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Feral Finster's avatar

One of the lies that apologists for empire like to tell us is that the American Empire may be brutal, unjust, self-serving and arbitrary, but that only thr Empire can keep peace.

This lie was blown up when China got the Saudis and Iranians to make peace, while the United States Department of State seethed with rage.

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An Internet Poster's avatar

A poster below reminded me of one of the most insightful things I've ever seen in a Hollywood production. Delivered, of course, in the Alan Metter masterpiece 'Back to School,' starring Rodney Dangerfield (and a very young Robert Downey, Jr.) Why, you ask, is this movie a masterpiece?

Simply this: there is a subplot where Thornton Melon, Dangerfield's wealthy salt-of-the-earth, plus-size suit chain owner hires Kurt Vonnegut to write an analysis of Kurt Vonnegut fiction. Melon is failed by his professor on the assignment because 'whoever wrote this paper knowns nothing about Kurt Vonnegut.'

It was the harbinger of the academic/government/entertainment nexus that we know today. Any deviation from orthodoxy is clearly fraudulent. Mediocrity is the safest course, because the alternative is cancellation. Being noticed is a terrible risk.

Ironically, Kurt Vonnegut would have an awful lot to say about today's unholy academic/government/entertainment partnership.

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