UK Guardian: Kurt Vonnegut on US politics

[Taxloss]

(A bit rambling, but boy does he hit the bullseye on more than one paragraph.)

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http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,1691370,00.html

How about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

And so on.

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly George W Bush, Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld stuff.

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

"Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

It so happens that idealism enough for anyone is not made of perfumed pink clouds. It is the law! It is the US Constitution.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. I (heart) K V

thanks

k&r

[bpilgrim]

2. rambling is part of KV's style

and is the part i love best about him.

you can not talk about our fucked up world without being mad in your description, too, if you wanna do it right ;->

"Fuck habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times, and kiss my ass!"

exactly how i read the neoCONs as well, give'm hell KV :bounce:

thanks for sharing :toast:

peace

[FloridaPat]

3. Great reading. Thanks for the post.

[whirlygigspin]

4. some quotes from the article

"In case you haven't noticed, we are now as feared and hated all over the world as Nazis once were.

I was once asked if I had any ideas for a really scary reality TV show. I have one reality show that would really make your hair stand on end:
"C-Students from Yale".

Our president is a Christian? So was Adolf Hitler.

What can be said to our young people, now that psychopathic personalities, which is to say persons without consciences, without senses of pity or shame, have taken all the money in the treasuries of our government and corporations, and made it all their own?"


--I'm ordering my copy today, ROFL

[Briar]

5. and another

"In case you haven't noticed, as the result of a shamelessly rigged election in Florida, in which thousands of African-Americans were arbitrarily disenfranchised, we now present ourselves to the rest of the world as proud, grinning, jut-jawed, pitiless war-lovers with appallingly powerful weaponry - who stand unopposed."

[GliderGuider]

6. ROFL now, you won't when you've finished it.

It's one hell of a (disturbing, depressing, distressing, subversive) little book.

[jab105]

7. I just bought it tonight...

n/t

[Spiffarino]

8. I wish I could recommend this thread

Unfortunately, it's too late.

Vonnegut epitomizes the America I used to believe in and that has, sadly, disappeared.