You've found Father McKenzie. But are you really looking for Eleanor Rigby?

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Wilson Fisk

Okay, I'm stumped. Is it politically correct to admire Woodrow Wilson, or not? For the "Yes" case, Mungo MacCallum:

...John Howard has received the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service. The former president Wilson was everything John Howard isn’t: an internationalist who was the driving force behind the League of Nations, a visionary, an idealist and above all, a man of peace. He will now be spinning in his grave...

-- Mungo MacCallum, "Telstra sale’s shiny baubles not worth a tinker’s cuss," 11(34) Northern Rivers Echo (25 August 2005), p 14.

But for the "No" side, John Pilger:

... the [US] Democrats' "tough-minded internationalism" began with Woodrow Wilson, a Christian megalomaniac who believed that America had been chosen by God "to show the way to the nations of this world, how they shall walk in the paths of liberty"...

-- John Pilger, "Bush or Kerry? No Difference," New Statesman (5 March 2004).

Two of the keenest left-wing intellects Australia has ever birthed, now at loggerheads over the Wilsonian legacy. A "Christian megalomaniac" (one assumes that, for Pilger, the adjective here describes rather than qualifies)? Or a "visionary", an "idealist", and a "man of peace"? Choices, choices... Being on the Left is not always easy, although at least it saves you from viewing the world in simplistic black-and-white terms, like those Manichaean neocons do.

Monastic

Scene from last Saturday evening: Spouse and I watching the Monk double-episode treat. In the first one, Lolita Davidovich plays a Natasha-Fatale-style circus gypsy. In the second, Glenne Hedly plays Stottlemeyer's wife in her usual loopy way.

Me during an ad-break in the second episode: "You know, there's something about those two guest stars..."

Spouse: "Well, I better not catch you looking at them too closely."

Me (musing): "Lolita Davidovich... Hmmmm... She's not the gal from The Fifth Element, is she?"

Spouse: "Someone has way too much spare time. Have you done your tax return yet?"

Me during next ad break: "Got it! The first time I saw Lolita Davidovich in a movie was Leap of Faith, while the first time I saw Glenne Hedly in a movie was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! In other words, they've both played romantic leads to Steve Martin!"

Spouse: "All right, that's it -- you've been watching way too much Monk."

Tuesday, August 09, 2005