I did like the Postman talk. The first book Julia gave me when we were dating was Amusing Ourselves to Death. Her inspiration for giving me the book was a talk we had about television and the film Network, which she had never seen. I had told her I don't watch television anymore really because she had invited me to a "tv night" that some of her Boston College friends were having to watch a show called Friends, which I still have never seen. I got out of going to the "tv party" and she gave up watching "Friends" and went out with me instead...the decisions we make in life...ha!

Anyway, all that is probably not very interesting and has not very much to do with Postman's talk but sometimes I think about books people have handed me over the years. I often think of the last book my friend John gave me before he died a rather suspicious death, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. It's part of life, I think, that we try to attach meaning to something that really might not mean anything at all.

One of the great things about that Postman talk, well to me anyway, is that he mentions Reagan and Pat posting Reagan was what made me post Huxley. So to me this really is the continuation of a discussion that Pat started, ha! Of course it would be nice if we could turn this thread into a real discussion (or at least a bunch of people typing stuff at each other filled with some ideas or thoughts that Huxley, Postman, Pat, or Reagan inspired in them) rather than just me talking about how Julia once gave me a Postman book...really so what, right!

So, Pat posts what is obviously (well, to me and probably many others here) a piece of scripted propaganda that the Republican party had their former movie star golden boy read. Reagan the actor reading a script with the movie star posed photo as a visual to boot. Truly awesome stuff and at the time it was made (I'm not sure who would have been responsible for that piece at that point, might be worth looking up...maybe John Grenier?) I bet that was thought to be very slick...ahh...sort of like Reagan's hair. Plus at that point in time we were still close enough to great Americans like Joe McCarthy hunting down commies in our midst that I bet that Reagan bit had plenty of resonance with a large section of the American public.

What is even more awesome is that we have folks that can recycle that bit of fun paranoia (the same folks that would probably like to rehab ol' Joe's reputation as the "real, honest, hard workin', fine, upstandin', true, commie huntin', patriotic American" we should all recognize him as!) in the year 2009 to attempt to reveal Obama and all his supporters as the true commies (or Nazis, take your pick) that they really are!

Now, I know what you're thinking, you're thinking "Reg, are you fucking kidding me?" and the truth is no, I'm not. See I think that boobs like Reagan, Dubya, and McCarthy are really quite useful even though to many of us they appear to be complete morons. Their apparent stupidity actually works in the favor of the Republicans for guys like...well...Karl Rove. How could this be? Well, they really become symbols which can then be used as a sort of political shorthand to basically fuck with American public. They can work either side, no matter your political leanings, into a froth and when we are worked up it becomes more difficult to make sense of or decipher a situation.

I mean wasn't it great when Postman asked the question "Why was Reagan called the great communicator?" and then answered it by saying well, because he came across great on tv! Ha! Give the guy a script and he was the Babe Ruth of bullshit! He does hold a special place in history as our first (ok, Kennedy looked great on tv but that was just what happened he was not chosen for his tv appeal) handpicked TV president. An awesome Orwellian image spouting carefully crafted hokum to massage the masses.

Phhhhhhhhhhlllllllfffffffftttttttttttttttttttttt!

It was cool too that Pat included in his post with the Reagan bit "isn't it scary...", ha! Yes, Pat got it! He took a fine piece of propaganda and led into it using a phrase about fear! He did not miss a beat! Truly the perfection of Pat's post may have slipped past some of us due to our annoyance with him but who among us could have done this with such economic precision...just look at this fucking post I'm writing now...way too wordy and filled with asides and rambling gibberish...I could have made my point in one sentence or by just posting another youtube video.

And hey, wasn't that another point in Postman's talk? You know the part about the Lincoln-Douglas debates? Those guys would go on for hours! Who could stay awake for that? You need to condense your point into one shiny little pinpoint of (en)light(enment) that can explain how to solve a major problem in 1 minute or less...with maybe a 30 second rebuttal. You can't go on and on about books and philosophers and the fucking Greeks and Romans. Jesus, I mean people have shit to do...are there Friends reruns on tonight?

Recently this came out of my mouth after a few too many beers around a campfire with friends:

"As a species we seem to be losing our ability to perceive the world outside of the symbols we have created to make us feel more comfortable in it."

To which Julia replied:

"Are you drunk?"

I was but then when I sobered up I went to Facebook and posted it there and of course she again replied:

"Are you drunk?"

So, I took it down.

When I was sitting in this beautiful open air market in Munich watching a guy play old blues tunes on a steel guitar and his girlfriend accompanying him on a french horn, an old distinguished looking German guy walked up and stood in front of me staring at me. He spoke to me in German first and then I informed him I did not speak German and asked if he spoke English. At which point he pointed at the blues guy and his gal and said "Nuisance noise."

I laughed and said "Story of my life." and he laughed and said "So, where are you from."

PS This bit above "real, honest, hard workin', fine, upstandin', true, commie huntin', patriotic American" is meant to be read in the voice of Strother Martin...I do miss him.