Post by hblock on Jan 18, 2006 14:04:08 GMT -5
Thank whatever you believe in that Kurt Vonnegut "has broken his promise that he will never write another book." This autobiographical, philosophical meandering rant by that beautiful 84 year-old chain-smoking socialist wealth of human understanding and impatience, contains countless priceless gems of wisdom that will doubtlessly speak to many who enjoy reading this blog. A sample, if I may (not sure if this is legal, but he won't mind):
"Persuasive guessing has been at the core of leadership for so long, for all of human experience so far, that it is wholly unsurprising that most of the leaders of this planet, in spite of all the information that is suddenly ours, want the guessing to go on. Some of the loudest, most proudly ignorant guessing in the world is going on in Washington today. Our leaders are sick of all the solid information that has been dumped on humanity by research and scholarship and investigative reporting. They think that the whole country is sick of it, and they could be right. It isn't the gold standard that they want to put us back on. They want something even more basic. They want to put us back on the snake-oil standard.
Loaded pistols are good for everyone except inmates in prisons or lunatic asylums.
That's correct.
Billions spent on weapons will bring inflation down.
That's correct.
Dictatorships to the right are much closer to American ideals than dictatorships to the left.
That's correct.
The more hydrogen bomb warheads we have, all set to go off at a moment's notice, the safer humanity is and the better off the world will be that our grandchildren will inherit.
That's correct.
And if you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington, D.C."
It goes on and on, and here's one of my favorite quotes:
"The higest treason in the USA is to say Americans are not loved, no matter where they are, no matter what they are doing there."
Humanism, socialism, environmentalism, humor. This book is a terrific quick read, like listening to your favorite brilliant great-uncle go on a rant over a game of cribbage. I encourage you to check it out.
"Persuasive guessing has been at the core of leadership for so long, for all of human experience so far, that it is wholly unsurprising that most of the leaders of this planet, in spite of all the information that is suddenly ours, want the guessing to go on. Some of the loudest, most proudly ignorant guessing in the world is going on in Washington today. Our leaders are sick of all the solid information that has been dumped on humanity by research and scholarship and investigative reporting. They think that the whole country is sick of it, and they could be right. It isn't the gold standard that they want to put us back on. They want something even more basic. They want to put us back on the snake-oil standard.
Loaded pistols are good for everyone except inmates in prisons or lunatic asylums.
That's correct.
Billions spent on weapons will bring inflation down.
That's correct.
Dictatorships to the right are much closer to American ideals than dictatorships to the left.
That's correct.
The more hydrogen bomb warheads we have, all set to go off at a moment's notice, the safer humanity is and the better off the world will be that our grandchildren will inherit.
That's correct.
And if you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington, D.C."
It goes on and on, and here's one of my favorite quotes:
"The higest treason in the USA is to say Americans are not loved, no matter where they are, no matter what they are doing there."
Humanism, socialism, environmentalism, humor. This book is a terrific quick read, like listening to your favorite brilliant great-uncle go on a rant over a game of cribbage. I encourage you to check it out.