Posted on 05/14/2011 4:56:43 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
David Mamet is the accomplished playwright, screenwriter, novelist, author, essayist, and filmmaker. In 1984 Mamet was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross, his utterly harrowing update of Death of a Salesman. The new issue of the Weekly Standard carries Andrew Ferguson's moving cover story on Mamet's turn to conservatism. It is an intensely interesting and thought-provoking piece.
As Ferguson recalls, the Village Voice published Mamet's quirky "goodbye to all that" essay "Why I am no longer a brain-dead liberal" in 2008. Mamet described himself in the essay as a decades-long liberal. He recounted a moment of illumination listening to National Public Radio: "I felt my facial muscles tightening, and the words beginning to form in my mind: Shut the **** up." Mamet explained:
I had been listening to NPR and reading various organs of national opinion for years, wonder and rage contending for pride of place. Further: I found I had been -- rather charmingly, I thought -- referring to myself for years as "a brain-dead liberal," and to NPR as "National Palestinian Radio."
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Hmm... these things have a half-life. Might one excerpt this excerpt, repeating until we simply have the teasing word ... “brain-dead”?
I disagree. Circle gets the square.
yeah, shut the **** up, liars.
I wonder how many knee-jerk libs were finally converted to conservatism by listening to the mindless leftwing drone-ravings of NPR.
"My grandmother came to this country and she and her two boys were abandoned by her husband," he said. "She couldn't speak English. No education. And during the Great Depression she was able to work hard and save and she put them both through law school." His voice had a tone of wonder to it, as though still awed by a fresh discovery. "I mean, what a country. That's a hell of a country."
Someone else might possibly tell an updated version:
"My grandmother came to this country pregnant, trying to drop an anchor baby here. She couldn't speak English. No education. She never had to work a day in her life. Free health care. Free education for all the kids -- there were seven eventually; I have no idea how many fathers. Everything was paid for by the gringos who had jobs. I mean, what a country. That's a hell of a country."
It seems the 2008 article was akin to what Saul/Paul may have had to say just a short while after falling off his horse but before the full effect of his epiphany took effect. This article shows Mamet as a full-on post-Damascus convert and is quite an enjoyable read.
Very good. Thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.