Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"

From: "nu-monet v6.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 30, 2004 11:31 PM

Fredric L. Rice wrote:
>
> "Follow My Leader" at London's Hampstead Theatre
> is unlikely to be music to their ears though: it
> depicts Blair as a God-fearing, image-conscious
> puppet of the Americans while Bush appears as a
> religious zealot whose only aim is to increase
> U.S. influence in the world.
>

Oddly enough, this impresses me as the flip side of
another jest, that being the song "Der Fuhrer's Face"
by Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
When the song came out, Germany and the Nazis were
utterly perplexed. They just didn't get it, and
even questioned if it was something pro-Nazi.

The reason they didn't get it was that they were so
full of themselves, so convinced of their rightness,
that they just couldn't imagine anyone poking fun at
them. Nazism just wasn't funny, it was the one true
path.

But the reverse is true, too. "If you don't have a
sense of humor, then don't try to tell a joke" is
a very real axiom. Nazis would be utterly ridiculous
trying to poke fun at Frank Roosevelt or Americans.
They didn't understand either, and there wasn't a
grain of truth behind any humor they could have made,
so their jokes would be nothing but labored hate-
mongering. Which just isn't funny. Laughter at
gunpoint. Laugh because you are ordered to laugh.

Tim Robbins was the first to try it anyway with what
by any standard was one of the worst stage productions
put on in the last 20 years, "Embedded"(*). It lasted
only a short time even in San Francisco, trying to both
damn the war and make funny. The best reception he
got was when an actor dressed like an American soldier
took to the stage and some in the audience shouted
"Nazi!" The critics tore it up.
(*) a close tie with that thing Boy George put on.

The last successful anti-war comedy was M*A*S*H, which
came out after the Vietnam War, and in truth was about
the Vietnam War, not Korea. It was right and proper,
and its humor was balanced with considerable pathos.
It did not concern itself with politics or politicians,
but with real people trying to do good or not in a
terrible wartime situation. The enemy was not "That
damned Truman, sending us off to war in some godforsaken
place!", it was the 'chaos of war' itself.

Though Robert Altman hated Dick Nixon, how ridiculous
it would have been for the movie to rant and rave
about how *stupid* Dwight Eisenhower was, and how much
better the US and the world would have been if Adlai
Stevenson had been elected. An earnest diatribe about
a who-gives-a-damn political contest of near 20 years
before? It would have wasted whatever time that it
used in the movie. It would have been properly left
on the cutting room floor.

And thus it is, doing a play with Bush and Blair now.
Hell, the only good play with Nixon, out of dozens,
is "Nixon Goes to China". The rest have been rightfully
forgotten. I mean, they truly *sucked*. "...China"
came out a long time after Nixon was gone.

The best humor *contemporary* to Nixon was brilliant.
It can be found in the National Lampoon Magazine, and
really, truly was important in bringing about political
change. It *was* funny. It *did* contain more than a
little truth. It was not just a political diatribe and
a painful, strained exercise in hate.

Granted, it was outnumbered a hundred to one by those
just like Tim Robbins; but it made up for it, not by
the intensity of its hate in crushing blows, but with
the finesse of the epee. It is still cherished as some
of the best political humor ever produced.

Humor is a masterful art, but it must be used skillfully.
Any number of mistakes can suck the life out of it:

1) excess repetition, the "one trick pony"

2) too much surrealism, nobody gets it and after a
while nobody even wants to try

3) too much prejudice, every (type of person) is _____;
it is far funnier to laugh at bigots than to be one

4) mindless idealism, fundamentalism or evangelism;
these are not just religious failings

5) the inability to laugh, the inability to laugh at
onesself, and the inability to laugh at what one
respects, admires or believes in; if your beliefs are
so sacred they can't take a joke, then they are lies.

6) forced humor; if you can only crank out one good
joke or gag a week, then so be it, otherwise you end
up like any number of forgotten Borscht-Belt comedians
who tried to steal Henny Youngman's routine or style.
Henny Youngman was funny only because he was the only
guy who could do Henny Youngman.

--
Herring communicate with each other
via a high-pitched, "raspberry"-like
sound emitted from their anuses.
These noises are not produced by
digestive gases.
-- from 'The New Scientist'

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com>

In article <EAPkc.45766$2v.7608@nwrdny02.gnilink.net>, Alliekatt
<alleykatzen@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> The most fantastic essay/article on humor I've ever read. Dude, you should
> get paid for this.
>
>

I was gonna say.

PRABOB

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: "nu-monet v6.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>

KD et al wrote:
>
> What mags are around today that do this
> and do it *well*?

The 20th Century produced only two.

NatLamp and a pre-Nazi German magazine that
was very political and had some of the best
soon-to-be-banned artists doing comic strips
in it: Simpliccimus (The Idiot).

There is a "best of" collection of Simpliccimus
floating around, but I can't find the exact
title. But it was pretty political and funny.

They were one of the first magazines the Nazis
shut down.

--
Trust No One.
Always Look To The Skies.
The Truth Is Not There.
-- nu-monet

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: kdetal@aol.com (KD et al)

Why aren't brilliant minds like yours and others on here doing just that? No
interest? Takes too much money?
I would work on anything like that for free.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "nu-monet v6.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>

Both Simpliccimus and NatLamp happened in similar
circumstances. Call it a "Weimar" period that
only happens before either great turmoil or great
mediocrity.

For a time, an underground magazine could get
distributed--lots of independent distributors,
booksellers, and underground hangouts flourished,
at least in number.
Demographics were peculiar--there were far more
youth, as a percentage of the population, for a
while.

And, ironically enough, the disaffection being
felt was *not* primarily political, it was
cultural--a point the 'politicals' of the world
just can't seem to grasp. Basically, the youth
looked at the world of their parents and about
wanted to throw up. In Germany, because of the
utter ruin of war. In the US, because of utter
malaise in "the old ways."

Kids didn't *want* to grow up and become their
parents. They wanted out of the system. And their
parent's politics and religion were just part of
that. The idea of a 9 to 5 job, marriage, a two
car garage in a cookie-cutter suburban home and
2.5 children *typified* what they didn't want.

They wanted an upgrade on the American Dream.
Women, especially, thought about suicide when
they looked at their homemaker mothers. Men
wanted to live, not just work and sleep.

Truthfully, they saw their parents lives, I hate
to use the term "productivity", wasted. The kids
believed that if they could do things 'their'
way, what was bad could be corrected, *and* what
was good could be improved.

This is *not* "counter-culture". This is wanting
to be a scientist, rather than an ad-agency drone.
Wanting to have a career, rather than just wax
floors and have dinner ready at 6pm on time.

Magazines like those are not for when people don't
want to go to space, nor are they for when people
are going into space. They are for when people
*do* want to go to space, but the culture says
"No, just because that sort of thing isn't done."

If you want to have a Magazine like that, your
attitude *can't* be *this side* or *that side* of
"The System", it HAS to be "Fuck you all! Even if
I screw up I can do better than you!"

"There CAN BE no politician that will give me the
POSITIVE INTELLECTUAL ANARCHY I want!"

And money, you gots to have lots of money.

And you magazine will die when anything changes.

--
Unless there is some reason for investigation,
the federal law and the Constitution still
protect the rights of citizens.
--FBI agent Greg Stejskal

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: kdetal@aol.com (KD et al)

Hey Nu Monet- you're pretty damn great at precise analysis.

>Both Simpliccimus and NatLamp >happened in similar
>circumstances. Call it a "Weimar" period >that
>only happens before either great turmoil >or great
>mediocrity.

Wouldnt you say we are in great mediocrity? So fucking mediocre, we don't even
know it? So fucking mediocre we don't even acknowledge that we are actually in
great turmoil?

>For a time, an underground magazine >could get
>distributed--lots of independent >distributors,
>booksellers, and underground hangouts >flourished,
>at least in number.

Jesus Kryist I know there must be some still around. There must be some that
arent all tagger hangouts and rave parties.

>Demographics were peculiar--there were >far more
>youth, as a percentage of the population, >for a
>while.

Hey, I didnt say the mag would make money. But there are those youth who could
still grow a brain today, even though not as large percentage of the
population. They have nothing to turn to.

>And, ironically enough, the disaffection >being
>felt was *not* primarily political, it was
>cultural--

It *has* to be that. To be real anyway.

>a point the 'politicals' of the world
>just can't seem to grasp.

Luckily.

>Basically, the youth
>looked at the world of their parents and >about
>wanted to throw up. In Germany, >because of the
>utter ruin of war. In the US, because of >utter
>malaise in "the old ways."

It still exists. We kill those who might actual do anything valid, our
idealists, by letting them rot in the quagmire of insignificant,
inconsequential, predictable paths until they become burned out cynics, instead
of growing their minds.

>Magazines like those are not for when >people don't
>want to go to space, nor are they for >when people
>are going into space. They are for when >people
>*do* want to go to space, but the culture >says
>"No, just because that sort of thing isn't >done."

But that is the whole world right now in so many ways. In every way that is
important. : ( Maybe it is always.

>If you want to have a Magazine like that, your
>attitude *can't* be *this side* or *that side* of
>"The System", it HAS to be "Fuck you all! Even if
>I screw up I can do better than you!"

Exactly.

>"There CAN BE no politician that will give me the
>POSITIVE INTELLECTUAL ANARCHY I want!"

Yes. Exactly why I do not fit in at the left leaning organization I currently
toil at. And why D.C. sucks. For me.

>And money, you gots to have lots of money.
>
>And you magazine will die when anything changes.

Heres the thing: a certain portion of those under 30 will always be
dissatisfied with the way things are done. And under 20 a certain portion is
NOT YET LOST.

An empty mind is a terrible thing to waste.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: Joe Cosby <http://joecosby.com/code/mail.pl>

>
>Jesus Kryist I know there must be some still around. There must be some that
>arent all tagger hangouts and rave parties.

Rave parties would be the place to START looking, not to stop looking.

They still have some energy. That is first.

--
Joe Cosby
http://joecosby.com/
"Mind control is being able to make all the voices in your head take
turns." (from alt.slack)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: "nu-monet v6.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>

Nah, Rave parties are where you START by putting
a vial of that glowing green stuff into their
"punch", then laughing your ass off (at a distance)
as they all turn into a bunch of bouncy techno
ZOMBIES on ECSTACY!

Which, you must admit, would make one Hell of a
good scene in a Zombie movie. Ravers staggering
around on the street, screaming "BRAAAAINS! MUST
EAT BRAAAAAINS!", and then somebody starts playing
techno on a boom box and they all starts bouncing
up and down, body parts falling off. Like Night of
the Living Dead meets Weekend at Bernie's with
some Electric Bugaloo thrown in.

I was at a Rave like that once. Except it was at
a retirement home and they were doing the Bunny
Hop. And they weren't zombies on ecstacy or
anything. It was like artificial parts and chemo
rot and severe psoriasis. And really, it was not
something you would want to remember. Not being
very cool to watch or anything. And a lot of them
died after. And it smelled like old people. Forget
it.

--
Herring communicate with each other
via a high-pitched, "raspberry"-like
sound emitted from their anuses.
These noises are not produced by
digestive gases.
-- from 'The New Scientist'

----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "nu-monet v6.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>

KD et al wrote:
>
> Wouldnt you say we are in great mediocrity? So
> fucking mediocre, we don't even know it? So fucking
> mediocre we don't even acknowledge that we are
> actually in great turmoil?

Turmoil begins at home. Despite all the post 9-11
lunacy, which it would be unwise to state publicly
bears a striking resemblance to the Reichstag fire,
the government still uses enough gradualism to suck
the life out of any serious opposition.
The anti-war movement was co-opted by utter wackos
right out of the chute. It was DOA. Nobody but a
fruit basket is going to follow a Maoist leader
(literally), even if it is for a good cause.
Unlike the Nazis, however, who decided to make real
change in domestic policy, first, the government is
focused on foreign policy--to all of our advantage.

Were a fruitcake like John Ashcroft to have his way,
America would be using all of the War On Terrorism(tm)
resources to do things like shut down all adult
businesses, censor all entertainment and broadcasts,
go house to house looking for drugs and pr0n, make
all children attend "patriotism camp" and outlaw
homosexuality, not just homosexual acts.

In other words, people are not going to get *that*
excited about foreigners getting thumped, as compared
to themselves getting thumped.

> Jesus Kryist I know there must be some still around.
> There must be some that arent all tagger hangouts
> and rave parties.

Again, they have no *personal* stake. Back in the 60s,
teenage boys got to sweat being told that they "were
going to be drafted, go to Vietnam and die!" (granted,
a lie). However, it scared the shit out of them. They
HAD to find some alternative, even in a magazine.

> But there are those youth who could still grow a
> brain today, even though not as large percentage
> of the population. They have nothing to turn to.

More than that, they have no *reason* to turn to
anything anyway. What is their stake in this that
*they* know about? NADA.

Now, when the DRAFT comes back, and the government can
no longer hide caskets under the excuse that showing
them is in bad taste; and the DRAFT LOTTERY starts to
OBVIOUSLY give Slack to those who are white, up tight
and outa sight; and the final straw, when the gubment
stops *asking* people to support the war and starts
*telling* them to support the war, OR ELSE...

...Then, and only then, can you put out a magazine
like you are suggesting, and get arrested all to Hell
for it.

--
"YOU BELONG TO US NOW!"
"GET DOWN WITH MY SICKNESS!!"

--Kino Beman, brand name

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: Cardinal Vertigo <jhobbs@myrealbox.com>

nu-monet v6.0 wrote:
[snip]
> ...Then, and only then, can you put out a magazine
> like you are suggesting, and get arrested all to Hell
> for it.

Give it a couple years.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>

>
> And you magazine will die when anything changes.
>

Mad had a few good moments before it got preachy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"
From: Frere Jean Bleu <FrJBleu@ifrance.com>

Private Eye in the UK

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

Fr J B

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: "We're Sending You a Clusterbomb from Jesus"

The UK is a whole different "paradigm", as they used to say
at asshole dot-com businesses. Hell, they had "Punch" for
how many millenia?

--
"La Cucaracha, la Cucaracha,
Ya no puede caminar,
Porque no tiene, porque le falta,
Marijuana por fumar."

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Original file name: Re- "We're Sending You a#1AD9EC - converted on Saturday, 25 September 2004, 02:05