[lit-ideas] Re: State of the Un-ionized Particles

Mike: I decided to use George Bush's own gauge of a man, I looked him in the eyes. No light there. No intelligence. That's a relief. But then I looked into Cheney's eyes. Oh what a dark light burned there. A shiver went through my soul. Black hole sun. There, there dwells evil.
I used to have a Public TV show in Pennsylvania. We combined author interviews, book reviews, and comedy. I was the writer and producer. If I look at the old VHS tapes, there was no light in my eyes. No intelligence. Just a black hole of evil. Plus I used special effects. Sort of like John Carpenter meets Michiko Kakutani. Plus evil.
We reviewed _The Satanic Verses_ when all the chain book stores (such as Walden Books) were too chickenhearted and hamstrung to stock it. In the review, we featured an interview with the Ayatollah Khomeini. In addition to turban and flowing robes, the prop guy gave our actor a sword (which I know is more than a little Sikh). Nevertheless, he did a wonderful Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini -- using an Andy Rooney voice.
That was in the 1980s when people had atrophied vestiges of spirit, and didn't relish some schmuck with a funny hat and beard putting out a hit contract on an author. Nowadays the TV review couldn't be aired. It would be too insulting to our imaginary Other.
Not that I have anything against imaginary Others. Just, back then, in my more creative heyday, you didn't give a damn who you insulted. After all, if people were insulted, they probably wouldn't like you anyway even if you were polite, so there was no sense worrying about whether they liked you or not. They'd either get over it or they wouldn't.
My test of the State of the Un-ionized is less Manichean than Mike's. I tried to count the number of words Bush mispronounced. Three, if you don't count "nuclear." That was very good. It was a good speech. Three bloopers. Of course, I wish Tony Blair had been Bush for seven years. Tony had all that practice standing up and sitting down, talking extemporaneously, and so could've presented an elegant case that would have left Americans frozen in awe. (We now rely on commercials to do that.)
Cheney didn't look evil. He looked tired. Or a little sad. Perhaps remembering how Americans had once been confident ... all while Teddy Kennedy pretended to sleep for the camera. Good to see Teddy pretend for a change. 

Regards,
Michiko Kakutani


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