Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...
Love the image.
ReplyDeleteSadly, just when I thought the whole red state/blue state thing may finally be behind us, the country now appears more divided than ever before. Recent polls have shown that Republicans and Democrats differ in opinion on pretty much everything from climate change to their favorite television shows. There seems to be less and less crossover.
I thought it fascinating that some frustrated Wisconsin man blew out his television set when Bristol Palin advanced to the final round of Dancing with the Stars. Mercifully, she came in third. I suppose this was one of the few shows that gained a crossover audience.
Meanwhile, TLC offers up Sarah Palin's Alaska. There was an internet petition going around to press the Discovery Company to drop the show, but to no avail. Ratings dropped off 40% after the first episode.
Stuff like this takes all the flavor out of Thanksgiving.
I guess this is one thing to be thankful for,
ReplyDeleteJury convicts Tom DeLay in money laundering trial
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101125/ap_on_re_us/us_delay_trial
Yes, every once in awhile, the system works.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard his comment about it being political, it reminded me of Helmsley's comment that only the little people pay taxes. I guess in their world, only the little people have to pay for their crimes.
I suppose it is more the means in which he funneled money to state Republican candidates than it is the intent, especially now that the SC ruled that corporations have individual rights just like citizens.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't stand the guy. He is the quintessential corrupt Southern good ol' boy. I would love to see him put away for life, but more likely he will get a reduced sentence.
''Puritans as failed socialists''
ReplyDeleteGreat comment. But when you think about it, the only time capitalists fail is when they don't get government subsidies. If anything, those companies that fall apart from lack of taxpayer handouts are the true 'failed socialists'.
Tell that to a Republican and they walk out of the room.
I don't know about the Puritans, but how else to think of religious colonies like the Harmonists and the Shakers.
ReplyDeleteI was going to try to explain this myself, but it gives me a stomach ache just thinking about it. This is the argument made by the Limbaugh/Beck crowd. Read at your own peril....
ReplyDeletehttp://forum.isi.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3830054552/m/1850052092
And as you were saying....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/opinion/26krugman.html
Oh my, that ISI forum! The guy with the last post on the page thinks that humans won't work if they can eat for free. I suppose he also thinks that workers need to be laid off and that those who still have jobs are to be whipped?
ReplyDeleteSorry Marti! I tried to warn you. It's a very weird way of looking at the world, but that is the other side's perspective.
ReplyDeleteBill Barich has a new book out that revisits Steinbeck's America:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-bill-barich-20101127,0,1317644.story
From the sounds of it, he doesn't like what he sees out there either.
Note, too, that ISI stands for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. That's sort of like calling the elba forum the International Institute for Intelligent Political Discourse (IIIPD).
ReplyDeleteI just downloaded a sample of Barich's Long Way Home. Looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Susan Jacoby's "Alger Hiss and the Battle for History." I read another book of hers, "The Age of American Unreason," about a year ago and liked it.
ReplyDeleteThe Alger Hiss book explains many things about the why's and wherefore's of right and left wing values.