Subject: THAT'S MY BUSH (a monolingualists view of the world)
From: Jive Monkey (monkey_jive@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Apr 28 2001 - 11:48:30 GMT
Oh Scottie, I'm surprised you didn't mention the white man's burden again.
Do you really believe that we're better off being ruled only by rich white
men? I shudder to think that I ever liked or trusted Clinton (though I
suppose I must have); the man was slippier than a greased eel (and I'll
just put out my little cry of dissent right now to anyone who may say that
"he did a lot for this country." Name one good thing, please, because I
can't think of anything. Ronald Reagan has a similar history, a myth that
"he did a lot for the country," and it seems to come from the same place,
namely, the fact that the economy was humming while he was in office). And
please don't mention the Kennedys, either, there's another bunch who got way
too far on image. Robert Kennedy was a man who, while Attorney General,
took notes as civil rights demonstrators were being beaten by police a few
feet away. And please let me know how great of a leader JFK was, will you?
He escalated our involvement in Vietnam, had the whole Bay of Pigs fiasco
(actually, there was the Cuban Missile Crisis, that took guts, but bringing
the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust isn't always a good thing), and
kept civil rights leaders quiet so the status quo could roll on and on.
But, I suppose in the cozy world of family connections and financial
security, that's the mark of a grand leader.
Here's what I see "fostered in a setting of financial security, educational
priviledge & family connections": greed, laziness, a lack of understanding
of the needs of the underprivileged and poor, the belief that your family
and their friends are capable of anything and maybe even above the law, and
the conviction that you really are better than everyone else (which is
exactly the conviction that you're defending).
You're right about Forrest, though, he is an ideal candidate in today's age.
I bet he could even get more votes than Al Gore, apparently not an easy
task even for those with connections (what happened to Al's connections?
Burn too many bridges did he?).
I don't confuse compulsive book reading with intellectual rigor, frenchy,
nor do I confuse snobbery with greatness. And I'm running right now to sign
up for Spanish class, I hear it's the next big thing.
andy run, andy run, into the arms.........
of America
From: "Scottie Bowman" <rbowman@indigo.ie>
Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
To: <bananafish@roughdraft.org>
Subject: monolingualism is nothing to be proud of
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 07:58:50 +0100
A couple of points of clarification for those eager
girls with the lovely bright eyes at the front of the class.
Pisse-en-nids was the term the mighty Charles de Gaulle
used when describing those of his compatriots who were
forever criticising his statesmanship & who so appeared,
like certain birds, to enjoy 'peeing in their own nests'.
(It is not, of course, to be confused with pissenlit which
has a rather similar root [cf., lit = bed; nid = nest] &
which refers to the dandelion from whose leaves a diuretic
infusion was prepared for patients in congestive heart
failure who as their urinary output increased would, indeed,
sometimes 'piss in their own beds.')
And yes, Sean, I think Forrest would have made a very
fitting candidate for such a democratic society as the USA.
By embodying his bland, unthreatening figure, Tom Hanks
now looks fair to win the American heart permanently as
outright champion.
Unfortunately, the governance of a great people demands
subtler & more advanced talents: talents which can really
only be fostered in a setting of financial security, educational
priviledge & family connections. Without these, what one
tends to find rising to the top is a kind of bookish
industriousness coupled with a ruthless, populist ambition
from which moral considerations are quite absent.
Since I imagine very many of the list came to adulthood
during the Clinton years, they still confuse that dreadful,
clammy embrace with warmth & all that compulsive reading
with intellectual rigour.
But learn they will. They will. In time. Understatement,
command, reticence, self-mockery - these are the real indicators
of calibre.
And remember, chaps, there's nothing like family.
Churchill, Asquith, Cecil...
Adams, Roosevelt, Kennedy...
Scottie B.
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