"As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead."
-- H.P. Lovecraft to C.L. Moore, August 1936
14 comments:
This is so going on my FB page.
Just as I was reading this, my CNN app pushed me this news,
Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign was dealt a worrying blow Saturday when he finished in a distant second place to businessman Herman Cain in a closely watched straw poll in Florida.
I almost died of laughter.
Wow, H.P. drove that nail home 75 years ago! Republicans are like some parasite/fungus that simply refuses to die.
In the dead city of R'lyeh, Reagan lies dreaming ...
That was amazing.
Mike.K.
It's interesting to try and figure out where Lovecraft would be today politically.
He was a staunch rationalist and atheist, but he was also decidedly racist and traditionalist.
I somewhat suspect he'd consider all politics the depraved and meaningless thrashings of a doomed race, because that seems to be what he thought of everything that wasn't Providence Rhode Island.
To Anonymous:
"He was a staunch rationalist and atheist, but he was also decidedly racist and traditionalist."
Don't forget that some of the early Lovecraftian authors were also strongly anti-Semite.
Further, he was prone to depression, and his view of nearly everything was tinged with futility and despair. He may have been a tea party nihilist, but that may have been too much work for him.
Mike.K.
some things just never change.
"...he was prone to depression, and his view of nearly everything was tinged with futility and despair."
So...New York Times op-ed columnist.
Good morning, Mr. Glass.
Agh! That graphic at the top of your page was a disturbing surprise, but awesome at the same time.
Secondly, I imagine that you've already searched for this on Google, but there ARE "Cthulhu for President" graphics.
Finally, about your Lovecraft quote...now that I have this AND the Serling quote you're so fond of, I feel like the kids in Stephen King's "It" when they realize Pennywise has been periodically killing people for over 200 years, not the mere months they'd previously assumed.
What a great quote! And yes, Cthulhu is as good a candidate as any. Except maybe Republican Jesus. Oh wait, several versions of him are already running!
RP
love the Lovecraft. If you like the weird of deep politics, Rigorous Intuition is back posting.
May Cthulu devour them all!
The last sentence is perfect, coming from Lovecraft!
[And isn't that a great name for a writer?]
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