Vonnegut on Multiple Issues

Kurt Vonnegut, who is now 81 years old, has a piece in In These Times titled “Cold Turkey." The title of the piece is related to Vonnegut’s concluding remarks, where he sums up the war on terror as being undertaken for oil, or, as Vonnegut terms them “fossil fuels.” I’d say Vonnegut’s a bit off the mark there, but he’s entitled to his opinion.  Be that as it may, Vonnegut did have a few things to say that I enjoyed.

"Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East?"

And this.

"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."

Read the rest of Vonnegut’s piece, if you’re so inclined.

Posted by on 05/11 at 04:51 AM

  1. I guess you’d disagree with this then ?
    http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/papers/03petropol/politics.html

    I’m sure org is left or leftleaning at least , but you would dismiss the essence as delivered by the title ?

    Posted by  on  05/12  at  03:52 PM

  2. Robert - Titles can be deceiving.  I’ll have to read the piece before I can think of dismissing it.  I’ll give it a read.

    Posted by  on  05/12  at  05:06 PM

  3. I’ve liked Kurts writing since I discovered “Catch-22” when I was a kid.

    I like this bit of the article:

    For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

    “Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

    Posted by  on  05/13  at  11:56 AM

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