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April 12, 2007 - Thursday
Bye, Kurt
"I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka 'Christians,' and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities..."
source
obit
Chitchat:
in all respect... so it goes I loved Vonnegut's work but I never realized what a bigot he was to take a whole group of people (Christians) and paint them with such a broad, predjudiced brush.
I guess I will choose to remember him as what he once was and not what he became. Okay, I take it all back. That's always been my weakness. I don't think he was trying to say that Christians are white supremacists, but that white supremacists tend to call themselves "Christians." Evidently there was something in his intonation that led the interviewer to put the word in quotes.
I guess I'll choose to accept the passage not as a bigoted screed, but just his sort of incisive commentary — if perhaps a lot less subtle than when he was younger. on the reported cause of KV's death: don't say "ow", say "waaa"
and similarly, but not exactly (related only by above): don't say "si", say "oui"
and of course, "my brain hurts" Yep, that's the message I got upon rereading the quote. I suck. Not hardly, mister. What you do is THINK, and that don't suck. Your first read was legit IMO; the quote is pretty wide open for interpretation either way. I just chose the other way, probably for no real reason other than that was how it struck me the first time. rodney, prior to markus' blob entry, i had the advantage of having previously read the book from which the quote was taken, and, to be truthful, at the time, while in the defining arms of cover-to-cover context, i had to do a mental double-take to decide whether or not i took kurt for having stressed his humanitarian-and-only-humanitarian-nothing-more-goddamit
to a degree i felt was (cont.) (cont from above) intolerant dogmatism - the 'Christian' affliction. but hey, we'll all be wretched old men, too, in beguiling rapidity...we're all in this together, right kurt? english, my native tongue....its proper form and usage eludes me....my interpretation of any written or spoken english statement is to be questioned....and any written or spoken statement i might myself scribble or blather, it is safe to say will be unintelligible. like it or not, kurt, you're my guardian angel, the invisible interpreter perched on my shoulder, squawking like a goddamned humanistic parrot. Language is a virus from outer space. kv, i'm over denial. now i'm just sad.
then comes anger and acceptance. right?
squawketh the parrot, "evermore". or, "po-ta-weet" (somethin' along those lines) Ya got a bloody nice to say
nice nice youre bloody well nice Ya got a bloody nice to say
nice nice youre bloody well nice |
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