My Apologies to Mr. Roeper

In my rage last night I complained that Richard Roeper and his column are just severely disconnected thoughts trickling from his brain without point or texture. This isn't entirely true.

It's only mostly true.

What's also true is that he's a pretty smart guy. I say that because I feel guilty and because he is, probably, smart.

By some uncanny luck, I stumbled across the column of another man. It is also basically just assorted musings in the vein of our Mr. Roeper. The stark difference is that it's brilliant.

The column appears to be written every other month or so--probably whenever the author feels like it. It appears in this magazine and it's written by Kurt Vonnegut (it's hilarious that the world's biggest luddite should have a webpage, much less an "official" one).

He's writing another novel. He's been writing it for five years. He almost seems resigned to not finishing it.

I think what makes me like Kurt Vonnegut so much is that he's so good at making people boiling mad, explosively mad. The interesting part is that he does it by asking people to respect human life and to love each other.

It's fascinating how mad this makes people.

Example:

This article is a merely a silly diatribe. I am very disappointed with the lack
of anything that i can sink my cognitive teeth in.
The election in Florda rigged? By virtually all recouning methods, Bush won. Time to get over the close call and move on!
The US feared and hated as the Nazis? Did the Nazis remove brutal dictators and spend billons of marks rebuilding the terrorized country?
The US dehumanizing millons of people? Where? If this is aimed at Iraq, it misses the mark by a lightyear!
Linking Bush to Hitler via Christianity?
Pure sleaze.
All the resources (money) has been taken by “psychopathic personalities”?
Is this really meant to be a serious article?
(BTW - i am a fan of the wonderful fiction written by KV. Welcome to the Monkey House was terrific. Perhaps he should stick to what he knows best, fiction)

Pointed. Pointed and blind.

Anyway, go to that website and search Vonnegut, there's about 8 pieces to read, they're all great. Some are more politicized than others.

This resonated with me:

“If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts. But do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.” --Vonnegut.

Dammit he's right; I'm a failure.