Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
Insert A Trite Metaphor About A Corral
Posted on February 27, 2005 in Roundup
Hey, folks: Could you update your links to http://paxnortona.notfrisco.com if you haven’t already done so?
I must declare my disappointment with most of the coverage of the death of Hunter S. Thompson on the blogs I regularly visit. Most of them simply printed the news with a one line simpering accolade about the man. I think it is high time that his legacy be reviewed: he was a foul-mouthed, self-loathing megalomaniac who, while being right about the nature of Power in these United States, managed to alienate the mainstream and give the popular media “proof” that leftism was nothing more than a symptom of bipolar disorder, denied addiction, or schizophrenia. Thompson would have been much more powerful a voice if he’d sought treatment for his condition and continued to speak out for the disempowered in this country instead of being that weird cross of red-neck and hippie that he marketed for the sake of his image.
The other night, someone in a great thinkers group wanted to know why we didn’t read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Simple: Thompson didn’t have all that much to say. His profanity was a mask for shallow anger.
Perhaps what bothers me more are those who function as enablers for celebrating Thompson’s mania. Instead of seeking treatment, Thompson went on boozing and going to crazier and crazier extremes until, finally, he decided to die “at the height of his glory” while talking to his wife on the telephone. No one ever bothered to tell him that that was an honor to be granted by the gods, not by cold steel.
Robert Brady wins my nod for most bizarre real life adventure of the week and perhaps for the year.
This roundup covers the period from 20 February to 26 February 2005.
Politics
- Etherealgirl had a few things to say to some radio call-ins:
- Stu had a lot of kvetching to do when the most hated man in the world visited Germany:
- Randy defended himself from commenters who didn’t take the time to read his posts before they criticized him.
What they are really talking about is not supporting the troops but supporting the misguided action made by this Administration to invade Iraq. They will never ever get it through their heads that these are two separate things. How convenient to reduce support of the troops to blindly supporting this Administration and allowing no criticism or protest of the disturbing decisions that have been made from the very top.
The whole route Dubya travels is being made into a one-way system, all around the cities of Frankfurt, Mainz and Wiesbaden; even the Autobahn closed on one side. So people can’t get to work or get home properly. Opel is stopping car production in Rüsselsheim wednesday because they can’t be sure all the production-line personnel get in to work. Well, Opel is owned by GM; I wonder if GM realise the loss (750 cars) is directly caused by Dubya?
Religion
- Joe takes the Pope to task for his calling the promotion of same sex marriage as a symptom of an “ideology of evil”:
- IreneQ wants to know:
“Evil”: it’s a nasty word to punt around. And too often, particularly amongst the European tribes, including its “offspring” the United States, the tag of “evil” has carried horrible consequences. Please raise your hand if you can recall how often this label was used upon Jews and gypsies, for example? How about some of those old crones accused of still working their “witchcraft”?
why is it okay for someone to say, “I would like a guy who shares my passion for gardening,” and yet when I say, “I would like a guy who shares my religious beliefs,” all of a sudden that turns me into an intolerant bigot, or, at best, an overly picky woman?
Culture
- Hamburger Lad got a headache watching the lives of several British schoolchildren.
- Brian celebrates the birth of a new traffic control device: curtains that can be raised around accidents so that people aren’t tempted to gawk.
- Francis thought about differences between what you ask Swedish interview subjects and what you ask American interview subjects.
- Billy contemplated the evolution of Goldfish (crackers).
- Shelli was confused by the meaning of rotating arrows in Fullerton.
Personal
- Tracy described a hardcore tool for quitting smoking and overeating:
You absolutely cannot imagine the taste of anything while you’re chewing spearmint gum. Nothing made me twitch…not even strawberry cheesecake. I couldn’t get the taste of it. I couldn’t imagine even liking it. It was the first time in my entire life that I’ve ever gone to the grocery store and didn’t buy at least one junk food item. In fact, I bought everything on my list and nothing else. It was absolutely incredible.
- Pam gazed into her navel:
- chari was forced to fight trackback spam.
- Kris mourned the loss of her cat.
- Maria does not like drama in her weather.
- Andrea shared an embarassing personal secret.
- M. Luminous described several things she’d done that she doubted her readers had, including being nailed to her neighbor’s roof.
- John recollected giving and receiving grief counseling from his surviving cat.
- Mileah honored the memory of a late teacher.
I am now old enough to have given birth at a not ridiculously young age to basically every student I teach. It’s not my goal to have them consider me one of them. I’ve been teaching long enough to know that the ability to claim some authority is a necessity in running a class, even at the college level. You can’t do that if you’re everyone’s buddy.
I do think it’s time to change some of my attitudes, though. It’s time to stop chasing numbers whether they signify age or what shows up on my bathroom scale every morning.
Visual Art
- Nancy: Fire Star Arts
- Elkit: Step into my office
- Lauren: Not So Tiny Bubbles
- Kathryn: Photos from Boskone
