Busy Busy Busy has a great summary of Max Boot’s commentary on the peaceful nature of democratically elected governments: if the US had a democratically elected government it would be far less likely to be involved in the Iraq war. You know, in the early days of the administration, people who pointed out how Bush was really screwing up were called “shrill.” Well, more and more people have gotten more and more shrill. And it’s all cataloged in the Shrill Blog. People are getting very, very upset about the political situation in this country. You have to remember, we’re being led by someone who lost the election and was appointed by Antonin Scalia & co. What on earth could possibly alleviate the anger of such problems?
Yesterday Mark Gordon suggested to me that baseball and beer was like bread and circuses. Which is pretty accurate. On the other hand, the Whole Foods subsidiary Bread and Circus is definitely all about bread and circuses. Which is to say, the aspiration to consume beautifully arranged expensive gourmet food is a pastime which can distract us from the troubles of our lives. And I am not opposed to that anymore. Why should I suffer? Why should anyone?
Bring on the soma, says I. Bring on the booze. Bring on the Valium, the Wega, the PlayStation, the Orgasmatron, the Buspar, the Viagra. Lower the standards, says I, open the floodgates for the dopamine-oriented culture of intoxication. I am not afraid of living in oblivion. I am afraid of not living in oblivion. I am afraid of having to feel. If I’m lucky I’ll get into Corian and cork and 10/15 ARMs and not scag and small arms, but it’s all the same in the end. As Margaret Atwood says in Happy Endings, John and Mary die. John and Mary Die. John and Mary die.
And as they say, every living thing dies alone.
Secretly Ironic 