Monday, November 01, 2004
Fear of Wolfe
I enjoyed reading the interview with author Tom Wolfe linked to The Drudge Report today from Tabloid Guardian, and enjoyed even more the twisting and turning of Guardian interviewer Ed Vulliamy in trying to obfuscate Wolfe's mistrust of liberal elites.
Natch, Vulliamy tried to portray the eminent writer's views in a "balanced" fashion - one more in synch, that is, with the British newspaper's sacred anti-Bush shibboleth. It is nowhere near as bad as what has become the Guardian norm, but we still get helpful little lead-ins and questions from Vulliamy like:
"On the flip side of the culture of ubiquitous sex is that of puritan Christianity, as harnessed in no small part by Bush...
"Where does it come from, this endorsement (by Wolfe, one presumes) of the most conservative administration within living memory? Of this president who champions the right and the rich, who has taken America into the mire of war, and seeks re-election tomorrow...?...
"Parting cordially, it seems strange that such an effervescent maverick, such a jester at the court of all power - all vanity, indeed - should so wholeheartedly endorse the power machine behind George Bush."
But far from wholeheartedly endorsing the Republican Party and President Bush, Wolfe makes it clear that his thinking is individualistic. He simply does not think and never has thought in lockstep with the sanctimonious and uniform views of the ordinarily-brained but tidily-monied types to be found in places like Boston and New York:
"Here is an example of the situation in America...Tina Brown wrote in her column that she was at a dinner where a group of media heavyweights were discussing, during dessert, what they could do to stop Bush. Then a waiter announces that he is from the suburbs, and will vote for Bush. And ... Tina's reaction is: 'How can we persuade these people not to vote for Bush?' I draw the opposite lesson: that Tina and her circle in the media do not have a clue about the rest of the United States. You are considered twisted and retarded if you support Bush in this election. I have never come across a candidate who is so reviled. Reagan was sniggered it, but this is personal, real hatred.
"Indeed, I was at a similar dinner, listening to the same conversation, and said: 'If all else fails, you can vote for Bush.' People looked at me as if I had just said: 'Oh, I forgot to tell you, I am a child molester.'"
How Wolfe himself will vote was not entirely clear. It's great to see that the author of the seminal "Bonfire of the Vanities" (a book which absolutely leaves for dead the terrible movie adapted from it) has not lost his individualism or insight, and can command the attention (albeit for 5 minutes on page 97) of a newspaper as singularly bent on Bush's demise as Britain's Guardian.
Natch, Vulliamy tried to portray the eminent writer's views in a "balanced" fashion - one more in synch, that is, with the British newspaper's sacred anti-Bush shibboleth. It is nowhere near as bad as what has become the Guardian norm, but we still get helpful little lead-ins and questions from Vulliamy like:
"On the flip side of the culture of ubiquitous sex is that of puritan Christianity, as harnessed in no small part by Bush...
"Where does it come from, this endorsement (by Wolfe, one presumes) of the most conservative administration within living memory? Of this president who champions the right and the rich, who has taken America into the mire of war, and seeks re-election tomorrow...?...
"Parting cordially, it seems strange that such an effervescent maverick, such a jester at the court of all power - all vanity, indeed - should so wholeheartedly endorse the power machine behind George Bush."
But far from wholeheartedly endorsing the Republican Party and President Bush, Wolfe makes it clear that his thinking is individualistic. He simply does not think and never has thought in lockstep with the sanctimonious and uniform views of the ordinarily-brained but tidily-monied types to be found in places like Boston and New York:
"Here is an example of the situation in America...Tina Brown wrote in her column that she was at a dinner where a group of media heavyweights were discussing, during dessert, what they could do to stop Bush. Then a waiter announces that he is from the suburbs, and will vote for Bush. And ... Tina's reaction is: 'How can we persuade these people not to vote for Bush?' I draw the opposite lesson: that Tina and her circle in the media do not have a clue about the rest of the United States. You are considered twisted and retarded if you support Bush in this election. I have never come across a candidate who is so reviled. Reagan was sniggered it, but this is personal, real hatred.
"Indeed, I was at a similar dinner, listening to the same conversation, and said: 'If all else fails, you can vote for Bush.' People looked at me as if I had just said: 'Oh, I forgot to tell you, I am a child molester.'"
How Wolfe himself will vote was not entirely clear. It's great to see that the author of the seminal "Bonfire of the Vanities" (a book which absolutely leaves for dead the terrible movie adapted from it) has not lost his individualism or insight, and can command the attention (albeit for 5 minutes on page 97) of a newspaper as singularly bent on Bush's demise as Britain's Guardian.
