[PLUG-TALK] interesting book

Piet van Weel pmvw at earthlink.net
Sat Oct 2 16:52:23 UTC 2004


Please keep your political views off the linux group...

Thank you.

Piet

-----Original Message-----
From: plug-talk-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org
[mailto:plug-talk-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org] On Behalf Of Russell Senior
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 9:39 AM
To: plug-talk at lists.pdxlinux.org
Subject: [PLUG-TALK] interesting book



When I was in high school and perhaps even junior high (it seems like a long
time ago now, so bear with my failing memory), I recall immense frustration
in english class when I was asked by teachers to interpret some work of
literature.  While I enjoyed reading, at that tender age I had not the
experience to see the archetypes that the author may have intended.  I
couldn't see the pattern of meaning because I didn't recognize the
landmarks.

As a consequence of that early feeling of inadequacy, I have always been
kind of hungry for insight into that kind of pattern recognition. It seems
like, naturally, a lot of it has come with age and experience (reading and
otherwise).  But when I happened across a book last night that my wife had
casually brought home from the library called _How to Read Literature Like a
Professor_, I couldn't help picking it up and reading the first few
chapters.  In it, various archetypes are described in a light, fun and
accessible way.  In Chapters 2 and 3, though he doesn't mention politics or
politicians at all, I discovered the fundamental reason that I find Bush
repulsive, and in contrast why I find Kerry (as the only available agent of
change) appealing.  Here it is:

  The difference between Bush and Kerry is the difference between
  'having you for dinner' and 'having you over for dinner'.  

Bush as vampire; Kerry as priest.  In chapter 2 of the book, the author, a
guy named Thomas C. Foster, describes the latter idea as:

  "Whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion."

and goes on to say: "in the real world, breaking bread together is an act of
sharing and peace, since if you're breaking bread you're not breaking
heads."  In foreign policy, I think this is what Kerry wants to do.  He
wants everyone to eat together.  That's what he means when he wants to
engage with the rest of the world, to get everyone on the same page as much
as possible through shared goals and shared rewards.

In contrast, Bush fundamentally, "wakes up [...] and says something like,
'in order to remain undead, I must steal the life force of someone whose
fate matters less to me than my own'".  He doesn't give a damn about Old
Europe or the rest of the world as long as America
(self) is getting a healthy share of the "life force".  It is why he doesn't
care a whole lot about killing foreigners to get the life force.  It is why
he doesn't care about a lot of things.  Bush is fundamentally about
vampirism.

And once you see that archetypal pattern, the choice is rather clear, isn't
it?  


-- 
Russell Senior         ``I have nine fingers; you have ten.''
seniorr at aracnet.com

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