All for the One Individual Me

Posted on September 7, 2007 in Commons Theft Reading

From Ed Sikov’s Mr Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers:

Carol for another Christmas was a relatively low-budget, made-for-television, post-atomic holocaust parable with good intentions and a (mostly) reputable cast: [[Sterling Hayden]], [[Eva Marie Saint]], [[Ben Gazzara]], [[Richard Harris]], [[Peter Fonda]], and [[Steve Lawrence]] (who played the Ghost of Christmas Past). The script was by [[The Twilight Zone|The Twilight Zone’s]] [[Rod Serling]], who provided even more arch irony than usual — so much so that it verged on clairvoyance. [[Peter Sellers|Peter]] played the head of a band of fanatical individualists. “The Individual Me’s” have survived a devastating atomic bomb blast only to devote their lives to eliminating everyone else — except, of course, for the perfect Me, who would be allowed to live. Clad in a gaudy Wild West show outfit complete with a ten-gallon hat emblazoned with the word “Me” in sequins, Peter’s charismatic character addresses his cult: “If we let them seep in here from down yonder and cross river — if we let these do-gooders, these bleeding hearts, propagate their insidious doctrine of involvement among us — then, my dear friends, my beloved Me’s” [dramatic pause] “we’s in trouble.” His eyes glistening with the thrill of control, the greatest Me continues: “We must carry our glorious philosophy through to its glorious culmination! So that in the end, with enterprise and determination, the world and everything in it will belong to one individual Me. And will be the ultimate! The absolute ultimate! (pp. 228-9)

Did Dick Cheney used to listen to this under hypnosis?