Wednesday, April 11, 2012

A Foot (in mouth) Race

Good Reads
Obama’s Preacher is foaming at the mouth again, and we are cursed with an overabundance of people gleefully fanning the flames of racial strife. Black panthers and white supremacists are racing down to Florida (may God grant them a clear field free of innocent citizens where they can slaughter one another). I understand why so many ordinary blacks are upset at the perceived special treatment police gave George Zimmerman, but the rest of it is a circus.

Amidst the racial turmoil, conservative writer John Derbyshire, since fired from National Review, wrote a racist article advising young people to treat black people differently and to look upon them more critically than white people.

"An out-of-tune racist marching band"

Mark Adomanis, writing in Forbes Magazine, hit the nail on the head:
No, what made Derbyshire’s piece so unusual, and what resulted in his summary dismissal, was not the fact that it dealt with race but that it did so in a uniquely bullheaded and crass way: it wasn’t a racist dog whistle so much as it was an out-of-tune racist marching band. (Mark Adomanis – Forbes)
Lefty publications just called it racist and left it at that. Adomanis explains why it is racist:
Derbyshire is literally suggesting that people use one, exacting and demanding, standard when judging the acceptability of black politicians and that they use another, far less exacting, standard when judging white politicians.
That is we should use different, and racially-determined, standards to judge the behavior of blacks and whites. That is, basically, the dictionary definition of racism or as least close to it as you’re ever likely to see in print.
Pot, Kettle...

After handily blasting Derbyshire for broadbrusing an entire group of people, the liberal author immediately broad brushes us unwashed conservatives out in the hinterlands clinging to our guns and bibles, imagining that we are all steaming mad at Derbyshire's firing and just one trigger pull away from teaching the "RINOs" a lesson...
These people are angry beyond belief that fearless writers like Derbyshire are being unfairly marginalized by “wimps” like Rich Lowry (one of the most constant insults you will see hurled at establishment conservatives is “girly man”) and regard any attempts to police conservative discourse as revolting attempts to “appease” liberals.
I guess I don't get out enough, because the fellow rednecks I encounter don't fit his profile. Derbyshire's article was spilling over with links to statistics and anecdotal data to bolster his point, but I still agree with the liberal that it was crass and racist.  

World Nut Daily published something similar.  It was not so much blatantly racist as merely intellectually sloppy and casually bigoted:
The melting pot concept was always nine-tenths myth, and the historical pattern clearly shows that distinct groups of immigrants generally do not assimilate over several generations, but rather form tribal factions that work to further the interests of the group at the expense of other tribal factions in the state.
Yeah, we've got all these German, Italian, Russian and hundreds of other polyglot tribes carving their own enclaves here in America, driving around Mad Max-like and creating havoc...

This is nonsense. Look around you. Look in a phone book. How many people do we have in this country with Dutch, Scandinavian, Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc surnames who speak not one word of their ancestors' language, and who know very little of the old country's culture? If he has particular people in mind he should mention them instead of smearing everyone but his own stupid white ass.

For those about to mention Mexican gang members, we have thousands of law-abiding, assimilated Hispanics for each criminal, and if we had no white or indigenous gang bangers, you might have a point.  But we do, so you don't.

This part is racist:
... even after 150 years, despite the intentional destruction of their languages, religions and tribal identities that they suffered at the hands of those who enslaved them, African-Americans have still not collectively assimilated into the greater American culture.
While many blacks and whites alike would prefer to believe this is solely the result of white racism, racism has only been one factor contributing to the development that the historical pattern clearly indicates; over the course of seven or eight generations, African-Americans have managed to create, largely ex nihilo, their own distinct cultural identity in preference to the adoption of the European civilization that forcibly imported their ancestors.
Borders, Language, Culture

This is a clumsy, chauvinistic anti-immigrant, anti-black bash, nothing more. I agree with Michael Savage that Borders, Language and Culture are critical. We need to preserve them, but simplistic articles like this are not helpful.  Not only that, they are not even accurate and they fail to identify the root of whatever problem it is they are ranting against.

Which immigrants was he talking about? I agree that those whose culture is incompatible with Western Civilization should not be allowed in, but using the generic “immigrant” stupidly impugns them all, including presumably my Eastern European mom, aunts and uncles and grandparents. And  treating black Americans as a homogeneous underclass group is a bald-faced, bigoted insult, not to mention factually incorrect. 

I’m again reminded why I avoid World Nut Daily. Such sensationalist founts of stupidity do more harm than good to the conservative cause.  We have isolated instances of unassimilated immigrants (blessedly rare), and if someone wants to address the topic, specific facts would advance the dialog.  

We also have a criminal underclass in this country, but it is a diverse, multi-color population, and it needs to be addressed as such.  Not only out of respect for the facts, but most of all out of respect for the overwhelming majority of black Americans who love this country and go to work everyday to take care of their families and pay the bills.

There are ways to talk about America's problems, and I've just featured two examples of how not to do it, and it has nothing to do with political correctness, and everything to do with intellectual honesty and respect for others.

As a bonus, here is how you humorously and frankly address politically incorrect topics without descending into chauvinistic bigotry :  Ten HateFacts

42 comments:

Just a conservative girl said...

There are some that do feel his firing was wrong for that reason. I find that hard to believe, but sadly true.

As a person who gets to see both sides of the coin of race relations in this country (inter-racial marriage) there is soft racism that is exhibited daily in this country. It is a conversation that we are not really willing to have, because it becomes too emotional.

I have come to the conclusion that Derbyshire has every right to his bigotry. Have at it. That doesn't mean that NR has to give him a platform to spew it. He embarrassed his employer in a very public fashion, he called into question their integrity and journalistic standards, of course he had to be fired.

Sometimes we forget right and wrong because we are too busy worrying about right and left.

Always On Watch said...

Obama’s Preacher is foaming at the mouth again....

I read that first clause and muttered, "Oh, God. Now, what?"

Back to reading the post.

Anonymous said...

'"Tis finished!"

So the Savior cried, and meekly bowed His head and died.'


Of all the insidious diseases that afflict us naiveté may be the most pernicious.

We have been deracinated [LOOK IT UP!] so skillfully, so gradually, the vast majority are completely unaware it has happened.

That many accept this as a great moral victory is proof of its enormous success.

Not only are we no longer capable of saying, "But he has nothing on!" we are no longer capable of RECOGNIZING it.

INCREDIBLE!

~ FreeThinke

Ducky's here said...

FREE OZZIE GUILLEN !!!

FREE OZZIE GUILLEN !!!

Ducky's here said...

Derbyshire is literally suggesting that people use one, exacting and demanding, standard when judging the acceptability of black politicians and that they use another, far less exacting, standard when judging white politicians.

--------

Much like you were quite comfortable with Fredd's contention that separate criteria should be used to judge liberals.

In fact you thought it was fine that liberals be discriminated against.

Ducky's here said...

my Eastern European mom, aunts and uncles and grandparents

-----

No kidding,are you a Slavic brother?

Silverfiddle said...

Ducky: If you think Fredd was serious about planting a pie in a liberal family member's face, you are beyond help.

Ozzie Guillen's suspension was not about ideology, but money. Take it up with MLB. Personally, I think they jobbed him, and I hate the precedent we've fallen into where people are punished for saying the politically incorrect things. Being stupid is not against MLB policy and people have a right to speak their mind.

Slavic Brother? Is that some kind of secret lodge?

Anonymous said...

I object to the flippant, sarcastic tone and blatant vulgarity of McInness' HateFact article.

It sounds so much like our Ducky -- as modern -- as caustic -- and as hateful -- as TODAY.

And you call John Derbyshire "crass?"

PLEASE!

FASCINATING that the very article that got Rich Lowry's knockers in a knot appears cheek-by-jowl with Gavin McInnes snotty satire in the same online publication.

Those of you who adore statistics and love to fling facts like stones at those with whom you disagree should not shrink back in horror or cluck your tongues behind pursed lips with distaste when they "prove" a contention with which you are markedly unsympathetic.

~ FreeThinke

Ducky's here said...

Well Silver, I think the Guillen situation is interesting. It's instructive that a lot of left wing sentiment is still forbidden speech in America.

Yes, Fredd's sentiment that he would love to see liberals fired is a very accurate demonstration of his sentiments.


Ukrainian and proud !

Bunkerville said...

I agree with most of what you say,except that for the first time an ethnic group is being catered to in order that they do not join in the melting pot. Having chosen to separate themselves from the majority, the balkanization begins.
"We also have a criminal underclass in this country, but it is a diverse, multi-color population, and it needs to be addressed as such"- you may want to catch "Lockup" or other such programs and reconsider that with a 70 percent recidvism rate, they have become their own unique sub-culture, unable to particapte in society.

Silverfiddle said...

Bunker: But do you condemn everyone who's black? That is the point. Should Allen West be held to more scrutiny than Bernie Sanders?

Go read Derbyshire's article and get back to me.

FT: Same thing. Do you agree with holding black people to a different standard?

Bunkerville said...

Dont get me wrong, Derbyshire was out of bounds. I work in the heartland of the inner city. I am afraid to go to my car, security watches me, and the ones that terroize me are the same ones that have been in and out of jail. A subculture that has no future regardless of race. In this case, African American. The fault of this situation rests at the feet of many. Too complex to discuss now, and it has already been done. No I am not a racist. I work where I work to provide healthcare to this community,help that those can heal them and patch up there bullet wounds, stabbings..see that 12 year olds have babies that live.

Anonymous said...

"Do you agree with holding black people to a different standard?"

I can't imagine why you would ask me that, SF.

The answer, of course, is an emphatic no. At the same time, however, if everyone were in fact held to a SINGLE standard, as I think they should be, I am morally certain that -- shall we put it delicately and say -- uh "certain groups" -- would as a whole not be able to measure up to the standards formerly set by the culture before we became obsessed with correcting the perceived wrongs of "racism" while stupidly blinding ourselves to all other considerations.

I happen to have read Derbyshire's article last night before I had an inkling you would discuss it here today. I found it surprising, but hardly "offensive."

We are so unused to the direct expression of facts and opinions unfiltered by fear of ostracism and persecution engendered by political correctness that simple statements of plain unvarnished truth -- as your friend McInnes says -- is taken as "hate speech" deeply offensive to Progressive-mandated standards of "evolved" decency and soon apt to be CRIMINALIZED just as "anti-Semitism" has been criminalized in post-was Europe.

If you had ever lived and worked in New York City, as I did for many years, or if you had ever taught for the United Negro College Fund, as I did early in my adult life, you would be forced to accept Derbyshire's conclusions -- as he stated them, -- as realistic, and pretty sound advice to those whites who hope to survive in our deracinated society.

Most white people people under the age of sixty have become so systematically "dumbed down" by "The System" they can no longer see that they have been systematically done in. And this has ben successfully fobbed off by liberals as "A Great Moral Victory."

The Truth often hurts, never flatters, but it always liberates. The "rub," is to be able to RECOGNIZE the Truth when you see it.

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

Bunkerville, your statement is as admirable as what you are doing with your life, but it only serves to support Derbyshire's contentions -- IF you read them and understood them rightly.

Please STOP APOLOGIZING. There is nothing to apologize FOR. This process of being bullied into submission by the stern disapproval of The New Bigotry is at the root and heart of everything that ails this society.

Standing up for yourself and your kind does NOT make you or anyone else a hateful bigot, but succumbing to the ubiquitous PC pressure to conform to The New Orthodoxy -- The NEW Bigotry -- makes you and all the rest of us who've allowed ourselves to be so cowed a WIMP.

Any and all forms of GroupThink should be avoided like the plague. GroupThink is just another name for Mob Psychology. As we all should now there's nothing deadlier than an angry mob with a rope.

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

"may God grant them a clear field free of innocent citizens where they can slaughter one another)"

There are no fields that big on this planet. Racism is stupid and stupid is a commodity in excessive aboundence in our world.
Racism is like a desease. If we can not talk about it rationally, we can never hope to find a cure.

Silverfiddle said...

@ Bunker: No I am not a racist.

I hope you didn't think I was implying that! Candor and goodwill... I understand where you are coming from.

FT & Bunker: Like the liberal author, I specifically took issue with Derbyshire's advice to hold black people to a different standard.

(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.


Of course, we are all free to hold whatever standards we want in our personal lives, and even Jesse Jackson famously said that when walking along he would avoid the group of young black males.

Derbyshire is making broad, categorical evaluations based upon race, and as Mark Levin observes in his defense of Derbyshire, that is indefensible, not on moral grounds, but on observable scientific grounds.

This is much different that using situational cues to navigate daily life based upon context and location, which is what both Bunker and FT are defending.

So you can put away the scolding finger, FreeThinke, I am not succumbing to political correctness.

Christopher - Conservative Perspective said...

Silver, I take note of and wish to quote you on this;

"Which immigrants was he talking about? I agree that those whose culture is incompatible with Western Civilization should not be allowed in, but using the generic “immigrant” stupidly impugns them all"

First, I do not see how the term that is universally accepted and used such as "immigrant" impugns anyone that actually is one? Even my dad (Canadian) after receiving his U.S. Citizenship used the term proudly and then later in life having re-married to a Canadian the Canadian government referred to him legally as a landed-immigrant.

But the intention I believe the author meant were the terms that preceded immigrant which are "distinct groups of". Now beside you citing Mexican gangs, I would cite as example in this "distinct group" area Muslims (I live near Dearborn, MI - Google it).

Now if you were to say that that group fits within your thought of not being compatible with western civilization, then would that not be much like what you are chastising Derbyshire and WND of?

Just thinking out loud.

Silverfiddle said...

Christopher: I am putting no discussion off limits. What I am saying is that his lack of specifics damages his argument. He says "The melting pot concept was always nine-tenths myth", and then fails to substantiate his assertion, choosing instead to speak in broad terms.

Z said...

SF...you're so right here "We also have a criminal underclass in this country, but it is a diverse, multi-color population, and it needs to be addressed as such. Not only out of respect for the facts, but most of all out of respect for the overwhelming majority of black Americans who love this country and go to work everyday to take care of their families and pay the bills."

I don't like WND, either...the few articles they get extremely right aren't worth slogging through those they go hyperbolic on. It's like reading Moveon.com...
Joseph Farrah once took exception at my place and left a snarky comment; I responded with the truth he'd missed and he sort of apologized.

We both blogged on race today...thanks for having chimed in.

Speedy G said...

Guillen and Debyshire...

Offsetting penalties... resume play!

Speedy G said...

“Mistrust those in whom the urge to punish is strong.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Ducky's here said...

Sorry Farmer, that says to keep a very sharp eye on our Calvinist brothers and sisters on the fringe right.

As I say, they are extremely dangerous not because they believe they are superior. They believe God believes they are superior. Dangerous bunch of snakes they are.

Anonymous said...

Try THIS in for size. Never mind the pretentiously self-promoting aspect of the ponderous introduction delivered with an irritating lisp -- the PHOTOGRAPHY is splendid -- the light, the joy, the wisdom and compassion, captured in the eyes of dozens of different human beings of many different ages all over the world is the Gift of this video, and the commentary by the dear old fellow with a pronounced Germanic accent is beautiful and endearing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ&vq=medium

How I wish I knew how to produce a "live" link!

~ FreeThinke

Bunkerville said...

SF- No I did not think that at all. I have become cynical because I spend most of my day in a world that few middle class white people spend their days and I see no answer.No doubt time to retire soon, and that I ahsll.

Ducky's here said...

Photography isn't bad, FT. The bokeh is harsh on some of his closeups but I wasn't running at 1080 so give it top marks.

Still, I wonder why people don't photograph the mundane more often. You really can find beauty in the ordinary.

Flower or a pile of sewer pipe at a construction project. Minimalists can find the core in both of them. Why is it always flowers? He talks about widening our horizons, develop an eye for the sewer pipes.

Anatonioni was correct when he implied we have to in The Red Desert

Anonymous said...

Today happens to be my seventy-first birthday. Along with the video I shared which arrived as an early morning birthday gift through email, I I also received these words written by a lifelong friend and mentor. He and his wife, who are still active giving concerts and lectures that involve classical music just celebrated their eighty-ninth birthdays in January:

"Our true purpose is to discard untruth from our provincial heritage as we uncover it, cut the bonds that keep us chained to the habitual, petrified past, retain those elements which are filled with authentic life, and begin building, from this very moment, on this new day, A Road Out of Darkness into the future, enlightened by expanding perception toward our wholeness, our connection to all, our oneness with God -- the Infinite Creative Mind -- the Source of Energy -- who is everywhere in the universe -- who is The Creation in which we are embedded as inseparable, indispensable working parts.

We can reach this heightened state of awareness this when we pay close attention to every one and every thing we encounter -- looking them in the “eye,” not aggressively or fearfully -- but confidently and compassionately with honest curiosity, for you and I and they are one even though we look so separate -- and so different -- from one another."


If truly we are known by the fruits we bear, these people are fine examples of what a life spent focused on developing and fostering greater understanding of ideas and that have intrinsic value, and promoting creative endeavors of the highest quality can do for Body and Soul. They are not famous, they are not rich by worldly standards, but their lives have been an enormous, unqualified success. Unlike so many who have achieved great material success and worldly recognition [the late Whitney Houston comes easily to mind], my friends have not lived in vain.

~ FreeThinke

Finntann said...

Deracinated? Culture is not static, the claim may have been made for your first generation ancestors, but hardly can be made by you.

Your culture is not white European culture, and probably hasn't been for at least a generation or two, it may be white American culture, but there is a distinct difference.

Having lived in Europe, I can assure you, you have far more culturally in common with Black, Latino, or Asian Americans than you do with the average White European and while you may have much history in common with the latter you have far far more culturally in common with the former.

In Europe, if you dress locally, you may be able to pass if you keep your mouth shut, but under any long term scrutiny you can easily be identified as an American even if you don't say a word, simply by your demeanor and mannerisms.

I was always intrigued and fascinated that I could be sitting in a pub nursing a pint wearing clothes purchased locally, minding my own business and not saying a word and inevitably someone would come up to me and address me with "Oi, Yank". I am of Irish and Welsh ancestry and certainly look just like them, it's not like I look Slavic or anything out of the ordinary.

That's why I've always been entertained by the travel advice "try to blend in", might work at a distance or for a casual glance, but my fellow Americans... you are just that, Americans.

When I lived in Korea there was an incident where a US Army armored vehicle ran over a group of young Korean girls, killing two. State Department advice was "blend in... try not to attract attention to yourself. Real good government advice for the guy who worked for me who was six six, blonde, and blue-eyed. He could have dressed in a Hanbok and still would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Even lil ole me at six foot stood head and shoulders above the crowd.

Makes you wonder sometimes what kind of idiots we have working at State.

Oh and if you're interested in an entertaining book about American-European culture shock...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202565.O_Come_Ye_Back_to_Ireland

Cheers!

Hack said...

As one who works in the inner city and lives near the inner city, I agree with about 90% of what Derbyshire writes here. I agree, however, with you Silverfiddle. His lack of specifics doesn't help his argument.

MathewK said...

It's sad that many just won't get past the color of the skin, no matter what they're hell bent on keeping racism well and truly alive.

Finntann said...

Ducky, if you like the mundane and minimalist, try this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45806726@N00/205292780/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45806726@N00/205271869/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45806726@N00/205266787/in/photostream/

I don't have alot posted, have far more in film than digital, but recently bought Adobe Elements and may start playing around again.

Cheers!

Speedy G said...

Nobody screams, "I'm superior!" like a NY Times subscribing liberal.

Finntann said...

Oh and I keep forgetting...

Happy Birthday FT.

Ducky's here said...

That bridge shot is strong. But really nothing mundane about it.

Ducky's here said...

... but it's a little information heavy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77953387@N05/7043058839/in/photostream

Finntann said...

I liked the strong horizontal and the interplay of light and shadow in Mood.

Don't think I've done much of anything in B&W in thirty years. Last stuff I did in B&W was using IR film.

I did like Lock, and Beach Stones.

I used to do a lot of macro work, moss, bark, stone, etc. Anything with interesting patterns. Somewhere around here I have a hard drive with a couple of hundred pics of abandoned building, farmhouses, sheds, barns and such.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I liked the Stand of Aspen best. Very beautiful. So are the Aspen trees by the river.

The single blue clematis blossom in juxtaposition to the bluish colored wire supporting it is quietly dramatic.

The stark, forlorn quality of your abandoned buildings are reminiscent of Edward Hopper.

I liked the brownish stones some containing gold too.

Nice cat you have! ;-)

Is it a tremendous loneliness or possible alienation from the great mass of humanity I sense in these pictures or just a love of quiet contemplation in out-of-the-way places?

The Aspen are really striking in a restful sort of way.

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

As for the matter of "deracination," I hate to say it, but your authoritative-sounding pronouncement is way off base. You couldn't possibly know what my experience has been, nor could you know the influences that formed my worldview and shaped my character.

I have never claimed that culture ever was -- or should be -- "static." However, the change that has occurred since I was a young adult has not been natural, but rather the result of skillful, agenda-driven manipulation by devilishly clever, ill-intentioned forces who managed to worm their way into positions that enabled them get control of the levers of power that shape, direct, manufacture, promote and disseminate popular culture.

That is how we have been conquered. Not by military might but by a deliberate, systematic process of deracination. We have, indeed, been cut off from our roots. we are being robbed even of the memory of our roots, because their reputation has been discredited, distorted, defamed, reviled and all but relegated to the dustbin of history by historical "revisionists" all of whom serve the interests of Cultural Marxism.

I suspect you don't see that, because you grew up surrounded and engulfed by these twisted, radically altered values and, therefore, accept them, as perfectly "normal."

Perhaps so, but The New Normal is not The Old Normal, and it is not the result of a natural process of cultural evolution.

~ FreeThinke

Anonymous said...

"Derbyshire's article was spilling over with links to statistics and anecdotal data to bolster his point, but I still agree with the liberal that it was crass and racist"

Perhaps it is the other way around. His over-contemplation of statistics and "very" anecdotal data has driven him into a dark corner that is crass and racist.

Also FinnTann's comment that culture grows and changes is very true but it depends on "links". Our mix here in Gibraltar has formed our own uniqueness and yet we continue to have a British feel to it because of our obvious links.

We here that obviously incorrect argument about the Eurabia myth that immigrant Muslims will out number "white" Europeans through birthrates, because they think they will follow the "old ways". Like culture, immigrants change unless they keep or maintain strong links. In reality immigrant Muslim birthrates change with the next generation and become the same as the population.

My question is, do African-Americans (Blacks or whatever is the correct respectable term) have external links that keep them "separate"? I do not know enough, because Africans/Blacks in the UK are often immigrants or second generations and thus maintain links outside.

Perhaps, considering the example in Florida, the "us and them" is still there and if that is the case, we can argue that "soft racism" as someone said above, clearly does continues to exist in America and is more likely the reasons as apposed to Derbyshire's rant.

Damien Charles

Finntann said...

FT, I think my point was that you have not been deracinated, you are immersed in American culture, you may not like it, but it is American culture nonetheless.

If your culture changes around you, have you been deracinated? Or simply caught up in an ever constant flux?

I think all of us would agree that there are changes to culture that we dislike, perhaps not the same things as you, or perhaps we have many things in common.

For example, I loathe the utter loss of manners and the virtual abolute focus on self...yeah, it's all about me!

Me, I was brought up that you hold doors for people, male or female, entering or exiting a building. We have two sets of doors at the entrance to the building I work in, and I'm am absolutely flabbbergasted by the number of people who will walk through a door I hold open for them, only to have them let the next door close in my face.

Small pet peeves, but believe me, I got a million of them :)

Cheers!

Finntann said...

Oh, it's my wife's cat... the dogs mine ;)

Thanks for the compliments. No loneliness or alienation, and if you're willing to walk more than a mile it's amazing to discover how many other people are not.

Anonymous said...

Peace, Finntann.

I know you're a good guy.

So am I, believe it or not.

Of course I am American, but ever since the Sick-sties occurred I have felt like a "stranger on a barren shore." In other words -- deracinated ;-)

I resent having the world i was carefully trained to inhabit -- presumably to some advantage -- was spirited away and transformed almost in the twinkling of an eye soon after i reached my majority.

Think of it this way. You grow up speaking FRENCH, and suddenly one day every one in your home town is no longer speaking French -- they are talking URDU.

Yes. It feels downright Kafka-esque.

But please don't take me literally. I'm much given to using parables, parallels and odd figures of speech.

And yes, one of the many things that pain me too is the loss of civility.

Best,

FT

Anonymous said...

À Bas Ben Adhem

My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What's he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I'm supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn't it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succint:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician's voice
He names himself as Nature's choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It's simply that I'm sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.


~ Ogden Nash

________________________________
[NOTE:: "À Bas" is French for "
Down With" a play on the poem titled "Abou Ben Adhem", by Leigh Hunt, about a man who gains God's grace by telling the angel "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow men"; Winnetka, Ill.; Hic Jacet, Latin for "Here Lies".]


Submitted by FreeThinke