And how 'bout that Jonathan Swift guy?

Post #167,206 by rcareaga 8/2/04 9:20:53 PM Reply	And how 'bout that Jonathan Swift guy? I mean, like, "A Modest Proposal"—putting up helpless little Irish babies for retail sale as comestibles?—eeeeuuww! Some people may think that cannibalism is funny, but I don't. There are things you just don't joke about. FWIW, I regard Strangelove as one of the greats. I suspect that your own appreciation was hampered both by the cultural once-remove and, much more, by the forty years of dense history separating your viewing it for the first time in 2004 from the audiences at its original release. cordially, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
Post #167,301 by Arkadiy 8/3/04 3:15:39 PM Reply	Would you be as enthusiastic if "the proposal" was actually implemented, or seriously considered? -- "...was poorly, lugubrious and intoxicated." -- Patrick O'Brian, "Master and Commander"
Post #167,361 by Ashton 8/3/04 6:54:38 PM Reply	Umm imagining from that direction.. Taking an allegory for a literal-What-If? has another name - such things are done regularly from a 'Fundamentalist' mindset. Joshua done commanded the Sun not to move.. Oh Yes, I. Read. That. cha cha cha Surely.. You! jest -?-
Post #167,405 by Arkadiy 8/3/04 10:50:19 PM Reply	My problem exactly Except the other way around. When allegory is taken literally, it's fundamentalism. When litearl (impending, in my case, or past, as in pwisal's nice animation) horror is taken allegorically - that's crassness. -- "...was poorly, lugubrious and intoxicated." -- Patrick O'Brian, "Master and Commander"
Post #167,416 by Ashton 8/4/04 1:09:00 AM Reply	Hmmm.. OK, I see your point. Yes, there's a danger within the tiny-brained folk [think Columbine?], a tendency to extrapolate Murica's fav media / Nintendo Ha-Ha violence into some New principle needing Fulfillment. I know of only one remedy to that; one cannot make words (pix) 'safe' for people; one only can attempt to breed sane people who are inherently 'safe' from easy manipulation by abstract symbols. (We don't do that very well; clearly others do better.) Map/territory problem? Creeping dumbth can only worsen the situation, I'd guess.
Post #167,392 by boxley 8/3/04 9:46:11 PM Reply	you have a fundie in the white house a nation who devours the after days series about xians and the last days. You have ashcroft in the justice department worrying that adults might see sex without benefits of marriage on video. It wouldnt take much to crank it up. One rogue nuke on the west coast, buttons pressed and some gleaming logic from silos behind the Urals do a detect from logic built in 1962 and launch. thanx, bill "delayed incessantly by people whose prevalent qualification was an excess of free-time" Philip Atkinson questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #167,417 by Ashton 8/4/04 1:12:23 AM Reply	Prec\ufffdsamente, amigo: that is exactly the connection and damn good Boxlish to boot :-) Brevity Award: 3 Repo adrenal glands and a piece of tail.

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