PERHAPS SOYLENT GREEN WASN’T SUCH A BAD IDEA
I grow weary of being so disturbed by the world around me, though, to be honest, it is not necessarily the world in its entirety that distresses me so. There is a singular component of that totality that stands out on its own and rarely fails to produce an abiding sense of displeasure somewhere deep inside me, a presence that possesses that certain je ne sais quoi which causes the tiny hairs on the back of my neck to bristle. If you have not guessed already – based perhaps on your past experiences here, dear reader – I am speaking of us, homo sapiens, humanity, that is, people.
You may well wonder what has caused me to finally reach this point of exhaustion; surely the species provides endless fodder for dismay. Heck, didn’t I just write of my outrage over Devo 2.0? What now?
This distress I feel is of a distinctly different nature than the outrage over what we produce. I have come to terms with the fact that we, as a species, have a remarkable knack for outputting crap – just look around, perhaps go to a mall or look at the paintings on the local coffee shoppe’s walls. No, this is of a different order. This fatigue I feel is attached to the fact that I keep hoping for evidence that the species is not entirely prone to stupidity. I do not wish to impugn you dear reader – that is the problem of talking of a species, one must risk generalizations that are quite untrue. I assume you, along with many of the people I know and consider my friends, are among the bright ones, those that are capable of cogent thought and meaningful communication. Unfortunately, you are not running the show, or, more to the immediate point, you are not a candidate for the United States Senate in Virginia.
Yes, dear reader, I am beginning, admittedly slowly, a political rant, a tirade, if you will, predicated upon yesterday’s airing of Meet the Press:
I do not mean to rehash old ground here; the whole macaca thing speaks for itself. George Allen is an ass; I already knew that [for evidence of this please observe his political career]. It is not the original infraction that causes my current distress, but his explanation. Let us put aside the implausibility of his claim that his “made-up word” just happened to be an established racial slur. My own personal hackles were set off by Senator Allen’s attempt at a linguistic defense, his assertion that since he just made the word up it obviously could not have been meant in any derogatory way, that since his purportedly new creation did not have any natural or intrinsic relationship to negativity, his overt attempt to other the young man as foreign, different, and somehow less than a part of his “real Virginia” was not racist, that since his word – unlike every other word in human language? – was made-up it had no meaning whatsoever, that it was a purely phonic utterance with – despite the context of a political rally, a bastion of hyper-signification – no meaning at all. This is what has sparked this deep and abiding dismay, this abuse of logic and reason, this assault upon meaning itself. I understand the need for the good Senator – please observe the irony dripping in heavy globules – to distance himself from his gaff, but please, didn’t we all learn that made-up words have meaning the first time we encountered Dr. Seuss?
But, though I am perfectly happy to spend hours outlining the manifold ways in which George Allen is a rat-bastard, this current horror is not limited to the Republican senator. No, unfortunately his Democratic opponent is equally guilty of linguistic violations, or at least significant breaches of locutionary decency:
This on top of his previous apology for his comments about women in the military, an apology that consisted of the statement that he was sorry “to the extent my writing caused hardship.” The classic “I am sorry to the extent that you were upset by me shooting you [never mind the bullet lodged in your chest]” defense. So Mr. Webb has changed his mind about being sexist to the extent that he has changed his mind, but has not to the extent that he has not.
The problem is, you see, that the alien or robot overlords have not yet come to save us from ourselves. Or perhaps it is just that we aren’t demanding enough of ourselves. The Senate race in Virginia is, sadly, all too typical. The voters must choose between the racist candidate and a sexist one – and that is just based on what has come out in the press. If that were not enough to cause distress, Sunday’s performance shows that each man is either a moron lacking the basic grasp of how words, sentences, and propositions work, or that both assume that every one of us is a moron lacking the basic grasp of how words, sentences, and propositions work [somehow, my inclination is that both of these conditions is true].
Thus, dear reader, I am distressed; I scan the new awaiting something to spark a glimmer of hope, but oh, wait, what did the Pope just say?
Alas, more dismay…
You may well wonder what has caused me to finally reach this point of exhaustion; surely the species provides endless fodder for dismay. Heck, didn’t I just write of my outrage over Devo 2.0? What now?
This distress I feel is of a distinctly different nature than the outrage over what we produce. I have come to terms with the fact that we, as a species, have a remarkable knack for outputting crap – just look around, perhaps go to a mall or look at the paintings on the local coffee shoppe’s walls. No, this is of a different order. This fatigue I feel is attached to the fact that I keep hoping for evidence that the species is not entirely prone to stupidity. I do not wish to impugn you dear reader – that is the problem of talking of a species, one must risk generalizations that are quite untrue. I assume you, along with many of the people I know and consider my friends, are among the bright ones, those that are capable of cogent thought and meaningful communication. Unfortunately, you are not running the show, or, more to the immediate point, you are not a candidate for the United States Senate in Virginia.
Yes, dear reader, I am beginning, admittedly slowly, a political rant, a tirade, if you will, predicated upon yesterday’s airing of Meet the Press:
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Allen, you, too, have gotten in trouble with words that you’ve uttered. Let me bring you back to August 11th. You were at a campaign stop, and a young man who was videotaping it for the Webb campaign was there also. Let’s watch.
RUSSERT: Critics say that “macaca” is a racist slur, and that you used it because he was dark-skinned. What did you specifically mean when you said, “Welcome to America and the real Virginia”? Why did you use those words toward a dark-skinned American?
SEN. ALLEN: Tim, I made a mistake. I said things thoughtlessly. I’ve apologized for it, as well I should. But there was no racial or ethnic intent to slur anyone. If I had any idea that, that that word, and to some people in some parts of the world, world, was an insult, I would never do it, because it’s contrary to what I believe and who I am.
MR. RUSSERT: Well, where’d the word come from? It must’ve been in your consciousness.
SEN. ALLEN: Oh, it’s just made up.
MR. RUSSERT: Made up?
SEN. ALLEN: Just made up. Made-up word.
MR. RUSSERT: You’d never heard it before?
SEN. ALLEN: Never heard it before.
I do not mean to rehash old ground here; the whole macaca thing speaks for itself. George Allen is an ass; I already knew that [for evidence of this please observe his political career]. It is not the original infraction that causes my current distress, but his explanation. Let us put aside the implausibility of his claim that his “made-up word” just happened to be an established racial slur. My own personal hackles were set off by Senator Allen’s attempt at a linguistic defense, his assertion that since he just made the word up it obviously could not have been meant in any derogatory way, that since his purportedly new creation did not have any natural or intrinsic relationship to negativity, his overt attempt to other the young man as foreign, different, and somehow less than a part of his “real Virginia” was not racist, that since his word – unlike every other word in human language? – was made-up it had no meaning whatsoever, that it was a purely phonic utterance with – despite the context of a political rally, a bastion of hyper-signification – no meaning at all. This is what has sparked this deep and abiding dismay, this abuse of logic and reason, this assault upon meaning itself. I understand the need for the good Senator – please observe the irony dripping in heavy globules – to distance himself from his gaff, but please, didn’t we all learn that made-up words have meaning the first time we encountered Dr. Seuss?
But, though I am perfectly happy to spend hours outlining the manifold ways in which George Allen is a rat-bastard, this current horror is not limited to the Republican senator. No, unfortunately his Democratic opponent is equally guilty of linguistic violations, or at least significant breaches of locutionary decency:
MR. RUSSERT: Bottom line, do you now believe that women can, in fact, provide men with combat leadership?
MR. WEBB: Absolutely. Other than that they’re...
MR. RUSSERT: So that’s a change.
MR. WEBB: Well, no, no. What I’m saying is, right now, I believe the situation is where a lot of people wanted it to be back in 1970, 19--9--1980 when people—social experimentation was in place rather than allowing the military to make these decisions.
MR. RUSSERT: But it is 2006. You have not changed your mind at all about women’s ability to lead men?
MR. WEBB: No. I did not say that. I—I’m fully comfortable with women’s ability to lead men.
MR. RUSSERT: So you have changed your mind?
MR. WEBB: What, what, what I’m saying is, in areas like the infantry and the artillery, where—which now remain all-male, I’m comfortable with that, too. And Senator Allen has his own issues on this, by the way. As recently as 2000, saying women didn’t belong in foxholes, and maybe you should ask him about that.
This on top of his previous apology for his comments about women in the military, an apology that consisted of the statement that he was sorry “to the extent my writing caused hardship.” The classic “I am sorry to the extent that you were upset by me shooting you [never mind the bullet lodged in your chest]” defense. So Mr. Webb has changed his mind about being sexist to the extent that he has changed his mind, but has not to the extent that he has not.
The problem is, you see, that the alien or robot overlords have not yet come to save us from ourselves. Or perhaps it is just that we aren’t demanding enough of ourselves. The Senate race in Virginia is, sadly, all too typical. The voters must choose between the racist candidate and a sexist one – and that is just based on what has come out in the press. If that were not enough to cause distress, Sunday’s performance shows that each man is either a moron lacking the basic grasp of how words, sentences, and propositions work, or that both assume that every one of us is a moron lacking the basic grasp of how words, sentences, and propositions work [somehow, my inclination is that both of these conditions is true].
Thus, dear reader, I am distressed; I scan the new awaiting something to spark a glimmer of hope, but oh, wait, what did the Pope just say?
Alas, more dismay…
2 Comments:
I am so happy that I don't live in Virginia. But wait! I live in Maryland. Does that make things better? And as for the Pope, well he really should have known better, shouldn't he? I have also been somewhat distressed lately about everyone killing everyone else everywhere. Maybe I am being over sensitive.
I would not regard that as overly sensitive; the whole people killing each other rather sucks. I keep pondering ways to make them stop, but it mostly leads me to awaiting the robot overlords to come and fix things. Alas for their delay...
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