Kurt Vonnegut: Cold Turkey (goes off about Bush & the state of the world!)

[Democat]

Cold Turkey
By Kurt Vonnegut

Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace.

But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America’s becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/cold_turkey/

This is a long article and well worth reading.

[thebigidea]

1. Wow! Am I glad he's still alive and writing on this stuff...

Just the thing to read at 4:30AM.

[tkmorris]

5. Kurt Vonnegut is on my short list of heroes

People love to ask you who your hero is, especially when you're a kid.

You'll come back from a long summer spent swimming in the pond, hanging with your buds in the treehouse, or some two-week long roadtrip to a destination that only makes sense to your parents and have to face a new teacher and a new class full of fellow students and be asked to stand up, state your name, what you want to be when you grow up, and oh by the way: Who's your hero?

I still remember it. September 1977. This year I had managed to avoid the road trip and instead stayed with my older brother. My real intent was to stay near my new girlfriend but in the end I just got to hang around at my brother's house for a couple weeks while he went to work. It was plenty boring but somewhere in my search for something to do my eye fell on his bookshelf and there it was. Slaughterhouse Five. I had no idea what I was about to undergo.

To make a long story short when I returned that fall to school and the inevitable question was asked, I really didn't know quite how to answer. Everyone else would mention some sports star, or their parents (yikes!) or whatever. I mean, I loved Dr. J, it was SO cool the way he'd take off from the foul line and just float to the basket and slam it home. But so what? My friend Pat impressed me in the same fashion doing block long wheelies on his bike with no hands but Pat could frankly be a bit of a jerk too. My parents? Nope, don't think so, not those two. May as well paint a permanent "kick me" sign on your back doing that anyway.

Then it hit me. Who did I REALLY respect and look up to most in the world at that moment? Kurt Vonnegut. I had yet to hit the library and discover everything else he had written but Slaughterhouse Five had really struck a nerve with me. So Kurt it was, and it still is.

I learned 3 things that day. I love Kurt Vonnegut, I love my brother for introducing me to him and a million other things, and I am a LIBERAL. No apologies, no regrets.

Thanks Kurt.

[Athame]

22. I just reread Slaughterhouse Five and gave it to my 19yo son

Don't know if he has read it yet, but I hope it hits him the same way it did you. Vonnegut is genius. We sure need his voice again, now.

And so it goes.

[LibertyorDeath]

2. Excellent

He takes first prize with this observation.

"Here’s what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.

And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on."

[RoyGBiv]

3. The man is still a master....

He was in Oklahoma, of all places, giving what were advertised as lectures at a few places. But of course nothing coming from Vonnegut is really a lecture. I've never attended a lecture I wished hadn't ended.

[Bhaisahab]

4. kurt vonnegut- an american treasure n/t

[Merlin]

6. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou for finding and posting this wonderful piece

What a gem of a writer!

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

7. Mother Night is one of my favorites....excellent moral fable.

Thats what Vonnegut writes...moral fables. He was somehow misconstrued as a sci-fi writer due to Player Piano and Cats Cradle, but he really is more of a moralist and fabulist, close to magical realism in some ways, or those old picaresque writers like Cervantes or Grimmleshausen.

[catmandu57]

12. Vonnegut educated my father

When he moved in with me, he had recently lost his wife and had been wandering lost and confused, one day having nothing to do he was exploring my library and asked me what I would reccomend.
That was enough for me, our came Breakfast of Champions and in five minutes the laughter started and I knew he was hooked.
Vonnegut opened up his eyes and for that I have to say thank you Kurt, he's supposed to be back at the end of the month for his 50th. high school reunion, this article is printed and ready to ambush him, my father that is.

[izzie]

8. Great but almost killed my poor old eyes. Why so small?

Like to see him around more.

[sendero]

13. If you are using...

.... Internet Explorer, go to View -> Text Size -> Larger or Largest. If you are using Opera, click the little Zoom combo at the top right. If you are using another browser, there if often a way to control the font size!

[catzies]

32. Thank You! I didn't know that before. Much better.

n/t

[OpSomBlood]

9. Slaughterhouse-Five changed my life.

And I've read every word the man has written since. Even his "bad" books are excellent.

[Killarney]

10. fantastic!

[ComerPerro]

11. I love this line:

If you want to take my guns away from me, and you’re all for murdering fetuses, and love it when homosexuals marry each other, and want to give them kitchen appliances at their showers, and you’re for the poor, you’re a liberal.

If you are against those perversions and for the rich, you’re a conservative.

What could be simpler?

[sendero]

14. I've loved Vonnegut...

... since the 70s and it makes me so happy to see that at age 81 he is still absolutely brilliant. :)

[otohara]

15. Thanks for Posting

wonderful....

[Junkdrawer]

16. A simple but devastating conclusion....

When you got here, even when I got here, the industrialized world was already hopelessly hooked on fossil fuels, and very soon now there won’t be any more of those. Cold turkey.

Can I tell you the truth? I mean this isn’t like TV news, is it?

Here’s what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.

And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on.

[Kazak]

17. I love that man...

*clicking link*

[buddhamama]

18. thanks for posting

will read it now.

[proud patriot]

19. My dad is a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut now I know Why

Final words of article :

"Here’s what I think the truth is: We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial, about to face cold turkey.

And like so many addicts about to face cold turkey, our leaders are now committing violent crimes to get what little is left of what we’re hooked on."

[Hubert Flottz]

21. Dead on target!

Powerful!

[Beetwasher]

20. I Bump Into Him Occasionally, He Lives in the Neighborhood of My Office

It's AMAZING becuase he absolutely is one of my heroes...

[mopaul]

23. well, well worth the read

he cracks me up

[IrateCitizen]

24. I could never tire of reading anything this man has written

I read almost all of his novels in a span of just a couple of years, shortly after I was first turned on to him with Hocus Pocus. In fact, it was that book that first introduced me to the real history of socialism -- the lead character was named Eugene Debs Hartke -- and compelled me to find out more about it.

He's an absolute treasure, and his gallows humor certainly shines through (or should I say darkens?) everything in sight.

[bloom]

25. what a crazy world we live in

:kick:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. Words of wisdom from my favorite living public figure

[Tellurian]

27. I wish Kurt had a weekly column..Maybe, salon could approach him?

[Redleg]

28. Kurt is a great commentator on society.

I will miss him when he is gone.

[IrateCitizen]

29. Yeah, but he's still here with us...

... and doing what he can to at least slow the tide of insanity, as fruitless as such efforts may well be. I believe he said that during the Vietnam War, the energies of all artists and authors were focused like a laser on ending the war. It turned out to have the cumulative effect of a custard pie dropped off a three-foot high stepladder.

Since he's still here, let's not focus on the little bit darker the world will be when he's gone. Instead, let's help spread his word far and wide for others to hear.

[cmf]

30. I love Vonnegut

Another excellent essay.

He spoke at my college graduation, and his speech really made an impact on me. I hope that was true for the other members of my class. Very seldom do you find graduation speakers who say something meaningful like he did.

[ignatius]

31. I adore Vonnegut. his words are simple but profound. This

article makes me cry, for what is and what could be. Thanks for sharing this with us.