Psychology of a hype
Brian Fenton (fentonb@mathds1.maths.ul.ie)
Thu, 07 Aug 1997 10:23:03 +0100 (WET DST)
Howdy, (I'm from the West)
About the whole Vonnegut thing, hands up how many people took
the thing a lot more seriously before the knew it wasn't Vonnegut?
(Brian suddenly experiences the weirdest of feelings: that he is the
only person in the world sitting typing at his pc with right hand, whilst
his left is dangling against his right ear.)
Whatever, (I keep drifting from my point, terribly sorry. I don't
even why everyone has to have points - I get points at work all day long.
You got see their point, give your own point, jump over the boss' point,
smash your colleague's point, point at the girls in the canteen, blush when
the girls point back, laughing and wiggling their little fingers... points
all over the place. Who needs 'em?) where was I?
Where am I? Right. Vonnegut. Yep, I, for one, thought that it was
a powerful speech, wise and full of truths, steeped in decades of mistakes,
joy and pain and from the intellect of a mind who need no longer care what
people think of him. Then I heard about the prank and I reread the piece.
This time I thought it was some hack journalist trying to be too
darn smart for his own good, dropping lots of trite bromides. It was the
same letters, same words, different reaction. Surely my problem, not
Vonnegut's or the author's?
Anyone got an opinion on the whole reaction thing?
Actually, the one line that DID make me suspicious of the source
of the speech was where he implored us not to read beauty magazines. (I'm
assuming this portion was aimed at a female target, forgive me if I offend
your tastes; if you can't forgive me, maybe we can get together some
time? 8) ahem.) Anyway, this line lead me to believe that the speech could
not have been made by a man, because no man would ever ever dare tell a
woman not to read a beauty magazine. Sorry, I've just forgotten my point,
if anyone thinks of a reason why a man would never tell a woman not to
read a beauty magazine, they're welcome to claim my "point" for their
own purposes.
oh God, my head hurts.
your callipygian correspondent,
Brian
PS Any seen Helena? I miss her mails.
PPS Oh yeah, you can put your hands down again!
--
Brian
fentonb@mathds1.ul.ie UIN = 1786973
VENEER homepage: http://mathds1.ul.ie:8080/~fentonb/index.html
"though we were in zero gravity, it pulled us closer..." Flaming Lips