Political Theatre category archive
“Uppity” 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., points out that “uppity” is still a thing.
Tales of Trumplings Past 0
Elsewhere, Sasha Abramsky is has similar thoughts. Follow the link for the complete article:
As in, “Can you imagine Franklin Roosevelt telling the world that many Nazi protestors were ‘good people’?” As in, “Can you imagine Ronald Reagan crowing about his crowd size while touring a region utterly devastated by hurricane winds and rain?” As in, “Can you imagine John Kennedy publicly urging “the torture” on terrorism suspects and the roughing up by the police of criminal suspects?”
The answer, of course, to all of these questions is that such utterances are, quite simply, unimaginable.
Image via Job’s Anger.
Seizure in September 0
Farron looks at what the Republican-controlled Congress is facing and concludes that it ain’t pretty.
Civic Duty, Reprise 0
Rekha Basu explains that “civic duty” means serving the civitas, not the privatas.
A Rudderless Ship of State 0
Shorter Dan Simpson: Incoherent bluster is not a foreign policy.
Profiles in Cowering 0
A Der Spiegel correspondent looks back on his two years living in an upscale suburb of Washington, D. C., and sees am undercurrent of fearfulness in day-to-day American life. Here’s short excerpt:
And it’s true, this country often drives people to despair, even if you live in a bubble. It is wrought with contradictions. Everyone talks about security, but the Americans haven’t even managed to impose reasonable controls on weapon ownership. Everyone talks about freedom, but then, at the swimming pool we went to a few streets to the north, girls were made to wear bikinis even as babies. If I bought a bottle of wine at the store, I had to keep it hidden in a dark plastic bag until I got home.
I commend the entire piece to your attention.
The Lesson of Lolita 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Michael Karson turns our attention to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and the lessons it has for us.
Many years ago, I read Lolita.
It is without question the most chilling novel I have ever read. Next to it, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a Daffy Duck comic. I have no desire to read it again.*
In his narration, Humbert Humbert convinces himself and almost (but not quite–that’s the majesty of Nabokov’s writing) convinces the reader that Lolita welcomes, even yearns for, his violation of her.
An excerpt from Karson’s piece:
Nabokov confronts us with the elegant stories we tell ourselves to excuse our selfishness.
Self-delusion and evil often walk hand-in-hand.
Look around: You will see many Humbert Humberts in the political sphere, industriously convincing themselves and their dupes, symps, and fellow travelers to violate the common good and rape the general wellfare.
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*It has been said that any book worth reading once is worth reading twice. I’ll make an exception for Lolita.
The Silence of the (on the) Lams 0
The Maine Beacon reports on why Congressman Bruce Poliquin (R–Don’t Talk to Me) refuses to hold town halls or answer questions from reporters.
“Do I talk to the national media? Not often. I’ve been dying to do what you want me to do. Dying to do it, but we’ve got to be very – it would be stupid for me to engage the national media and give them and everyone else the ammunition they need and we lose this seat. We have to be really careful,” said the congressweasel.
Via The Bangor Daily News, which manages not to use the term “Congressweasel” in its story. It contents itself with pointing out that
Poliquin said there are so many reporters who want to ask him questions and they want him, a congressman, to allow his words to be reported so that everyone can read them. That’s not something he wants.