Hey, Hey, LBJ....

[poliphilo]

I've been around a while and I've seen hateful politicians come and go.

They arrive, they block out the light, they depart.

The first American President I really hated was LBJ.

"Hey, hey, LBJ
How many kids have you killed today?"

Actually Johnson wasn't all bad. He pushed through civil rights legislation. Sometimes the biggest monsters do the most surprising things.

Like it was Nixon who went to China. And maybe (as the old Vulcan proverb says) he was the only one who could.

Then there was Margaret Thatcher. I hated her with a passion. And she just seemed to go on and on and on. But she's stepped down now- and I find it hard to remember what all the fuss was about.

Politicians are less important than they/we think they are. Who was in charge in the 1890s? Which American Presidents? Which British Prime Ministers? I don't know. I'd have to go look it up. But everybody's heard of Oscar Wilde.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

At least your prime minister never pretended to be anything other than a conservative.

Blair, on the other hand, was elected as a man of the left.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'm not sure I agree, alas. Everybody has heard of Oscar Wilde, but just because not everybody has heard of Balfour or Gladstone (were they PMs in the 1890s?) doesn't mean that their policies didn't have grave impacts, some of which continue until the present. Certainly, in Ireland, many phenomena - some of them good, such as the disestablishment of the C of I - can be traced back to the 1890s. The fact that the Land Acts in Ireland weren't extended to Britain isn't as sexy as Dorian Gray, but still shapes the economic relations between landlord and tenant in Britain. It may be hard to remember what the fuss was about Thatcher, apart from her handbag, but the universities and schools in Britain are still reeling from her cutbacks and industry-driven policy-making. Alas. There was much talk last night about Bush now thinking of his place in the history books, but really, history books can be rewritten any time: the museum in Baghdad can never be restored to what it once was.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I would so like to prove you wrong.

But...

Well, take the long-term view. I'd want to argue that the effects of of the Land Acts will have petered out long before The Importance of Being Earnest ceases to be performed.

But I know what you mean.

I comfort myself by thinking in terms of thousands of years, but I concede that- as far as our lives go- the politicians are pretty damn important.

[archyena.livejournal.com]

Then take comfort from the fact that they are products of precisely the same culture, at least in vaguely democratic societies. They are slaves to the same social forces and are reacting just as anyone else.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes. We have to resist the temptation to see them as somehow other than ourselves.

Of course the classic technique is to imagine them in the nude.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Just for a spot more sunshine and light: yes, the Importance of Being Ernest may be played in a thousand year's time, but what are the chances of a subversive play by a queer playwrite being given funding or a school production in Bush's America, as he would like to have it?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Wilde flourished in a more repressive era than our own. He was a licenced jester, continually flirting with danger. And in the end he got swatted- though not for anything he had written.

The queerness is coded in his work. He said as much as he thought he could get away with. Pushing up against the boundaries of what is permitted is what artists do even in the most liberal states.

If censorship is tightened artists will find ways of subverting it- as they always have done.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Scurilous Shenanigans and Threatened secession in 1800:

I heard a fine interview on All Things Considered (National Public Radio) on Sunday that I believe you will find interesting.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson was running against Aaron Burr, and it was a far more unsettling campaign than W vs Kerry.

And the partisan press! They threatened America with hellfire and burning houses if Jefferson were elected!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes that is interesting.

And maybe the lesson is that we all need to calm down about Bush 2. Or would that be a counsel of complacency?

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Bush is now speaking.

He is smiling and chipper.

He says, among other things: "We will extend our hand to all who share our goals."

Note the Divine "we."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Mrs Thatcher used it too. Most notoriously in the pronouncement, "We are a grandmother."

We have to hold onto our perception of these people as trivial and ridiculous. We must never stop finding them funny.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

We have to hold onto our perception of these people as trivial and ridiculous. We must never stop finding them funny.


This should be easy!

Bush looked so happy and relaxed today that it was hard not to like him. Then he talked about all those new Republicans coming into the Congress, how he'd be welcoming them, and my moment of maudlin weakness passed.

[ksp24.livejournal.com]

A good posting, the historical perspective is a good approach to take.

I liked the commentary above as well.

We'll deal with Bush 2, and he is the devil we know. Thus act accordingly!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good point. Bush is unlikely to surprise us.

And of course other things are going on. The departure of Arafat means that there will be movement (and maybe cause for hope) in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

[ksp24.livejournal.com]

True, the middle east is a tough nut, and with Arafat out of play, there will be some movement there.

And indeed, let's hope it will be positive!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think Arafat was a bad thing. Stubborn, corrupt, self-serving. We don't know what happens next because Arafat has apparently not provided for the succession.

But, as always; where there's death there's hope.

[299792458.livejournal.com]

well, I would think more people have heard of Bill Clinton than of Oscar Wilde...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true NOW. But in a hundred years time I'll bet that Clinton will be an historical footnote (remembered perhaps as the consort of the first female president of the USA) and Wilde will be as famous as he is now.

[299792458.livejournal.com]

yes, you are probably right...

I am thinking how many american presidents and writers from more than hundred years ago I can recall without looking them up in wikipedia.org:

Washington (must have been the first one, no?)
Lincoln (the war of northern aggression, I suppose)

yes, that's it, I'm affraid...

now writers:

yes, first comes Gone with the wind -- Mitchell
and the opposite view -- uncle tom's cabin, Stowe
Then the one about a whale -- Melvill, I think
Oh, and there goes O'Henry -- I just love him
yes, and the guy with alaska stories -- Jack London
and... oops, can't recall anything else at the moment...

so, it's 5-2 in favour of writers -- you must be right!

Mark Twain

[299792458.livejournal.com]

I forgot Mark Twain!

7:2

[299792458.livejournal.com]

and Fenimore Cooper!

Re: 7:2

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And Emerson and Dickinson and Hawthorne and Poe and Whitman and James and......

presidents and writers

[299792458.livejournal.com]

yes, but you might as well remember more presidents... See, the idea is: an average person tries to recall american presidents and writers -- without any help!

no, of all these names only Poe rings a bell, however, since I don't like his verses, I don't feel like I can use his name...

actually, talking about Poe, I've recalled Longfellow!

Anyway, you are probably right about presidents and writers -- an average person (and I mean NOT a native English speaker -- I am sure at school you just had to read all these authors under a threat of severe punishment) would probably recall 2 presidents and about 7 writers.

Re: presidents and writers

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

This is getting complicated.

But yes, there are two pre 20th century American presidents who are figures of international fame and importance- Washington and Lincoln- with Jefferson as a possible third.

[ksp24.livejournal.com]

Well, I wonder!