Althouse: It wouldn't work as fiction.

January 25, 2019

It wouldn't work as fiction.

I mean come on, how did any of these characters get past the manuscript editor pic.twitter.com/n7OVgfQvN8
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 25, 2019

35 comments:

buwaya said...: Tom Wolfe was a journalist, even when writing novels.
He wrote from life.

He would be going nuts with all the new material over the last three years.; 1/25/19, 8:42 AM
M Jordan said...: He forgot Comey, Brennan, and Don Lemon.; 1/25/19, 8:46 AM
Larry J said...: Along with Orwell, he would no doubt be unhappy to see his work being used as a how-to guide instead of a warning. It seems Idiocracy is morphing from a low-brow comedy to prophesy.; 1/25/19, 8:46 AM
Not Sure said...: It seems Idiocracy is morphing from a low-brow comedy to prophesy.

I think it's more of a prophesy that's morphing into reality.; 1/25/19, 8:54 AM
Not Sure said...: I don't even know who the guys in the top row are.

That's not a cry for help; more of an expression of contentment.; 1/25/19, 8:56 AM
alanc709 said...: Idiocracy was not a new concept, C. M. Kornbluth wrote around The Marching Morons around 1950.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons; 1/25/19, 8:56 AM
narciso said...: Randi credico washed up lefty comic and wiki leaks contact, the other guy; 1/25/19, 8:58 AM
narciso said...: John Podesta who took money from the Russians and embezzled it in bad art, we doesn't get touched why is that?; 1/25/19, 9:04 AM
Bob Boyd said...: This why Elizabeth Warren, who's personality is the same color as the background of Kamala Harris' campaign poster, is unlikely to become the nominee.; 1/25/19, 9:06 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Althouse Loves Delicious Dave!

Iowahawk's the best.; 1/25/19, 9:12 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Iowahawk out does himself.; 1/25/19, 9:15 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I don't even know who the guys in the top row are.

I was wondering that too. I thought the guy on the right was the guy below -- same outfit. But if so, why two pictures? And the dig guy. No idea.; 1/25/19, 9:23 AM
Anonymous said...: I recognize everybody else... except the dog guy. Who's the dog guy? Thanks in advance!; 1/25/19, 9:31 AM
Lyle Sanford, RMT said...: Should have known you'd be an Iowahawker - the guy is amazing; 1/25/19, 9:52 AM
ngtrains said...: Can someone please help. I’m not sure who anyone is except AOC and Donald; 1/25/19, 9:55 AM
mccullough said...: I enjoy a good dark comedy.

The guy with a Nixon tattoo got arrested today. Priceless.

If anyone deserves a pardon it’s a guy with a Nixon tattoo; 1/25/19, 10:06 AM
cacimbo said...: A never-Trumper flashing his bonafides. In 2016 I would have laughed hard at this. Today, exhausted by the never ending stream of Trump hate, I feel more disgust for Burge over his contribution to the onslaught than the for objects of his ridicule (many of whom I don't even know).; 1/25/19, 10:17 AM
narciso said...: So the AWOL ac mau mauing Indian isn't in that selection?; 1/25/19, 10:19 AM
Jay Vogt said...: Love it. Iowahawk may have been nudged into that observation by Caitlin Flannigan, who's take on the whole CovCath/AmInd/BlkHeb controversy was that the boys had by happenstance wondered into a Tom Wolf novel and didn't know how to get out. That was brilliant - really that told you all you needed to know.

OABTW, Thanks to both Althouse and Meade for the stickers and magnet. The sticker is small enough, as I had hoped, that I'm going to put it on my debadged Trek FX S4 and create the first ever "Trek Ltd. edition FX Althouse Rat Bike". No if it would just get above zero . . . . .; 1/25/19, 10:47 AM
Earnest Prole said...: I’ve felt that way about our culture since 1995 or so.; 1/25/19, 10:58 AM
Chuck said...: What a completely brilliant Tweet.

And that might be the second nice thing I’ve ever said about Twitter.

Of course I would not have seen it but for the Althouse blog. Many thanks and kudos.; 1/25/19, 11:02 AM
Obadiah said...: As was already asked - who's the dude with the dog?; 1/25/19, 11:33 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Brilliant. It’s not anti-Trump, it’s a pithy comment on our times. The 1930’s without the civility, self-discipline, and restraint. Except this time the Stalinists and the Nazis are the same people.; 1/25/19, 11:39 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Indeed, truth is stranger than fiction.; 1/25/19, 11:50 AM
narciso said...: this guy, he was a bottom basement comic, in the 80s, left wing activists that's how he got in with assuange,

https://news.yahoo.com/randy-credicos-dog-bianca-spotlight-163049433.html; 1/25/19, 12:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks narciso!; 1/25/19, 12:34 PM
JZ said...: 1. I like Iowa Hawk
2. I guess this is a reference to Electric Kool Aid Acid Test.
3. He should have included a picture of Kristin Davis
4. Who's the guy with the dog?; 1/25/19, 2:41 PM
JZ said...: I looked up Randy Credico, so I know why Burge (Iowahawk) included a picture of him. Now I want to know, who is that next to Credico, in the white open collar shirt?; 1/25/19, 2:49 PM
Jaq said...: Infinite Jest has a very Trumpian president character.; 1/25/19, 2:54 PM
narciso said...: the subtext to this little game,

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/25/roger-stone-indictment-wikileaks-assange-mueller/; 1/25/19, 5:21 PM
narciso said...: and furthermore:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/why-fbi-special-agent-joseph-pientka-is-the-dojs-invisible-man_2776513.html; 1/25/19, 6:31 PM
narciso said...: And furthermore:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1088891862981570561.html; 1/25/19, 7:14 PM
Tina Trent said...: I'd take up a collection to send a giant gold-framed copy of that Trump and Melania on the piano photo to the offices of National Review.; 1/26/19, 6:14 AM
Zach said...: Wolfe was really good at seeing something that was absurd with its own internal logic and feeding it back to you even more absurd, but with the same internal logic. He was also surprisingly cheerful for a writer who was so focused on flaws and shortcomings in society.

The material in The Right Stuff could just as easily serve as a takedown or expose of the space program. But the book as a whole is as much a reconstruction of the mythos as a deconstruction.

It's easy to set up a dichotomy. The astronauts pose as selfless heroes, but they're actually silly and venal people who are obsessed with a neverending status competition. But the way Wolfe puts it is that the astronauts are silly and venal people, obsessed with status games -- which drives them to do the heroic things.

There's something to be said about religious visions, as well. The Bonfire of the Vanities is famously a reference to Savanarola. The Right Stuff is not explicitly a religious reference, but the concept is essentially identical to the Presbyterian idea that there is a small group of Elect which have been predestined for salvation, and this election will be manifested by their acts on earth. His very first essay, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby, is about the distinction between the Appollonian and Dionysian (rational vs ecstatic) visions of the car culture.

It would be interesting to see what Wolfe would have to say about the Trump era. Anyone can see that these characters are absurd, but in what way are they absurd? What's the internal logic?; 1/26/19, 12:30 PM
Bilwick said...: Ocasio-Cortez would give Wolfe her Crazy Eye Death Stare until his head exploded.; 1/26/19, 2:13 PM