Tuesday, February 27, 2007
"All the real soldiers are dead."
I just finished reading Slaughterhouse 5. I'd seen Kurt Vonnegut on the bookshelves of a couple of friends and more recently interviewed on the Daily Show (i love Jon Stewart). I liked it in the way I liked Catcher in the Rye when I first read it - like i should go around saying 'so it goes' and other wise ass things.
Reading about Wal-Mart, and remembering a conversation I had with an American friend, made me think of this bit:
"Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times."
Reading about Wal-Mart, and remembering a conversation I had with an American friend, made me think of this bit:
"Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times."
