Tuesday, January 13, 2015

I'll Have What He's Having


By my calculations, it takes about six years for the light from massive and highly polished egos of the David Brooks' Adult table to reach lowlife nobodies like me, so I don't have a the first idea what sort of exotic dishes they serving up there.  Ambien souffle? Braised medallions of Ibogaine?  All I know for sure is that they're all severely corvidae-intolerant at the Adult Table, so none of them will be touching any of the roasted, barbecued, poached or fricasseed crow rotting in piles the size of mountain ranges around their dining area, but beyond that I have no idea.

What I do know is that I would rather share month-old shit-on-a-shingle with this guy at the Kiddie Table (Not Safe For Work) --



-- than share one bite of the finest aged Uruguayan grass-fed filet mignon Del Campo's has to offer with any of the Very Serious Brahmins who have killed honorable journalism in my country.

Just like Charlie Hebdo, HUSTLER has a long tradition of running parodies, satirical images, and political cartoons. Tragedies like the one in Paris further underscore the importance of free speech and freedom of expression – including satire – and the duty citizens have to fight ideas with ideas, rather than violence. Our thoughts today are with those at Charlie Hebdo.

7 comments:

dinthebeast said...

The Rude Pundit speculates about that menu and its after-effects:

-Doug in Oakland

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2015/01/david-brooks-only-enjoys-farts-of-his.html

Mister Roboto said...

I pretty much agree with Ran Prieur about the "terrorist" attacks in Paris:

This week's big news was the mass murder at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo by people claiming to represent Islam. Here's a good commentary with some humor: Norway's Christians didn't have to apologise for Anders Breivik, and it's the same for Muslims now. Anders Breivik is probably the right comparison here: unhinged losers seeking glory, rather than an international conspiracy. But if you want to credit the killers with some savvy, this short piece in The Telegraph suggests that they were not actually offended by the Muhammad cartoons, but were making a calculated strategic move to turn the world against moderate Muslims, who will then be driven to extremism.

I don't use the word "terrorist". It's a propaganda word, value-loaded and poorly defined, which leads to sloppy thinking. I prefer to call these people fanatical ideologues. They have overreacted to the meaninglessness of modern life by finding meaning in a very simple story of absolute good versus absolute evil, which justifies exciting and extremely selfish actions. And if they can get other people to join them in the same story and similar actions, then their lives feel even more meaningful. Worst case, you get a popular war with millions of people on both sides who see the other side as cartoon villains, and a lot of really stupid murders.

I think there's an antidote to this, and it's not love. Fanatical ideologues feel strong love for whatever is at the center of their value system, and they might even tell you that love is their primary motivation. What these people are missing is the ability to have fun, to let go, to be playful. If you really know how to have fun, then the moments of your life feel meaningful without having to tell some grand story to make yourself important. And if, within a culture, there are too many people who don't know how to have fun, it's like a dry forest that only needs one spark to go up in flames.


That said, I would also add that the commentary I've read online from the Islamophobes in the wake of these attacks lead me to the conclusion that if I ever felt the need to purchase firearms, it would probably be to protect myself from the likes of them and their own very ISIS-like fanaticism.

blackdaug said...

It has been many a year since I have seen a copy of Hustler, but I do seem to remember them depicting the western religious icon "Santa Clause" in some embarrassing situations...or was that Jerry Falwell and his mother....??

Mike Lumish said...

Way off topic, but did you see that Ray Bradbury's house has been torn down to make way for a celebrity architect's vanity project?

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-ray-bradbury-house-being-torn-down-20150113-story.html

If it were not in the LA Times I would suspect a sick joke of some kind.

Neo Tuxedo said...

Thank you very much-o, Mister Roboto, for finding the quote I didn't know to:

What these people are missing is the ability to have fun, to let go, to be playful. If you really know how to have fun, then the moments of your life feel meaningful without having to tell some grand story to make yourself important. And if, within a culture, there are too many people who don't know how to have fun, it's like a dry forest that only needs one spark to go up in flames.

"Greyface and his followers took the game of playing at life more seriously than they took life itself and were known even to destroy other living beings whose ways of life differed from their own."
-- Principia Discordia, or how I found Goddess and what I did to Her when I found Her, p.00042, "Greyface" (copyleft 1970)

stickler said...

Ah yes, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine,_Inc._v._Falwell

Unknown said...

Mister Roboto,

Thanks for sharing that link. That is really an interesting point of view.

--Nonny Mouse