Ben Mack's review of Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut

Thank you Kurt.

If you are a humanist, you will probably dig Man Without A Country. I’ve read the Amazon
reviews and on other sites that take book reviews. I’m astounded by people who take offense to Vonnegut’s humanistic perspective. One reviewer below suggests that Man Without A Country contains talking points straight from the Democratic National Committee. I checked the DNC website and couldn’t identify any lines from Vonnegut’s book. So it goes.

Yes, Vonnegut draws connections between Bush and Hitler—they both called themselves Christians despite what many liberal documentaries suggest about Hitler being a pagan. But being opposed to Bush doesn’t make Kurt a Democrat. Read Kurt’s words, HE’S A HUMANIST. For those of you that are anti-humanists, there are plenty of sentences to be taken out of context to exploit towards your own divisive agendas. Vonnegut reminds us of a line by Shakespeare: “The Devil will quote scripture for his purpose.”

When did respecting each other become politically divisive? I’ve often wondered why respecting science is politically divisive. Kurt sheds some light on these topics among others.

Look, if you think the world is all hunky-dory, this won’t be your cup of tea. Or, if you dug Vonnegut’s earlier work solely for his humor, you may be disappointed with this read. Vonnegut grapples with his grasp on turning out humor, about how other humorists loose their humor as they age. Vonnegut still has his humor, but he is pissed off—many readers haven’t known when he has been joking and when he has been serious. For the remedial readers he annotates his jokes by saying, “I’m kidding.”

Just because Kurt loves humans, he isn’t beyond shaking his finger at those who preach love as they drop bombs and enslave little brown folks. If you object to this assessment of our current world order, and you have read the books Vonnegut suggests every non-twerp has read, then, I’m open to reading your objections to the content of Kurt’s assertions. Seriously, do you consume much non-American media?

Fellow humanists,
it’s time to take these ideas seriously. Enough of the politicians spewing their intellishit. Kurt begins his penultimate book: “There is no reason good can’t triumph over evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the mafia.”

Here’s to Bokonon. * Kurt, I look forward to reading your next novel. I hope you do find a way to write it’s ending.

found poem:

Nervously adoptee snake
tolerably
and uneventfully
spanish lime shifting
Microscopically shoshoni
swim assiduously (or by heart) flop venturous

one full day spins around
to the next and adrift the motion
leaves the restless
falling, a month or so
until autumn and world
war dreams - war games

one full night, a lit porch light
a community built of weeds, of contact
with the western lands, a symbol
placed above the skyline
tracking along the edge of twilight

i don't drink with the boys
i don't expect to be silent
whispers three times
her name to moonrise

one full moment, pregnant pause, slowed
expect revelation,
a conscripted pardon, flash of insight
some glowing new sign

you expected the mirror
placed fervently in your path
by the gods, by their attendees
and gave inward, gave up, gave out
when it was not what you foresaw

get out

is it
true :fair:
harmonius, & beneficial to know
to will to dare & to keep silent about it

better but bitter


ha ha

i think i thought i knew
now i know i didn't know
i think i thought i knew
now i know i didn't know
i think i thought i knew
now i know i didn't know

lie let you be
lie let you be
lie let you be
lie let you be
lie let you be

convictions cause convicts
convictions cause convicts
convictions cause convicts
convection brings warmth

i think i thought i knew
convection brings warmth

i think i thought i knew
convection brings warmth

i think i thought i knew
now i know i didn't know

Die Welt besteht aus geheimen Verknüpfungen
remanence
What price
What cost incoherence?
We touch
Like fading
Dreams erase the shame

Meet in cool blue light
Under swollen moons
& feverish stars

.;.

have quit smoking,
will spend that money
on comics & magic cards

(and music equipment)

feel the moons pull tidal
on tears this isis is
is starry is tornal:
eternal tonal tornado
yer given, yer missin
acrylic crystalline

OR cut lurE

1.O!
that unthinking thought
hidden?

then tear each cancerous page
from our memory's journal

thought driven
from within

don't we nee tha there?, them earth
quakin

wishing
conditioned, soiled
in fea

2.R
"take it up from the ground, hydra-
headed pipeline fill tap top ulic fluid
right off from the earth's crust"

tight worn water gray pant suit
then from somewhere nestled in greed

basil soup stain shiny shoes he goes
"three and a latte" heartworm splatters
like afterbirth

born backwards and subtle
(beneath currents, between monoliths)
of carved earthworm clay, sculpted soul
into worn water gray pant suit tight
shoes stained hair slick

"nothing tastes like it used to..
...i can't figure out why"

this blog contains forward-looking statements which are subject to various risks and uncertainties including: the conditions of the writers consciousness generally, acceptance of the writers intentions within that consciousness, and other risks and factors identified from time to time in the writers various writs. these forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the writer's belief regarding future events, many of which, by virtue of not having yet occured, are inherently uncertain and outside of the writers control. it is possible that the writer's actual results and imagineered abstractions may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and imagineered abstraction indicated in these forward-looking statements, and the writer disclaims any duty to update this blog

I like this little guy

reawaken:
the wolf never leaves
...only wanders

then this what is it worth moment

tranquil, between

HATE
DECAYS
THE ART

there's a few missing moments, gone now

mkultra document

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