As I have often remarked, blogging is a strange form of communication. Sometimes, I work hard on a post, thinking it through as I walk, trying to get my thoughts precisely in order. If I am fortunate, when I put those thoughts on line, they elicit three or four brief comments. Last Tuesday, gob smacked by the succession of bizarre events, I put up a lighthearted post in which I made reference to a 72 car crash on an icy road. That post has elicited, at last count, 77 comments, some of which are longer than the post itself.
Several of those who commented thought it would be just
lovely to hear me give a Marxian analysis of a 72 car crash. Alas, would that I
could. If I were Karl Marx himself, I would dash off The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, an immortal work
occasioned by a similar moment of madness. As my old friend and former
department chair, Esther Terry, would have said, Marx was adept at making chicken
salad out of chicken shit. But I know my
limits.
That was Tuesday – three days ago. Since then, the entire
West Wing has become infected, Trump has pulled out of the second debate, Trump
has personally destroyed any chance of another desperately needed stimulus
bill, taking personal responsibility for its demise, a group of right-wing
terrorists have been arrested for plotting the kidnapping, trial, and death of
a sitting American governor, Trump has publicly called for his Attorney General
to arrest his opponent in the election, and, oh yes, a fly has landed on Mike
Pence’s head. I don’t need Karl Marx to analyze this. I don’t even need Groucho
Marx. I need Mel Brooks.
Meanwhile, time passes, I cross days off my mental calendar,
and Lindsey Graham is in the fight of his life in South Carolina!
I spent much of my life attempting high domed large-scale
analyses of Euro-American capitalism. Let me enjoy just a few days watching the
clown car at the circus.
10 comments:
For my money, this is the best clown-car circus take on the Presidential Debate:
'Weird Al' mocks presidential debate in 'We're All Doomed!'
If you don't know who "Weird Al" Yankovic is, he's a very clever and funny musical satirist, and quite an intelligent individual.
New York Times Magazine: The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic
That was fabulous! Thank you.
I'll agree, there is a certain pleasure watching trump demonstrating just how unhinged he is. On the other hand, it's surely troubling that there seems to be no way of shutting the unhinged trump up somewhere where he can't do more irreperable damage during the next three months.
R McD,
Your point is well taken, That said, I think that it's important to remember that "They want to take out the cows! The cows!"
He did get that right, Walter, at least that's what I gather from watching David Attenborough's most recent offering on Netflix.
As to how well the US does things nowadays, I suddenly found myself thinking of Alan Bennet's "The madness of King George" (yes, that King George) with all the careerist medical charlatans, etc. But he was at least shut up while he was in the throes of dementia.
The (roughly) 84 hour gap between blog posts (putting me in mind of a much shorter 18 minute gap in the 1970s) left me wondering if our fearless leader were ill.
Let's make the obvious joke about Pence:
Why was the fly attracted to the Vice President's head ?
Because he is so full of shit.
Not ill, Marcel Proust, just bemused.
When the fly incident occurred, I just lost it. I knew in that instant it would have massive public reverberations. The fact that the fly stuck around for so long was simply icing on the cake. I immediately thought of fictional depictions of demons and ghouls that would typically be accompanied by insects and vermin crawling about their bodies. What is amazing to me, however, is that it is an event which is the polar opposite to the moment when a bird landed on Bernie's podium during a campaign event. One image reflected hope, optimism, and joy while the other evoked decadence, rot, and waste. Could there be a god, as Professor Wolff sometimes asks? I like to think that there might be some members of the natural world who posses a great deal more knowledge and insight than we give them credit for.
-- Jim
There were some comments after the debate that Pence appeared to have pink-eye in his left eye. Commentators were wondering if it was a symptom of Covid 19 infection.
There is a government funded program in which they are training dogs to detect and identify individuals who are infected with Covid to be deployed at public buildings, airports, etc. Perhaps they are also training flies.
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