Friday, October 31, 2008
Media Scene Exclusive: John Irving Field-Dresses Sarah Palin
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 11:55 AM
In Europe and in Canada, writers are expected to speak out politically—to be active in interviews, and everywhere in the media, in talking about more than their novels. It’s just the opposite here: writers are discouraged from expressing their opinions about politics or the society. We’re expected to talk about our books, a little, and then shut up about everything else. Why? Don’t creative minds have creative ideas? Look at this woeful election process we have been undergoing. There’s been more interesting and truthful stuff about the election on The Daily Show and on Saturday Night Live than what we’ve seen on the so-called news shows. We have become so politically correct that we must present a counter argument to every opinion expressed in the news. Why? Do we not trust people to have minds of their own? Does every issue have an equal counter argument? (Of course not!) What does it say about us as a culture that a couple of comedy shows on TV are smarter and more incisive, politically, than the back-and-forth meandering that passes for “in-depth coverage” on CNN or MSNBC? The bestseller list in the U.S. doesn’t only reflect what we read. That list is a reflection of how backward we are as a culture. We are anti-intellectual, we don’t value the arts, and we don’t sufficiently support education. President Bush made sounding stupid actually comforting to many Americans. Look at the rush of instant identification that many Americans felt for Governor Palin; she was mean, she was poorly informed, she spoke badly. I said to my wife, after watching Palin’s debate with Senator Biden, that I could only think of one question that woman might not duck—one she actually might answer, even with enthusiasm. Here’s the question. I have never field-dressed a moose, but—in my deer-hunting days—I have field-dressed deer, and I would have liked to ask the perky Alaskan if the process is more or less the same. (Only a lot bigger!) I could easily imagine Gov. Palin’s eyes brightening; an onslaught of pre-orgasmic winking might have ensued. “Ya know,” she might have begun, “ya just gotta make a big slit from the critter’s brisket to its crotch, and ya gotta reach way the heck up and grab hold of the rectum. Ya can’t let the feces fall out and get all over the meat, ya know. But there’s really nothin’ to it. It’s just a moose—it’s not a Russian, or somethin’!” I think that pretty much covers what the governor might say in answer to that question, except that she probably wouldn’t use the feces word—if ya know what I mean. In short, there’s more wrong with this country than we don’t read.The interview appears on stands and online Wednesday. Photo by Jane Sobel Klonsky.
Comments (16)
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Ugh... I think Mr. Irving is watching too many comedy shows. He sounds like he is posing the question from Tina Fey's impersonation of the candidate. I thought this guy would be sharper. Give me a break.
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Gio,
Why can you think of another question she might not duck? I think Irving is right on.
"Getting feces all over the meat" is a pretty darn good metaphor for the McCain-Palin campaign.
Yea, Biden the genius sure cleaned her clock. At least he sounded very confident about the "facts" he reached way the heck up and pulled out of his rectum. I used to read Irving. Then I grew up.
Hey Pith--How about a Palin palate cleanser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx4kXgF88wQ
The video is sarcastic, ironic, tongue-in-cheek, cynical, juvenile, and narcissistic.
The scale of entirely gratuitous female sexuality is rivaled only by Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” video.
There are instances of what some people would deem unnecessary swearing.
It scrapes the bottom of the barrel while going over the top.
It is satire, for God’s sake, and I thought y'all might get a kick out of it.
Cheers!
Are you an accomplished writer too, Sam? And, if you are not a published writer, what do you read now as a "grown-up"? Thomas Sowell? Ayn Rand? Karl Rove?
Funny....but I'd bet you ten moose nuggests if Sarah really did shoot a moose, she didn't get her hands bloody
Thank you for your insight whit and critical thinking! you are "The Bomb" as my teenage kids would say!
Hes absolutly right!I get better more incisive "news",truth from comedy shows!When was the last time cnn or any news show made a compilation of news clips showing the LIAR IS LYING??They dont have the nuggets.
"In Europe and in Canada, writers are expected to speak out politically—to be active in interviews, and everywhere in the media, in talking about more than their novels. It’s just the opposite here: writers are discouraged from expressing their opinions about politics or the society. We’re expected to talk about our books, a little, and then shut up about everything else. Why?"
Why - because writing novels doesn't prove you are any wiser than anyone else walking down the street as to what government should or shouldn't be doing about anything on this earth.
That's why.
But writing good novels that accurately reflect your society does prove your are wiser.
No one can prove that any given novel is "good" or "accurately reflects society" in the first place.
Such things are stricly a matter of personal opinion.
After reading all of Mr.Irvings work I can say with some certainty that he is an unusually perceptive and intelligent fellow.Americans should value the views of its artists,especially ones with a large enough body of work to be judged.
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