  |
 |
| |
|
|
|
DIG DIRECTOR
Gore Vidal is an internationally acclaimed novelist, essayist, playwright and screenwriter whose historical fiction and collected criticisms have garnered him the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, among others. An outspoken political activist, he ran for the U.S. House in New York in 1960 and in the 1982 senatorial primary.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
President Jonah, Meet Oliver Cromwell!A Dig led by Gore Vidal
Today, as I sit, like so many Californians, at the heart of what seems to be a vast burning bush, I realize that Jehovah’s jinx of the weirdest American president is as operative in this lowering pre-Halloween season as it was last February when, guided by Scripture, I posted here on the Internet the bad news that our nominal president was seriously jinxed by an unrelenting deity who, from his throne of fire, now blows fiercely upon the west coast of the United States, spreading from San Diego to Malibu to Lake Arrowhead. Lucifer’s finest new-minted flames, a reminder to us, President Jonah’s Supreme Court-appointed subjects, that our ruler is triply cursed for his disobedience to obey his Lord not only long ago at Nineveh, but lately compounded by his inability to destroy all of Baghdad, a city hailed in that magical musical comedy, “Kismet,” by a song entitled “Never underestimate Baghdad.” But a jinxed president’s estimate is bound to be fatally wrong even in the eyes of his creator.
While contemplating the ill-starred presidency of G.W. Bush, I looked about for some sort of divine analogy. As usual, when in need of enlightenment, I fell upon the Holy Bible, authorized King James version of 1611; turning by chance to the Book of Jonah, I read that Jonah, who, like Bush, chats with God, had suffered a falling out with the Almighty and thus became himself a jinx dogged by luck so bad that when a Stone Age cruise liner, thanks to his presence aboard, was about to sink in a storm at sea, the crew for safety’s sake threw him overboard and—Lo!—the storm abated. The three days and nights he subsequently spent in the belly of a nauseous whale must have seemed like a serious jinx to the digestion-challenged mammal who extruded him much as the decent opinion of mankind has done to Bush.
Originally, God wanted Jonah to give hell to Nineveh, whose people, God noted disdainfully, “cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand,” (rather like the people of Baghdad who still cannot fathom what democracy has to do with their destruction at the hands of the Cheney-Bush cabal). But the analogy becomes even more precise when it comes to the plague of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the Curse of Katrina upon a plainly incompetent president, as well as one who has been plainly jinxed by whatever faith he cringes before. Witness the ongoing screw-up of, say, prescription drugs, and the revival of an ancient race war in Louisiana. Who knows what further disasters are in store for us thanks to the curse Jonah is under? As the sailors fed the original Jonah to a whale, thus lifting the storm that was about to drown them, perhaps we the people can persuade President Jonah to retire to his other Eden in Crawford, Texas, taking his jinx with him. We deserve a rest. Plainly, so does he. Look at Nixon’s radiant features after his resignation! One can see former President Jonah in his sumptuous presidential library happily catering to faith-based fans with animated scriptures rooted in “The Pet Goat.” Not since the glory days of Watergate and Nixon’s Luciferian fall has there been so much written about the dogged deceits and creative criminalities of our rulers. We have also come to a point in this dark age where there is not only no hero in view but no alternative road unblocked. We are trapped terribly in a now that few foresaw and even fewer can define despite a swarm of books and pamphlets like the vast cloud of locusts which dined on China in that ‘30s movie ”The Good Earth.” As I mentioned last February, I have read many of these descriptions of our fallen estate, looking for one that best describes in plain English how we got to this now and where we appear to be headed once our good Earth has been consumed by fire and only Rapture is left to whisk aloft the Faithful. Meanwhile, the rest of us can learn quite a lot from ”Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire” by Morris Berman, a professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. I must confess that I have a proprietary interest in anyone who refers to the United States as an empire since I am credited with first putting forward this heretical view in the early ‘70s. In fact, so disgusted with me was a book reviewer at Time magazine who, as proof of my madness, wrote: “He actually refers to the United States as an empire!” It should be noted that at about the same time Henry Luce, proprietor of Time, was booming on and on about ”The American Century.” What a difference a word makes! Berman sets his scene briskly in recent history. “We were already in our twilight phase when Ronald Reagan, with all the insight of an ostrich, declared it to be ‘morning in America’; twenty-odd years later, under the ‘boy emperor’ George W. Bush (as Chalmers Johnson refers to him), we have entered the Dark Ages in earnest, pursuing a short-sighted path that can only accelerate our decline. For what we are now seeing are the obvious characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture—a troika that was for Voltaire the central horror of the pre-Enlightenment world; as well as, today, the political and economic marginalization of our culture.... The British historian Charles Freeman published an extended discussion of the transition that took place during the late Roman empire, the title of which could serve as a capsule summary of our current rulers: ”The Closing of the Western Mind.” Mr. Bush, as God knows best, is no Augustine; but Freeman points to the latter as the epitome of a more general process that was underway in the fourth century: namely, ‘the gradual subjection of reason to faith and authority.’ This is what we are seeing today, and it is a process that no society can undergo and still remain free. Yet it is a process of which administration officials, along with much of the American population, are aggressively proud.” In fact, close observers of this odd presidency note that Bush, like his evangelical base, believes he is on a mission from God and that faith trumps empirical evidence. Berman quotes a senior White House adviser who disdains what he calls the “reality-based” community, to which Berman sensibly responds: “If a nation is unable to perceive reality correctly, and persists in operating on the basis of faith-based delusions, its ability to hold its own in the world is pretty much foreclosed.”
Dig last updated on Feb. 7, 2006Advertisement
Elsewhere: .
CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
Comment Pages:
«4 5 6
7
By Opinder IN ONTARIO, January 25, 2006 at 8:19 pm # WHY GORE VIDAL DID NOT ALSO WRITE ABOUT BUSH Sr.AND HIS NEW WORLD ORDER AND HIS ORGANISATION,SKULL AND BONES,AND HOW MR,CHENNY DIRECTED THE WHOLE DRAMA OF 9-11,HOW THOSE STUPID ARAB BOYS COULD FLY VERY COMPLEX MACHINES LIKE BOEING 757 WHILE STILL LEARNING TO FLY NEWER MIND THE NAVIGATION,AND THE MAGIC OF DISAPEARING AIRLINER IN THE PENTAGON AND THE DESPRATE ACT OF STARTING THIS WAR TO PUT A LOT OF THE MOOLAH IN THE KOOLAH OF WHOLE GANG AT THE EXPENCE OF AMERICAN PEOPLE. GORE IF YOU HAVE TO WRITE THEN WRITE THE WHOLE TRUTH.
By A. A. Murphy, January 25, 2006 at 7:27 pm # . . . ‘the gradual subjection of reason to faith and authority.’ This is what we are seeing today, and it is a process that no society can undergo and still remain free. . . . Worse, we also are seeing the subjection of reason to economic coercion in this country and abroad. Consider the growing self-censorship by our corporate-owned media and the exploitive trade policies now being inflicted by the U.S. on the rest of the world. Republicans’ Old Testament analogies—the Axis of Evil, etc.—add a terrifyingly apocalyptic tone to American policy. This is not good.
By Suzanne McQueen, January 25, 2006 at 7:12 pm # What do you mean - “few foresaw”? Try half the nation who didn’t vote for this moron.
By Martin Fass, January 25, 2006 at 6:54 pm # Deepest thanks to Gore Vidal for this vital contribution. II hope it will be widely circulated by all who first read it with care and then are moved to take action.
By TheOkie, January 25, 2006 at 5:56 pm # “authorized King James version of 1611;” Too bad that book isn’t updatable.
By william berk, January 25, 2006 at 5:43 pm # Right-on.
By Ahmed in rural Oklahoma, January 25, 2006 at 4:45 pm # Can the Bush handlers really be this smart, or are we this stupid? Never mind that this dog never could hunt, but he is all hat and no cattle. So it goes, on the way to irrelevancy.
By Bill Mac Bean, January 25, 2006 at 4:13 pm # How about the two Gores on a nationwide lecture tour? (Al Gore & Gore Vidal, of course). Once word of their first lecture and the thunderous applause following it got around,they’d probably have to hold their talks outside to accomodate everyone. We sorely need true orators speaking the plain, irrefutable truth about what this evil regime has done to our country. I wonder who can talk them into it?
By Sunny, January 25, 2006 at 4:07 pm # Cheers, hoorays, and bravos for this elequent and foresighted author/writer! But who will read this essay? It should run on the ticker tape and be force fed to all before breakfast. Could enough of the public understand? Would they? Oh well, “what the hell dearie” as Mehitable would say. Sunny
By Jim Hanley, January 25, 2006 at 3:54 pm # BUSH’S GRAND PLAN Fact Or Fiction?
By Thomas Price, January 25, 2006 at 3:46 pm # George II (the Boy Emperor) is certainly a Jonah, who has brought evil upon the ship of state, and should be thrown overboard immediately. My fear is that he might try to claim emergency powers (say, by extending the war to Iran), cancel elections, and stage a coup, thus making the fundamentalist Imperium permanent.
By Mark, January 25, 2006 at 2:58 pm # re 12 I wish it could just pass… but I think that we are rather doomed to pass into darkness. Sorry to sound a dark note but that is just the way I see it. Where is the opposition to all the illegal activities of our government, for example?
By John M Sandoval, January 25, 2006 at 2:41 pm # Citizens;
By Glynn Wilson, January 25, 2006 at 1:41 pm # Thanks for the comment. We agree, but put it another way… The Crisis 2006: Calling All Freedom Lovers Everywhere
By Dan Weisman, January 25, 2006 at 1:14 pm # WOW!...the gradual subjection of reason to faith and authority....the triumph of religion over reason.....a nation unable to perceive reality correctly (Because they watch “Reality TV shows)....Are we talking about the Taliban here?...Uh,,,Mr. Gore?...What was that thing you said about Mr.Bush and the Justice Department CONTEMPLATING cancelling an upcoming presidential election? I think that’s WRONG!.... AND...I had NO idea I could book a train trip to Hawaii?!!
By Fresno, January 25, 2006 at 1:10 pm # To all the conservatroids: Wasn’t life much simpler when all you had to worry about is the cleaning bill from a blue dress. But no you had to retore “dignity and honor” back to the white house. Now we have neither.
By Kaiser, January 25, 2006 at 1:08 pm # Another brilliant piece by a master of the form. For those who haven’t, try his collected essays.
By Sissy, January 25, 2006 at 1:00 pm # Another masterpiece from this intellectual giant, Mr. Gore Vidal. The comments are wonderful also, especially that of SUSAN BLOCK!
By Roberto, January 25, 2006 at 12:28 pm # To Susan Block (2): I enjoyed your comment even more than the article. Pretty well written -nice style. If anybody out there has read Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), this article and America’s Bush/mysticism led road map for the future must be eerily familiar. I never thought it could actually happen but the U.S. brain is de-volving to Neandrethal state, qualification is second to nepotism, feelings replace facts for decision making and myth overcomes reason. Even our freedoms our viewed as dangers. America needs a John Galt. Not the one who went into hiding but the one who addressed the nation and put it in its place.
By Stanley Meshell, January 25, 2006 at 12:08 pm # Gore Vidal is a vile anti-semite whose past writings were pathetically anti-Jewish. Anything he says or writes should be considered the ravings of a wacko and nut case.
By Gerald Nelson, January 25, 2006 at 12:07 pm # One Very Magnificent Piece of Writing! Thank you Gore Vidal. And Amen to the posts before this. All the bible-thumping rednecks need to be coralled within a a very high fence, and forced to listen to this being read to them, since they cannot read for themselves.
By Antoinette, January 25, 2006 at 11:21 am # Oh! what a Relief. Gore Vidal You ARE America.(as we used to know it) Brave- Truthful & Free.
By John Earl, January 25, 2006 at 10:54 am # The ox in the White House has been truly Gored!
By Just Jim, January 25, 2006 at 10:44 am # Mr. Vidal, Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful article. I will certainly distribute it to my friends, including my Republican friends. I’m absolutely convinced we are now living in a “police state.” And the confirmation of Alito to the Supreme Court will solidify our new ship of state, the state of perpetual fear. But, it is never too late to turn the ship. To those of us who still seek enlightenment and don’t want to live in the new dark ages, persevere. This too shall pass.
By James Sorrells, January 25, 2006 at 10:44 am # Vidal does a superb job of summarizing the idiocies of this administration. Obviously, the piece was written before it became clear that the Bushies were refusing to cooperate with Congressional investigations into the response to Katrina, yet another debaucle and cover-up.
By Don Hutton, January 25, 2006 at 10:34 am # It seems to me that if we can have the “Kennedy’s” and the “Bush’s” we ought to be able to have the “Gore’s.” Can you imagine: Mr. Vidal debating Mr. Chaney! Can you imagine Al Gore, casting off the DLC muzzle, and debating Mr. Bush? Bring it on!
By Quinty, January 25, 2006 at 10:32 am # We appear to be insistent on destroying the democratic ideals which define us. And anyone who remotely believes that Bush’s illegal activities will be confined to terrorists doesn’t know human nature. If there were such natural moral restraints there would be no need for law. Law puts it in writing. Bush disobeyed the law. He should be impeached and convicted. Will we wake up from our dream? (Or nightmare, more peoperly.) If only Gore Vidal’s words would reach more people. What a remedial effect they would have!
By Barb Goetz, January 25, 2006 at 10:10 am # Our state of affairs so historically defined by Gore Vidal is as always the breath of fresh air that allows us to realize our failures as a people to demand our representatives listen to us. However, I am more inclined to forward the post of Susan Block. You go girl!!!!
By Hellene, January 25, 2006 at 10:06 am # Why is it OK for our government to snoop into our conversations, but everytime we ask for/about conversations/documentation they are having it’s call National Security. These guys are paid by us, and we don’t have the right to know how they are doing their jobs or what they are up to. I need a job like that.
By R. E. Bullis, January 25, 2006 at 9:02 am # To say that Mr. Vidal has “hit the nail on the head” is a well worn understatement. There’s more than one nail, and he’s hit most of them. I find myself feeling, for the umpteenth time in the last 4 years, like a 6 year old struggling to wake a drugged parent because the house is on fire. If I hear one more guy telling me about how America is the greatest, most powerful country on earth, I’m going to bitch slap him several times before resorting to reason, because it’s very close to becoming history.
By Clifford Weinstein, January 25, 2006 at 8:58 am # In the “sixties"the U.S. conducted its objective set in the “fifties” by the fear nolonger posed by European powers but Asian ,more precisely, Oriental Domination. These fears as I recall became our countries nightmare. Induced by books such as ‘The Yellow Peril’and bolstered by the common geo-political axiums laid out in the Domino Theory. And the French pullout from Viet Nam and a distorted event involving a Navy vessel and the Coastal patrol of Viet Nam; presented the playing field onwhich to oppose and defeat these human carnations of evil in the us vs. them arena. Viet Nam offered a solution to two major fears in America at that time. By our support of South Viet Nam we were battling Communist North Viet Nam ,at first ,and inevitably Red China disrupting the domino effect of countries falling to their domination.
By Derek Brett, January 25, 2006 at 7:16 am # Damn!!! This is so powerful a piece!!! Gore Vidal has certainly not lost his edge.
By Morgan-LynnLamberth, January 25, 2006 at 4:04 am # Right on.
By Susan Block, January 25, 2006 at 3:47 am # Once again, Gore Vidal is right about America. America wants a divorce. Ya hear that? George, we want a divorce. We the American People - those of us who voted for you and those of us who didn’t, those of us who believed your bald-faced fish stories and those of us who didn’t - want your abusive lying ass, your ignorant monkey face and all your low-life chickenhawk asshole buddies out of our House (the White one) and out of our lives. We’d like to send you to Guantanamo, but we’ll settle for Crawford. We are so over you, we really are. We are tired of your beatings and neglect. We are sick of your “war fetish,” sending our children off to kill and be killed in your disgusting illegal invasion and occupation of a country that wasn’t even bothering us. We have had it up to here with your mismanagement of our (America’s) finances. We are tired of being humiliated by your obnoxious behavior in our Global Village, where when you act like a boor, we (America) get blamed. We are fed up with your born-again patriarchal, gay-bashing, liberty-smashing ways. We are outraged at your spying on us illegally, like a political Peeping Tom, as though we were all your playthings with no rights and no privacy. We are grossed out by your frat boy lust for torture. We are appalled by your being a Poster Boy for Executive Power Run Amok. We have had enough of your cheating on us (America) by giving all your attention, affection and OUR MONEY to your lover-cronies at Halliburton and Bechtel. We know that men like you tend to *think with your dick,* but YOUR Dick (Cheney) is our nightmare. We are disgusted with your ignoring the basic needs of our poverty-stricken brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans, as you cater to your family (that’s Family Values for you), friends, patrons and cronies. Speaking of family, we are sick of being nice to our mother-in-law-from-hell, Babs the Beastly, and her “beautiful mind” which can’t be burdened with news and pictures of our loved ones that have been killed in her rotten son’s failed war. Most of all, George, we are sick and tired of your lies, lies, constant lies, Big Lies, little lies, smirking lies, shifty-eyed lies, neocon-artist lies, bald-faced lies, lethal lies. You’re lying and spying, while we do the dying, and we’re tired of it! We’re sick of “staying the course.” This awful marriage has broken our bones, killed too many of us, ruined our reputation, and damaged our future in ways we can’t even imagine. But as the song goes, we will survive! We are the People, after all. And we might be a little slow on the uptake, but at a certain point, we see the light, and that’s it: George, we want a divorce. Now all we need is a really good attorney…
By Edward Beardsley, January 25, 2006 at 2:18 am # For his part in the murder of Hypatia Cyril of Alexandria was rewarded with sainthood. Thereafter, for a thousand years, barber-surgeons cured none and murdered many, and the greatest technological achievement of the age is said to have been the invention of the metal stirrup. Can anyone seriously think of those dark days as “good ol’ days” ... I mean, besides George Bush, Pat Robertson, and Osama bin Laden? Surely, most people have something like a working brain and would see that a retreat from reason at this juncture in human history would be suicidal. Or is that too much optimism? Add Your Comment |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo
Jump to Comments
LISTEN TO THIS ITEM,
Email
Print
Share
Ma.gnolia
Newsvine
Bazaar|Podcast|About Us|Contact Us|User Agreement|Privacy Policy|Comment Policy
Copyright © 2008 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
COMMENT TOOLS:
Hide comments
Show comments
Comment on this article