Unmasking the Devil

       "But when a man's fancy gets astride on his reason;  when imagination is at cuffs with the senses, and common understanding, as well as common sense, is kicked out of doors;  the first proselyte he makes is himself;  and when that is once compassed, the difficulty is not so great in bringing over others;  a strong delusion always operating from without as vigorously as from within. . .And, first, with relation to the mind or understanding, 'tis manifest what mighty advantages fiction has over truth;  and the reason is just at our elbow, because imagination can build nobler scenes, and produce more wonderful revolutions than fortune or nature will be at expense to furnish. . .How fading and insipid do all objects accost us, that are not conveyed in the vehicle of delusion!  How shrunk is everything, as it appears in the glass of nature!  So that if it were not for the assistance of artificial mediums, false lights, refracted angles, varnish and tinsel, there would be a mighty level in the felicity and enjoyments of mortal men.  If this were seriously considered by the world, as I have a certain reason to suspect it hardly will, men would no longer reckon among their high points of wisdom, the art of exposing weak sides, and publishing infirmities;  an employment, in my opinion, neither better nor worse than that of unmasking, which, I think, has never been allowed fair usage, either in the world, or the play-house."  Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub (p.119)

Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog

Good people all, of every sort
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,--
It cannot hold you long.
In Islington there was a man,
Of whom the world might say,
That still a godly race he ran,--
Whene'er he went to pray.
A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad,--
When he put on his clothes.
And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,
And curs of low degree.
This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad, and bit the man.
Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.
The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.
But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied;
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.

                                        -Oliver Goldsmith

Defoe, Gay, and Snoop Dogg

Having read a internet news story about how Snoop Dogg has endorsed Obama, Estase will, as usual, relate it back to the eighteenth century.  John Gay's The Beggar's Opera is the origin of what may be called hip hop Whiggery, along with that remarkable Daniel Defoe novel Moll Flanders.  These two works are a celebration of criminality, where the thieving Moll Flanders (we never learn her actual name) describes her life of thievery.  The Beggar's Opera celebrates a whole society on the take, from the simply corrupt lawyer to the king of the thieves, Bob Bluff (Walpole).  Are these works designed to turn morality inside out?  Or is the point simply that people who cannot profit in legitimate ways will find other ways to profit?  Estase tends to believe the second explanation, particularly in the case of his fave Daniel Defoe, champion of the tradesman.  Unlike Jonathan Swift, who held shopkeepers and tradesmen in low esteem, Defoe exalted this new commercial middle class.  So when Defoe explored the criminal underbelly of Britain, it was perhaps with an eye towards what might happen when the legitimate commerce of a nation becomes impossible.

On a totally unrelated note, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has sent out a threatening note discouraging churches from participation in the 2012 election, which would have absolutely nothing to do with the current president's obsession with gay marriage and abortion.  The letter promises that any church that involves itself with politics will lose non-profit status with the IRS.

Mamby-Pamby, etc.

Everyone is familiar with the penchant lefties have for saying that Republicans are stupid.  Most trace it to J.S. Mill, and his-oft quoted statement that most stupid people are conservatives.  It is actually even older than that.  Whig P.M. Robert Walpole suffered a shower of condescension about his patronage of Colley Cibber as Poet Laureate.  Ever heard someone call someone effeminate by calling them 'Mamby-Pamby?"  The phrase Mamby-Pamby was originally a reference to Ambrose Phillips, a Whig literateur.  One of Jonathan Swift's favorite modes of attack was to say that Richard Steele and Estase's fave Daniel Defoe were poorly educated ignorami.  An eighteenth century paper called Mist's Journal published the following insult to Cibber and Steele:

            Thus Colley Cibber to his Partner Steele,
             See here, Sir Knight, how I've outdone Corneille;
             See here, how I, my Patron to inveigle,
             Make Addison a Wren, and you an Eagle.
             Safe to the silent shades, we bid Defiance;
             For living Dogs are better than dead Lions.

Atlantic:"Pro-Lifers Racist"

Tip of the petasus to Father Z of What Does the Prayer Really Say.  Brian Fung of Atlantic Magazine says that the pro-life movement is aimed at harming poor minorities.  Whereas Brian Fung of Atlantic thinks killing the offspring of poor minorities is helping them.  Reminds Estase (as most things do) of Eighteenth Century England.  In his Importance of the Guardian Considered, Tory firebrand and general asshole Jonathan Swift attacked a letter written by Richard Steele.  Steele's crime?  By suggesting that the Harley/Bolingbroke ministry should demolish the port of Dunkirk (which the ministry Swift wrote on behalf of actually wanted to do anyway), Steele was ordering about Queen Anne.  Make sense?  No, me neither.  And this is why Fung's argument is dung.  Just as how Swift was berating someone for insulting the Queen just because they advocated a policy, Fung is implying race animosity based on a policy position.  The only difference is that two hundred years after his death, Jonathan Swift is recognized as a master literary figure and Brian Fung, well, he just writes for a liberal magazine.

Update:  In reviewing election results on MSNBC, Nancy Giles comes to the same erroneous conclusion as Brian Fung.  Giles theorizes that pro-lifers want "to build up the white race," neglecting the fact that it is by and large future black and hispanic voters whom abortion eliminates.

Update:  An education weenie theorizes that the term "PB&J Sandwich" is racist because, get this, non-English speakers don't use the term sandwich to refer to materials between bread.  In a related vein of idiocy, Shiitetown Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is under attack by. . . Salon.com?  Yes, oddly enough, now the salonistas consider the President's former attack dog to be a terrible right-winger for opposing the almighty teacher's unions by asking for, gasp, accountablity for the best paid teachers in America.  By the way, it isn't Chicagoans who will pay the bill for the nonfunctional Mercedes-Benz that is the Chicago Public Schools, it is we benighted downstate Illinoisans who will really subsidize this nonsense.  But then again, an Accuracy in Media story by Mary Grabar details how a friend of Bill Ayers, bomber-educator, named Linda Darling-Hammond is instituting, with the support of the Obama Education Secretary Arnie Duncan, a new national education standard called Common Core.  Contrary to what its name suggests, Common Core is intended to replace the literary tradition with popular culture, replace the founding documents with radical texts, and in general indoctrinate the students of America with Oh Blah Blah's social values.  So perhaps the teacher's unions are unaware of what their mayor really intends for their job to be--Democratic party recruiters.