Combat! blog is in Chicago, a fine city with an eerie surfeit of lofts and bagels. It’s like New York if a coalition of white people got together to construct a replica of New York, although it’s possible I suffer a bias of perspective. A city is all in how you see it. So is an idea: you frame a truism like “it’s all in how you see it” with a specific context, like a city or a world-historical narrative, and suddenly a rusty old saw seems gleaming and sharp. When it comes to clichés, it’s all in how you see it. This week’s link roundup is A) half-assed—possibly even quarter-assed—and B) about how we see things. Sometimes that’s literal. Other times it’s absurdly, horribly figurative. Won’t you abandon yourself to a directionless relativism with me?
When it comes to grotesquely singular perspectives, it’s hard to beat Dinesh D’Souza. The author of a book about how Barack Obama’s father’s anti-colonialsist views now shape the entirety of US policy has gone to Kenya to interview the President’s half-brother, George Obama. George Obama lives in a hut. That the President would not take care of his half-brother or at least install him in better digs does not bother George, but it does seem to anger D’Souza, who cites the biblical admonition to be one’s brother’s keeper. D’Souza is also a lifelong vocal critic of social welfare programs, but that’s okay because the Bible meant your literal brother.
It’s all in how you see it. If you do not read the webcomic Xkcd—and I can’t imagine that you would like this blog and not—you are missing out. It’s a fantastic combination of puns, existential despair humor and scientific fact. That pretty much describes my entire worldview. For a sense of what Xkcd is up to, consider that the next comic after the visual field one is about waterslides.
There are two ways to insinuate your worldview on someone else. The first is to erect a monstrous edifice of facts and narratives that blots out all other views, a la D’Souza. The second is to make the other person laugh and wait for his brain to conform itself to your premise. That’s what Megan Amram does with this hilarious review of America. Props to Micky for the link. My personal favorite of her criticisms is that America shamelessly recycles storylines, but pretty much the whole thing is gold.
Sad to say, however, that no constructed humor can match the pure comic elation that is a civilian fight video. The parents at this Georgia little league championship turned the game into a stands-clearing brawl. I love watching out of shape middle-aged people fight; all they do is try to pull one another’s heads off. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the best way to fight is to sit on the other person and hit him until he stops moving. People of America, you must sit on each other. It’s the only way you’ll win.
Combat!’s run-ins with race always seem mildly absurd. Chicago’s been a big town fulla blacks, latinos and others for a long time. It was THE destination for black folks (including my great grandpa) heading north for opportunity a century back. That remains an important reason for its ongoing mixed skin colors.