David Gustafson's Blog: Bonjour Amigos!, page 30
June 12, 2015
Poisoning the Well with the Truth
Is there any difference between contemporary political/cultural correctness and state censorship?
Is there any difference between the media's bustling PC police and the Gestapo, STASI or the KGB when free people have been ridiculed into submission and are afraid to poison the sanctified well of political correctness with the truth or to even poke fun at its guardians?
Is there any difference between the media's bustling PC police and the Gestapo, STASI or the KGB when free people have been ridiculed into submission and are afraid to poison the sanctified well of political correctness with the truth or to even poke fun at its guardians?
May 24, 2015
My Top Ten Movies
The Seventh Seal
La Strada
Fanny and Alexander
The Blue Angel
Rear Window
High Noon
The Hustler
The Cincinnati Kid
Giant
To Catch A Thief
La Strada
Fanny and Alexander
The Blue Angel
Rear Window
High Noon
The Hustler
The Cincinnati Kid
Giant
To Catch A Thief
April 29, 2015
Gluten-free Hypochondria and Narcissism
WOOT! Researchers claim that gluten free intolerance might affect as much as 6% of the population. WOOT!
I have to wonder why it affects over 50% of the public discourse concerning culinary recipes on the boobtube cooking shows?
Having watched several friends, including culinary grads, convince themselves that gluten is an unnecessary evil only to return from the dark side after less than a year to the glories of artisanal bread-making, I am wondering if this is just another symptom of the millennials' obsessive narcism? After all, this Babalulu gamer generation is really in love with itself. I have no idea why, but they find every excuse possible to romance themselves on Facebook and pose for a selfie.
Vestal virgin vegans are another cult that needs to be closely watched. I like my fruits and vegetables too; I like them framing a tender, braised muscle of dead protein slithering in a sauce of its own rendering next to a hunk of homemade bread.
I have to wonder why it affects over 50% of the public discourse concerning culinary recipes on the boobtube cooking shows?
Having watched several friends, including culinary grads, convince themselves that gluten is an unnecessary evil only to return from the dark side after less than a year to the glories of artisanal bread-making, I am wondering if this is just another symptom of the millennials' obsessive narcism? After all, this Babalulu gamer generation is really in love with itself. I have no idea why, but they find every excuse possible to romance themselves on Facebook and pose for a selfie.
Vestal virgin vegans are another cult that needs to be closely watched. I like my fruits and vegetables too; I like them framing a tender, braised muscle of dead protein slithering in a sauce of its own rendering next to a hunk of homemade bread.
April 28, 2015
Save the Rich - Garfunkle and Oates
While the previously mentioned Hieronymus Bosh may be seen representing the 16th Christian viewpoint that secularists are little more than satanists, Garfunkel and Oates posted their Save the Rich satire on YouTube in 2011, one year ahead of the American election cycle and seem to echo verbatim the talking points of the Democratic Party heading into election day.
History is full of satirists taking sides, but seldom is the author hoisted upon their own petard as completely as Missies Garfunkel and Oates with their Babalulu, bubblehead ignorance of market economics.
I have no more use for corporate fruit flies than I do for government fruit flies but may I point out that the top 20% of Americans account for 84% of tax revenues while the bottom 20% are paid entitlements not by the government which does not generate capital, but by the taxpayers.
May I also point out, that as a satirist, if you pillory each side's hypocrisy with impunity, you have much more ammunition and twice as much fun.
History is full of satirists taking sides, but seldom is the author hoisted upon their own petard as completely as Missies Garfunkel and Oates with their Babalulu, bubblehead ignorance of market economics.
I have no more use for corporate fruit flies than I do for government fruit flies but may I point out that the top 20% of Americans account for 84% of tax revenues while the bottom 20% are paid entitlements not by the government which does not generate capital, but by the taxpayers.
May I also point out, that as a satirist, if you pillory each side's hypocrisy with impunity, you have much more ammunition and twice as much fun.
Hieronymus Bosch - Christian Satirist
Most people who still read books (sticking my finger in the eye of America's millennials) are at least familiar with Hieronymus Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights."
Few outside of Europe are familiar with the body of his works.
Little is known about Bosch's personal opinions other than the record that he was a member of Hertogenbosch's Brotherhood of Our Lady that had several thousand members throughout Europe.
From this little hint of his conservative philosophic bent we get a clearer understanding of the dystopian creatures that populate his ground-breaking works.
Did he consider Christian life under constant assault from the spawn of Satan?
Was Hieronymus Bosch an early Christian satirist of secular hypocrisy?
Did his dystopian creatures influence Germany's satiric illustrators George Grosz and Otto Dix during the heyday of the decadent, but creatively energetic Weimar Republic?
Few outside of Europe are familiar with the body of his works.
Little is known about Bosch's personal opinions other than the record that he was a member of Hertogenbosch's Brotherhood of Our Lady that had several thousand members throughout Europe.
From this little hint of his conservative philosophic bent we get a clearer understanding of the dystopian creatures that populate his ground-breaking works.
Did he consider Christian life under constant assault from the spawn of Satan?
Was Hieronymus Bosch an early Christian satirist of secular hypocrisy?
Did his dystopian creatures influence Germany's satiric illustrators George Grosz and Otto Dix during the heyday of the decadent, but creatively energetic Weimar Republic?
April 20, 2015
Incongruous anomalies and anomalous incongruities -# 4
Imagination, identity and solitude-
53% of six-year-olds now own a cell phone.
The Apple Watch will soon be relentlessly tapping your wrist with the latest texts and messages.
Imagination is both objective and subjective.
We need solitude to generate our own thoughts, concepts and dreams, otherwise we become a clone of someone else's gamer world or a subservient customer of a worldwide conglomerate that tracks our every online impulse.
53% of six-year-olds now own a cell phone.
The Apple Watch will soon be relentlessly tapping your wrist with the latest texts and messages.
Imagination is both objective and subjective.
We need solitude to generate our own thoughts, concepts and dreams, otherwise we become a clone of someone else's gamer world or a subservient customer of a worldwide conglomerate that tracks our every online impulse.
March 20, 2015
Mayweather vs Pacquiao Round Two
The Mayweather camp is balking at a contractual addendum pertaining to drug testing.
If Mayweather is not allowed to use steroids, maybe he should be allowed to use brass knuckles or a knife?
If Mayweather is not allowed to use steroids, maybe he should be allowed to use brass knuckles or a knife?
March 17, 2015
Mayweather vs Pacquiao
This charade is being billed as another one of those, "the fight of the century!"
Live tickets are available online between $5,000 and $17,000. Working class sports freaks can watch it with like-minded drinking buddies for a $10 cover charge at any one of the noisy franchise bars.
These geezers have no intention of getting hurt. This is all about pension money. You will see more body contact on the dance floor of a 1950's high school reunion.
If you like boxing, buy yourself a half gallon of ice cream or a large Weihenstephaner and watch the "Thrilla in Manila" or the Hearns-Hagler fight on You Tube.
Anyone who spends more than one dollar American to watch this geezer scam is a big time sucka.
Live tickets are available online between $5,000 and $17,000. Working class sports freaks can watch it with like-minded drinking buddies for a $10 cover charge at any one of the noisy franchise bars.
These geezers have no intention of getting hurt. This is all about pension money. You will see more body contact on the dance floor of a 1950's high school reunion.
If you like boxing, buy yourself a half gallon of ice cream or a large Weihenstephaner and watch the "Thrilla in Manila" or the Hearns-Hagler fight on You Tube.
Anyone who spends more than one dollar American to watch this geezer scam is a big time sucka.
March 12, 2015
Incongruous anomalies and anomalous incongruities - #3
My hot date with a smart phone-
Is there anything more foreboding for the future of mankind than the sight of a young couple on a dinner date at a nice restaurant, hypnotically engrossed with their respective smart phones while completely oblivious to one another?
Maybe modern romance will evolve to include swapping smart phone replete with passwords to let your date get to know you and your private world better without the naked agony of any spontaneous verbal coupling?
Is there anything more foreboding for the future of mankind than the sight of a young couple on a dinner date at a nice restaurant, hypnotically engrossed with their respective smart phones while completely oblivious to one another?
Maybe modern romance will evolve to include swapping smart phone replete with passwords to let your date get to know you and your private world better without the naked agony of any spontaneous verbal coupling?
Incongruous anomalies and anomalous incongruities - #2
The Vietnam War-
March 29th marks the 42nd anniversary of American soldiers withdrawing from Vietnam after leaving behind a trail of death, destruction and ecological ruin.
Today, that small country still feels the effects of the poisonous herbicide Agent Orange on riverbeds and millions of acres of fields and forests.
If 58,220 Americans soldier did not die defending America's borders and towns from attacking, foreign forces, does it not beg the question that they needlessly died far, far from home on another continent defending the incompetent vanities of political scum like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, puny maggots completely out of their depth with world history, cultures and languages?
Was America defending itself or another round of incompetent political vanities in Iraq and Afghanistan with similar ignominious results?
What does America have to show for itself after Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan besides shame and dishonor and thousands and thousands and thousands of inconsolable deaths of men, women and children?
March 29th marks the 42nd anniversary of American soldiers withdrawing from Vietnam after leaving behind a trail of death, destruction and ecological ruin.
Today, that small country still feels the effects of the poisonous herbicide Agent Orange on riverbeds and millions of acres of fields and forests.
If 58,220 Americans soldier did not die defending America's borders and towns from attacking, foreign forces, does it not beg the question that they needlessly died far, far from home on another continent defending the incompetent vanities of political scum like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, puny maggots completely out of their depth with world history, cultures and languages?
Was America defending itself or another round of incompetent political vanities in Iraq and Afghanistan with similar ignominious results?
What does America have to show for itself after Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan besides shame and dishonor and thousands and thousands and thousands of inconsolable deaths of men, women and children?
