07 September 2007

Satire Still Falls Short of Reality

I've tried both in this blog: serious and satiric. As it turns out, I simply can't keep up. News is now playing out like satire. Walter Cronkite has given way to Jon Stewart.

A few days ago, I jokingly suggested that Bush's statement about what a mistake it was to leave Vietnam should actually be construed to mean that he wanted to go back into Vietnam. Then today at the APEC summit, I learned that we are, in fact, still at war with North Korea. My father is in his late 70s, but his war is not yet over. Could it be so absurd to send troops again to Vietnam when we have yet to leave Korea?

And then, in the midst of the nonsense that supposedly passes for discussion of Iraq, Osama Bin Laden reminds us that, in fact, our politicians are not as deluded as they could be. Bin Laden's solution to ending the war in Iraq? We Americans should simply convert to Islam. And to illustrate his disinterest in the material world, Bin Laden has apparently dyed his beard in order to appear younger. Perhaps in his next video there will be evidence of botox treatments, a means to look more relaxed and thus more appealing to the younger generation. It's hard to believe that it would register as any more absurd.

6 comments:

flametree said...

That's quite alright Ron - Bush doesn't even know where he is at the moment - APEC/OPEC, Australia/Austria.

You ought to try living here at the moment, it's like living in a Python movie.

flametree said...

Oh, and Osama filmed that clip here in Sydney too...



Welcome to Australia, don't worry, we wont riot - we'd prefer to point-out how ridiculous you all are by mocking the shit out of you.

We've got it down to an art-form ;)

Ron Davison said...

flame,
I've been reading about the conversion of Australia into Bush World on your blog and in scattered news reports. It's true - we're reading a litany of absurdities and right now, during your Oh!PEC conference, you're living them. My condolences.

Anonymous said...

I'm just returning from sabbatical. Head in the sand, I've managed to avoid all hard news for 12 weeks but it's time to dust off and get back to business. I always look forward to checking in here, Ron!
Bin Laden and botox? Is that explicitly forbidden by the Koran?

Ron Davison said...

cce,
welcome back! (A sabbatical sounds like a great idea.) This is one of the cooler comments I've gotten in weeks - cce is back

David said...

Oh my, now we're all working for Dave Letterman looking for Bush missteps and speech errors while Madeline Albright (the rubber duck in a straw hat) can say "Hillary is not a cold fish" with immunity. Or Hillary can say "I was against it when I voted for it." Can't we just all get along? Of course not. I'll grant you that Bush is ridiculous but then so are they all.