The men behind the war in Iraq are cowards who did not fight in Vietnam - but they spent millions of dollars proving that John Kerry, who was a genuine war hero whatever you think of his politics, was a coward.
"This is what happens when you have control of the media, and I have never known the media more vicious, stupid and corrupt than they are now."
Regarding "It's like having a war on dandruff", my ex used to have dandruff, and he used a certain dandruff product religiously for years with no results. I used to say to him that if something isn't working, why do you keep doing it? Why don't you try something else? That is what I have to say to our policymakers. Let's try something new! It appears that violence begets violence. Let's stop the cycle. But then again, I guess it IS working for the people it's working for!
posted by Carol at 12:57 PM
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