Saturday, July 3, 2010

Quips and Quotations (Fourth of July Edition)

"Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men's reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of 'the rat race' is not yet final."
—Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt

5 comments:

  1. Oh, very nice one, Kirk! We do love the larger-than-life ones, don't we?

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  2. They die hard in other countries too. The whole set-up of idol worship is interesting. All I know is that Heather Mills should have just shut up. No one, I mean not one person on this planet wanted to hear anything bad about Paul McCartney. He's Paul McCartney, bitch. Just shut up!

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  3. Do the guys from Jackass count as mould breaking champions?

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  4. @LimesNow--Yes, and that very love may end up contributing even more to that size.

    @Kass--Yes, they have idols in other countries, too, though these days, those idols are also very often American. Look at the worldwide mourning for Michael Jackson a year ago. I think the reason Thompson focused on America, other than the fact that he himself was from there, was that the phrase "the Pursuit of Happiness" is in one of our founding documents. And, unlike the European countries that many of our ancestors hail from, we've never had a title-based class system. No dukes, duchesses, counts, barons, etc. So we're kind of expected to lead larger lives in America. The fact so many of us don't makes us cling even harder to the ones that do.

    As far as Heather Mills is concerned, she claimed that Paul McCartney was turned off by her missing leg. Unless she revealed that fact to him for the very first time on their wedding night, it's hard for me to believe one of the richest and famous rock stars on the planet, who, even in his 60s, probably has no shortage of beautiful young women to choose from, would have married her in the first place if he was that turned off.

    Tag--I guess it all depends on whether that show's participants, once they've had their moments in the, uh, spotlight, return to the to the narrow confines of the rat race or not.

    Of course, on Jackass, the phrase "rat race" can taken very literally at times.

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  5. I've never thought about America never having had a title-based class system and the possibility that that is why we strive to lead larger lives and cling hard to legends that manage to fulfill our subdued ambitions. - An interesting observation -

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