Thursday, April 20, 2006

“Button, Button”


You know Richard Matheson.

You may not know you know him, but you do. You’ve read or seen his work.

It’s unavoidable.

He, for example, wrote a fair chunk of the original “Twilight Zone” episodes. He wrote “I Am Legend”, which was brought to the screen first as “The Omega Man”, and to which pretty much every zombie/vampire-army movie ever shot owes a fat debt.

“The Shrinking Man” (they added “Incredible” to the title when they made it into a movie, because apparently a shrinking man by itself isn’t prima facie incredible enough) is his.

He did the script for Spielberg's first flick -- "Duel" -- (which, if you haven’t seen it, is “Jaws”...on land...with a big-ass truck instead of a big-ass shark.) and the script for the original teevee movie “The Night Stalker” (And, because Chris Carter knew and honored his own teevee lineage, why he created an homage to the master in the person of “Senator Matheson” on the “X-Files”.)

This list just scratches the surface. There’s a lot more, but this post isn’t my paean to Mr. Matheson. It's to put across the point that he is in the cultural groundwater. And, in this lad’s ‘umble opinion, at least one of his stories should always be included in the canon of speculative fiction that every school kid should be required to read (strapping into those "A Clockwork Orange" eyelid-spreaders if necessary), along with Jackson’s “The Lottery”, “The Flag”, Damon Knight’s "To Serve Man"...and any of a dozen wonders by Bradbury.

The specific piece by Matheson I have in mind is called “Button, Button”.

It first appeared in Playboy magazine in 1970 (See, Mom. I really was reading it for the articles.) and it's been buzzing hornet-like around in my skull very much these last many months. Enough for me to track it down again and re-read it, so I had already been mulling about it on some level when this story popped right off the page over at Media Matters.

First the article, and then I’ll serve up a little slice of the original Matheson story (not the execrable adaptation from the “New Twilight Zone”.)

See if you can divine the hellish similarity between the two, and then I double-dog-dare you to tell me that good science fiction is or has ever been “escapist” in any sense.

This from Media Matters…

Savage advocated "kill[ing] 100 million" Muslims; called alleged Duke rape victim a "drunken slut stripping whore"
Summary: On April 17, Michael Savage called for "kill[ing] 100 million" Muslims and referred to the alleged Duke rape victim as a "drunken slut stripping whore."

On April 17, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage called for "kill[ing] 100 million" Muslims and referred to the woman who alleged she was raped by members of Duke University's lacrosse team as a "drunken slut stripping whore."
On his radio show, Savage told listeners that "intelligent people, wealthy people ... are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' " Savage continued: "I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'd be 900 million of them.' I mean ... would you rather us die than them?" Savage added: "Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you're going to have to make that choice sooner rather than later."
Savage also referred to the alleged Duke rape victim as "a drunken slut stripping whore accusing men of raping her when there is absolutely no evidence of such a rape other than what comes out of that filthy mouth of hers." He later asked: "What kind of system do we have that anyone can scream rape and not have to show her face?" adding, "This is all the product of the out-of-control lesbian feminist movement." Echoing previous comments he has made about the alleged rape victim, Savage said, "The Durham dirt-bag case disgusts me to my core."

Savage has also previously referred to the alleged victim as a "dirty, verminous black stripper."


From the April 17 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: There are too many RDDBs [red-diaper doper babies, Savage's term for people supposedly raised by Marxist parents] in high places and in the media and in the courts for us to stand up to this fanatical enemy. And so unless the RDDB is reined in somehow or taken out of power, we're going to die as a nation. I swear to God that's what people are saying to me. And these are intelligent people, wealthy people. They are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, "Oh, there's a billion of them." I said, "So, kill 100 million of them, then there'll be 900 million of them." I mean, would you rather die -- would you rather us die than them? I mean, what is it going to take for you people to wake up? Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you're going to have to make that choice sooner rather than later.
[...]

And now this from “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson (emphasis added).

The package was lying by the front door—a cube-shaped carton sealed with tape, their name and address printed by hand: “Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, 217 E. Thirty-seventh Street, New York 10016.”

Norma picked it up, unlocked the door, and went into the apartment. It was just getting dark. After she put the lamb chops in the broiler, she sat down to open the package. Inside the carton was a push-button unit fastened to a small wooden box. A glass dome covered the button. Norma tried to lift it off, but it was locked in place. She turned the unit over and saw a folded piece of paper Scotch-taped to the bottom of the box. She pulled it off: “Mr. Steward will call on you at 8:00 p.m.” Norma put the button unit beside her on the couch. She reread the typed note, smiling. A few moments later, she went back into the kitchen to make the salad.

The doorbell rang at eight o’clock. “I’ll get it,” Norma called from the kitchen. Arthur was in the living room, reading. There was a small man in the hallway. He removed his hat as Norma opened the door.

“Mrs. Lewis?” he inquired politely.
“Yes?”

“I’m Mr. Steward.”

“Oh, yes.” Norma repressed a smile. She was sure now it was a sales pitch.

“May I come in?” asked Mr. Steward.

“I’m rather busy,” Norma said. “I’ll get you your watchamacallit, though.”

She started to turn.

“Don’t you want to know what it is?” Norma turned back.

Mr. Steward’s tone had been offensive. “No, I don’t think so,” she replied.

“It could prove very valuable,” he told her.

Monetarily?”she challenged

Mr. Steward nodded. “Monetarily,” he said.

Norma frowned. She didn’t like his attitude.

“What are you trying to sell?” she asked.

“I’m not selling anything,” he answered.

Arthur came out of the living room.

“Something wrong”

Mr. Steward introduced himself.

“Oh, the –” Arthur pointed toward the living room and smiled. “What is that gadget anyway?”

“It won’t take long to explain,” replied Mr. Steward. “May I come in?”

“If you’re selling something—,” Arthur said.
He hesitated. “Well, why not?” he said.

They went into the living room and Mr. Steward sat in Norma’s chair. He reached into an inside coat pocket and withdrew a small sealed envelope.

“Inside here is a key to the bell- unit dome,” he said. He set the envelope on the chairside table. “The bell is connected to our office.”

“What’s it for?” asked Arthur.

“If you push the button,” Mr. Steward told him, “somewhere in the world someone you don’t know will die. In return for which you will receive a payment of $50,000.”

...


Let’s be clear; in America in 2006, this is not a fable. This is not a cautionary fable dressed up in science fiction nomeclature.

This is about the world, now.

The United States, now.

In 2004, when the GOP rank and file lockstepped into their polling places to re-elect liars and criminals, they pushed the button.

When they stand by and applaud reckless, useless butchery on the promise that the indiscriminate slaughter will somehow make them incrementally safer and keep their pump prices low, they push the button.

When conservatives of my acquaintence say – in all seriousness – “Fuck it. Kill ‘em all. They all hate us anyway,” they push the button.

When a drooling slab of racist slunkmeat like Michael Savage calls for wholesale homicide to the orgasmic squeals of the pig people, they stomp up and down on the button.

They push the button because they are drowning in their own fear and voting for the bastards that are holding their heads underwater. Because they are weak men. Cowardly men. Hateful men, who have lent their electoral authority to other weaklings and cowards to wholesale curbstomp brown people in their name.

Because it costs them nothing.

History gave them a chance to show the world their true faces. A chance to proceeding with the long, hard job of dealing with real enemies and real problems with care and gravity. Intelligence. Maturity. Focus.

Instead we got The Bicycle Chief and his Gang that Couldn't Loot Straight.

Twice. Fucking twice.

This was their moral acid test; one which they have failed spectacularly.

Safe in their basements, shielded by layers of greasy ass-fat and whistle-clean, fraidy-cat arsenals they will never use, kept Mommy’s-womb-safe by the gangsters and hucksters they elect and re-elect over and over and over again from having to spend a single dime or shed a single drop of blood, they have been given their heart's darkest, fondest wish: to kill brown people by remote control and have someone else pick up the tab.

Every day they push the button.

Every. Single. Day.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

And you know what's even better?? They don't even care about the $50,000. They push that button for FREE. In fact, they pay a lot more than $50,000 if you add it up.

We all do.

Anonymous said...

the Good News is that they are running on a Rapture platform in Nov. Shorter Vin Weber on lehrer tonight: 'no policy changes - except more faith based initiatives'

nolocontendere said...

Wiener and his pig - friends in the wasteland of talk radio are all trying to out claw each other to the bottom of the cesspit.

Anonymous said...

Lukery: The Bad News is it may not matter what platform they run on, because of their mastery of electoral fraud, digital and analog both. Don't assume they won genuine majorities too quickly. See Mark Crispin Miller's book FOOLED AGAIN for details.

Anonymous said...

I voted for Gore and Kerry, but I admit that for about a year after the 9/11 attacks--when I thought we faced a genuine successor to Nazism (not in specific ideology, but in militancy and ambition)--I too was willing to push "the button". I don't recall why I started becoming suspicious in late 2002, but the invasion of Iraq confirmed my suspicions. I now would not be surprised to learn the sons of bitches somehow arranged or allowed the 9/11 attacks so they'd have an excuse to implement neocon/petrocratic ambitions.

Anonymous said...

This was their moral acid test; one which they have failed spectacularly.

I wonder sometimes if things needed to go this way so the rats couldn't hide in the dark anymore. Perhaps the only way we as a nation, and perhaps the world, can move into the 21st Century is if this militaristic fear of the 20th Century is finally killed, vampire-wise, with a stake through the heart. We tricked these un-dead out into the sun where the light of reason and the Fitz will put a final end to their reign of terror. It's one hell of a gamble to be sure, and I pray to various deities that I'm right.

PS- Kid C- of course they set-up 9.11, OBL has been on the payroll for years. Problem with Rapturites is they can get one of their own (Bush) to play the anti-Christ, but Jesus ain't coming back. Sorry to disappoint you true-believers.

Mister Roboto said...

(See, Mom. I really was reading it for the articles.)

Yep, and I'm sure dat's why de pages wit de nakid ladies on 'em ended up all stuck together like dat! :-D

Sorry, me inner teenager just wouldn't shut up until I indulged him on that one.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me of just how good Matheson's stories are. Just another service!

You hit it exactly. I actually got chills.

Perhaps throwing rationality overboard seems to foster a dependence on emotion; yet these people seem emotionally stunted as well. Perhaps that's why they feast on negative emotions. They are the only ones available to them.

And people must have emotions of some kind. Even psychopaths indulge in that.

Jay Taber said...

14th century all over again

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember that in "Button, Button", the Lewises rationalize their way to pushing the button, after which Steward comes back to give them their money and reclaim the button to give it to someone else in the world, someone they don't know.

That part seems applicable here as well.

Anonymous said...

Soon to be a Major Motion Picture.

Seriously.

Anonymous said...

Paul the Spud:

Dang. You beat me to it.

Funny thing is, for all its lousy dubbing and threadbare production values, I still feel that "The Last Man on Earth" is by far the better film version of Matheson's novel. It's well worth checking out, especially since it's out now on DVD. (Get the MGM Midnite Movies release if you can, since it's a superior copy, plus it's paired with that classic Cold War-era nightmare, "Panic in Year Zero".)

Anyway, back to the essay: Marvellous juxtaposition there, driftglass.

A man never stands so tall as when he's watching someone else curb-stomp the enemy du jour.

Anonymous said...

I'm with werebear...I got chills, too. Thank you for saying this, driftglass. Thank you for saying this so well

GW

Anonymous said...

Perfect. Sad, of course, but deadly true. US Blues: I too hope that, given enough rope they'll hang themselves. I just hope we don't all go down with their ship.

Another out-of-control heterosexual feminist with an agenda,

-- mac

Anonymous said...

P.S. Drifty, with only 24 more spams to catch before our celebration, I think your net done sprung a leak.

-- mac

Anonymous said...

Yeah Malacandra - soon to be a major motion picture with a script/screenplay being written by one Richard Kelly, the gentleman who wrote Donnie Darko. Thanx Driftie and damn your ass also! Every time you write one of these I have to spend an hour or two of my precious time (*cough* bullshit *cough*) researching all of the writings of the great wordsmiths you make note of, recalling how profoundly their written works impacted me in my youth. Thanx again - just give me some forewarning so I can schedule accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Hhhmmm - wonder if this Matheson story was the nidus from which sprang notions such as the Mafia sobriquet for assassin - "Button Man"?

Anonymous said...

And today, on good ol' AW.Com, they put up Condi's latest adjustment of the "victory" definition.

She's saying:

(My God! The brilliance of the woman!)

"No V-E day in Iraq..."

Condi is now the frontlady, as bushCo tries to lower the "Mission Accomplished" crossbar, to a level that a three-legged cockroach could vault like Rafer Johnson.:o)

I say: Right. This is all part of the on-going "plan"...as conceived three-plus years ago.:

Condi: "Thassit, folks. 70-80 of our troops are dying each month, along with hundreds of Iraqis;

We're pissing a $billion-and-a-half a week into the mesopatamian sand (and into the coffers of some well-chosen bushCo corporate buds...)

A disheartening number of purple fingers somehow seem to keep winding up in the trigger guards of Kalashnikovs;

And in Iran, Ahmadinejad is wagging his dick at us like Long John Holmes in a Bay Area porn flick;

But freedom is on the march, even if the rest of the liberators from England, Poland, Italy, etc. probably won't be around to celebrate it's arrival.

(Would anyone object if Donald Rumsfeld puts the "Mission Accomplished! banner on eBay? There's not much left in the treasury, after all the Halliburton and Bechtel contracts...)"

Anonymous said...

Crap, Drifty - I've read that story, too. Not in Playboy, in a high school class I think. I haven't thought about it in years

Anonymous said...

And now, upon reflection, I rememeber how it ended. Would that it were so. (no spoilers here)

Anonymous said...

WD43: God doesn't have an ego like we humans do. (S)He's concerned with how you treat other sentient beings, not whether or not you believe in Him. I think that for the fundies, faith is less an attempt to imitate the justice and mercy of God than it is a badge of tribal identity. For a good non-fundamentalist view of Christianity, I would recommend Bruce Bawer's book STEALING JESUS: HOW FUNDAMENTALISM BETRAYS CHRISTIANITY (Crown, 1997). I don't agree with every last thing he says, but he makes a lot of sense.

Grace and Peace, Kid Charlemagne

merlallen said...

Why doesn't the FCC crack down on this asshole? Who do I have to complain to about him using the word whore on the airwaves?

merlallen said...

i don't think God cares if we worship Him either. I am to God as an ant is to me. I don't expect ants to worship me.

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Anonymous said...

This short story is being truned into a film. And is being directed by Richard Kelly(Donnie Darko)

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117967834.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Audrey P said...

I came across your blog looking for Button, Button by Richard Matheson. I read it in my 8th grade english class and haven't found it since. It is goo dto know it was originally a Playboy article. and about all the other shit relating it to our post-reason politics ... well said my friend, well said.

Anonymous said...

And the terrorists are good guys, eh? What I find so damned funny is that your liberals speak about the hatred Republicans and conservatives have, and all I read and see in all these 80-plus comments is naked, dripping hatred. Slick spittle drooling hatred...

Who raped an intern while in office? Who lied under oath and was the only president to commit perjury? Who lied to millions on national television about it? Who bombed Iraq 8 times in 8 years, killing countless babies and innocent Iraqis? Who invaded Yugoslavia? Somalia? And the biggest blunder of the new 20th century, who the fuck allowed Sept. 11 attacks to happen?

Mr. Bill Clinton. If any president should be tried for war crimes, it oughta be that red-face, stiff-pricked son-of-a-bitch.

Anonymous said...

And the terrorists are good guys, eh? What I find so damned funny is that your liberals speak about the hatred Republicans and conservatives have, and all I read and see in all these 80-plus comments is naked, dripping hatred. Slick spittle drooling hatred...

Who raped an intern while in office? Who lied under oath and was the only president to commit perjury? Who lied to millions on national television about it? Who bombed Iraq 8 times in 8 years, killing countless babies and innocent Iraqis? Who invaded Yugoslavia? Somalia? And the biggest blunder of the new 20th century, who the fuck allowed Sept. 11 attacks to happen?

Mr. Bill Clinton. If any president should be tried for war crimes, it oughta be that red-face, stiff-pricked son-of-a-bitch.

Anonymous said...

And the terrorists are good guys, eh? What I find so damned funny is that your liberals speak about the hatred Republicans and conservatives have, and all I read and see in all these 80-plus comments is naked, dripping hatred. Slick spittle drooling hatred...

Who raped an intern while in office? Who lied under oath and was the only president to commit perjury? Who lied to millions on national television about it? Who bombed Iraq 8 times in 8 years, killing countless babies and innocent Iraqis? Who invaded Yugoslavia? Somalia? And the biggest blunder of the new 20th century, who the fuck allowed Sept. 11 attacks to happen?

Mr. Bill Clinton. If any president should be tried for war crimes, it oughta be that red-face, stiff-pricked son-of-a-bitch.

Anonymous said...

Very intlligently stated and beautifully written

Anonymous said...

So...it's 2010. Bush is gone and now we have an avowed Marxist in the White House. How much are you loving it now? Had enough? Double digit unemployment and our children's futures mortgaged by an empty suit who can't even prove his alleged American citizenship.
I hope you enjoy the ride. You got exactly what you deserved by letting your irrational hatred for George Bush make you "push the button" for the first slick song and dance man who came along.
Unfortunately, the rest of us who saw what was coming and tried to stop it are along for the ride whether we like it or not. Eat shit and die you Leftist cunt.