Tag: sinclair lewis

The Cow in the Room

from The Vegan Society: 3 May 2019

The cow is on the table, she takes on roles to disguise her guise, she must assume names that soothe the savage sapiens who seek satiety. A “meat” cookbook is a collection of vignettes for social occasions and celebration. Let’s look at just one: veal medallions — carefully crated cow-boys separated from their mothers at birth and slaughtered at youth, at the exact moment when their flesh is optimally tender to the tongue and teeth. The name ‘medallions’ evokes an honor bestowed upon the diner, esteeming the favor of their palate. Vegan diets are healthy for children and other living things.

The Jungle opened a section of curtain to reveal where the cow body parts on your plate originated. The best minds of inhumane capitalism hire the most devious among us to serve man. Capitalism wretches souls that way. It’s for dinner.

Sinclair Lewis had already predicted the vicious horror that a body politic driven by greed and wanton power could unleash. He did a damned good take on a fictitious character who possessed certain skills and ambitions, including a despotic trumpish draw.

The Jungle’s heart-wrenching critique of industrial capitalism was lost on readers more worried about the rat faeces that, according to Sinclair, contaminated their sausage. Sinclair later observed: “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.

Sinclair Lewis THE JUNGLE 1906

Mr. T took on fifteen fellow Republiconnivers and finished them off with considerable ease in 2016. Lewis wrote It Can’t Happen Here, revealing that every brick of its heavy foundation had already been kilned.

Artificial intelligence is approaching the capability of moving its not-so-invisible finger, in a curiously recursive way, to write robust robotic code to compile algorithms of cruel but profitable intention. A perfection of agency commanded by global geopolitical intention without the slightest sliver of morality. Let there be slaughterhouses, and there were slaughterhouses.

The turkey is also in the room

Thanks for reading.

What is a Bold Challenge?

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.

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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)

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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.

Thanks for reading.