Harry Sinclair Lewis died in 1951; he would be 131 years old today, had he avoided death. Like the swan song that marks the extinction of a sound frequency: never to be heard again, our auditory system erases a frequency from its database. When a genuine journalist dies she is not simply replaced.
Before the 17 candidates became the one I could not identify the sound of DJT’s voice from the sound of any other. It’s like a reverse swan song: from never heard to ever heard. I have yet to watch a single episode of “The Apprentice” and don’t plan to mar my record.
Sinclair Lewis explicated the incredible, the darkest shadows of homo sapiens. He dubbed the vile industry of meat manufacture a jungle. Where is the heart of that darkness today? Gone? No. The Jungle, published in 1906, has morphed into a spectacle that only grows larger — gross consumption. The rhythm of Trump’s speech slithers into my ear like a Dune-sized ear worm.
Bread and circuses and reality (TV)
What is a bold challenge? It’s marketing jargon for carefully controlled and crafted lying. It’s a way to make a living — if you can live with yourself.
But is there a downside?
I’m thinking of submitting product names to a local Cincinnati cleaning products company. I have two so far: “Pontius Pilate Hand Sanitizer” and “Lady Macbeth Soap.”
Ad copy suggestions:
“Naturally it’s flavored”
“Naturally it’s colored”
When shopping for the slouchiest in decadent snacks, discerning and discriminating hosts choose palm oil, the chemical that clings to ingested molecules for a longer acting crave experience that does not rely on saturated fats.
Veganism is the best and wisest move ever. So why are vegans among the hunted? Capital moves wherever the slightest marginal advance gains purchase. The smart money is in food deserts, where the most marginalized among us must shop. It is the only “food” available to Native Americans living with reservation. The so-called omnibus food bill for the USDA heavily subsidizes food desert fare. Junk buns offer a steady and reliable opportunity for the savvy investor. Bon appetit!
The so-called omnibus food bill for the USDA heavily subsidizes food desert fare. Junk buns offer a steady and reliable opportunity for the savvy investor. Bon appetit!
Endlessly exploiting every molecule of a sentient being for personal profit is ghastly enterprise. Inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not a right to share in polite society. We all suffer when human-headedness takes the fore. Pig-headedness is a pig doing its own thinking.
Believing what you are told can be harmful to your health and the well-being of others. This year has given voice to a few widely held dark beliefs that threaten everyone, and that includes all sentient fellow travelers.
Ignorance is still equated with strength, multi-multi-multi-trillion dollar industries must maintain market share and stockholder confidence. Chanting JobsJobsJobs convinces many to do unspeakable things. Why tell us about the index of Dow and Jones 24 times a day?
My thoughts in the health and beauty aisle: How is Pontius Pilate Soap performing? Looks like it is outperforming Lady Macbeth Stain Removal Cream, but that might be a seasonal existential thing…
The occasional North Korean escapes the country. The occasional cow escapes a death camp. Let us express amusement at the hapless cow wandering on a local highway as its tale spreads onto social media, only to disappear in the morning drone.
“How many pieces of bacon do you want this morning dear? It’s turkey bacon, so vegetarians can eat it too.”
Ignorance and arrogance is a combination that echoes with brute force this very curious year. Unfortunately, both are proudly celebrated. Doubly unfortunate for the entire planet: the sad celebration of ignorance occurs in an election year.
The topic least considered is the topic most important, global warming or climate change? Your choice.
What actions would HRC or DJT take on climate change? And answer came there none. It’s not a convenient time to…uh…next question please.
BTW, I am running on the Vegan ticket. For write-in ballots I suggest
Bill Ziegler (the one on billziegler1947.com). Readers are welcome to apply for cabinet positions in the event that I receive the most electoral votes.
Ironically, in 1912 the climate researcher Alfred Wegener proposed a theory of continental drift, positing that different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. That they appeared to move. He was correct, but off by two orders of magnitude in the speed of plate movement. GPS tracks it automatically and continually now.
Sadly a very influential paleontologist name George Gaylord Simpson vehemently fought against Wegener.
Prof. Dr. Alfred Wegener, ca. 1924-1930
When I first began studies in Geography at the University of Cincinnati in 1965 (in the day of slide rules).Wegener was mentioned for his climate work, but the professors at that time roundly dismissed any realistic notion that the Americas ever met Eur-Africa. Tectonic plates. The thought had a romantic and fanciful value, but no evidence supported it.
In 1976 Exxon received the results of a study they launched on the global impact of increasing dependence upon fossil fuels. Exxon risked eventually losing claim to “We’re Number 1” (USAUSAUSA) on the Fortune 500. Ignoring evidence is an enormously profitable enterprise.
Addressing climate change could have begun 40 years ago. Veganism may be the only option available. It’s also great for your personal health. Just expounding.
Unfortunately (very unfortunately) a tectonic shift in political execution began in 1980.
There is great symbolism in the release of hostages during Reagan’s inaugural address. Allow blame to flow to the Carter Administration, rigorously and self-righteously deny any hint of a deal in Nicaragua. Proceed with an order to remove Carter’s solar panels from the White House roof. The Project for the New American Century raised a toast to the death of the 70’s. I call it mourning in America.
Slave-level labor keeps inflation in check. Fill in the blank, Made in …..
Meanwhile Jimmy Carter hopes that the Guinea Worm will die before he does. Google guinea + worm for details.
A question raised in January 2016 by the Party of the Grand Olds: Who will be our next Reagan? That month a friend of mine predicted the total collapse of the Republican Party. In the same month that friend asked my son about his estimation of the number of racists in the United States, he answered 35%. DJT’s hardcore.
January was already a WTF year by February. Lisa joins those explaining zombies in popular culture as a response to the impending doom dropped into their collective laps by preceding generations. As one of them. I can only agree.
At least Jerry Rubin did not live to witness the folly of equating a growing wealth-management portfolio with a revolution. RIP stock portfolios.
I am just another person who has not yet read Moby Dick, but it’s still on my list.
Watching reality TV resembles a Philip K. Dick dystopia, it keeps getting closer to its total eclipse of reality.
Name a television show broadcast in the timeframe 1969 to the present. I probably have not seen it. I did not watch the white Bronco, nor the endlessly falling towers. Wait a generation, then tune in to the Simpson impact and the meaning behind those Twins.
So here is my advice for any unsuspecting reader: ignore top news stories. Innumerable conjectures extrapolate scant evidence into innumerable dead-ends. Wild-ass propaganda flourishes as every opportunity for a story blossoms, petals drop and the wind takes them all.
Study themes completely unrelated to the:
…major news story we are now following. We will continue to track this story as information becomes available. Stay tuned to WWTF for complete coverage of (FILL IN THE BLANK), our top news story.”
Thus creating an urge or crave to keep listening, keep watching, keep supporting our sponsors. The band drones on.
One afternoon in 1971 I was discussing George Orwell with Dr. William R. Siddall, then head of the Geography Dept. at Kansas State. He had not read Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” but I piqued his interest with my personal gleaning. It became required reading for the entire staff.
Reread the good stuff with an open, but not gaping, mind.
When I graduated Bill Siddall suggested that I read widely. So I did. A solid memory.
Goethe suggested that Western Civilization might have taken its direction upon a Homeric turn rather than a Christian model. Daniel Mendelsohn wrote “Englishing the Iliad” for the New Yorker. I took a plunge.
Goethe had a premonition of this decline of the West: even in October 1801 he remarked in conversation with the Countess von Egloffstein, that spiritual emptiness and lack of character were spreading — as if he had foreseen what today characterises the most celebrated literature of the Free West. It may be that Goethe had even foreseen, in the distant future, the coming of an age in which writers would make great profits by the portrayal of sex and crime for the masses.”
billziegler1947 