I really should not talk about this and write it.... but since my arrival in the US in 1998, I have been making notes for a book. Now, most of you will probably know that I have been otherwise engaged; working for the devil (World Bank), emulating the devil (PhD political economy)... so I have not had the time.
The working title of the book is "How Politics Ruined my Life and Other Horror Stories from the Land of the Brave"
This is the story (in haste) when I grew up (in a "coloured" township in South Africa) part my "cultural" insights were in some ways shaped by cowboy films. My "heroes" were Steve Mcqueen, Jimmy Stewart etc etc... looooong story short, as soon as I become politically aware ALMOST ALL MY CHILDHOOD heroes turned out to be fathersuckers, Republicans and ugly people. Today I am disgusted by crude crypto-fascists like John Malkovic. I was surprised, also, that Dennis Hopper was a proud right-winger (voted for Obama, incidentally, so disgusted he was with that rectal ulcer in office)... blah, blah..
When i was growing up (into the early 1970s) we used to, also, think ohhh "the poor, courageous, brave marines" were killed and tortured by the fucking "slant eye-ed pyjama wearing vietnamese"... the cowboys and their wives and children were killed by savages in the West....
aha, then i started reading books - and my life changed forever.
i am soooo very jaded, for instance, I started watching (not regularly) Everybody Loves Raymond between 6 - 8 when I took a break from work to cook/eat blah... then I found out that Patricia Heaton was a religious bigot who attacked Michael Fox for milking his parkinsons.... OUt with Everybody Loves Raymond.
I used to watch re-runs of Seinfeld, until Kramer's racist outburst - out went Seinfeld.
As I said: Politics Ruined My Life....
Aluta Continua!