ship of tools

Neocons on a Cruise: What Conservatives Say When They Think We Aren't Listening
Johann Hari spends a week on a cruise with readers of the National Review.

I am getting used to these moments - when gentle holiday geniality bleeds into… what? I lie on the beach with Hillary-Ann, a chatty, scatty 35-year-old Californian designer. As she explains the perils of Republican dating, my mind drifts, watching the gentle tide. When I hear her say, " Of course, we need to execute some of these people," I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers through the sand lazily. "A few of these prominent liberals who are trying to demoralise the country," she says. "Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that's what you'll get." She squints at the sun and smiles. " Then things'll change."

Now to be fair, I have some conservative friends and I've never heard any of them call for the execution of us "traitorous anti-war liberals". Of course, I try not to spend much time with people in whom the Batshit Crazy is strong and that may have something to do with it.

I do want to know how Johann apparently kept a straight face during this exchange:

They rush through the Rush-list of liberals who hate America, who want her to fail, and I ask them - why are liberals like this? What's their motivation? They stutter to a halt and there is a long, puzzled silence. " It's a good question," one of them, Martha, says finally. I have asked them to peer into the minds of cartoons and they are suddenly, reluctantly confronted with the hollowness of their creation. "There have always been intellectuals who want to tell people how to live," Martha adds, to an almost visible sense of relief.

(no subject)

Anyone interested in seeing Much Ado About Nothing on July 29th as part of the Capital Fringe Festival? Tickets are $15 and I hear they're selling at a good clip.

[Full Fringe schedule available here. Guh. Not enough time or money to see everything that looks entertaining.]