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Tom Wolfe: “You’re Either On the Bus… Or Off the Bus”
MOTUS A.D. ^ | 5-16-18 | MOTUS

Posted on 05/16/2018 6:49:36 AM PDT by NOBO2012

 “Dear Mother, I meant to write you before this and I hope you haven't been worried.... I have met some Beautiful People...” Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

R.I.P. Tom Wolfe, the wickedly clever writer who viewed American culture with a clear eye, a steady gaze and chronicled it with a creatively fanciful tongue. Although not a Boomer himself, he did designate them as the “Me Generation.” He also coined some 150 additional  terms as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary

In just one book, published in 1970, Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, Wolfe coined three terms:

tom wolfe radical chic

Radical chic (“the fashionable affectation of radical left-wing views”),  mau-mauing (“using menacing or intimidating tactics against”), and flak catcher (“one who deals with and deflects adverse or hostile comment, questions, etc., in order to protect a person or institution from unfavorable publicity”).

A compilation of two essays, the book is an examination of the intricate dance of black rage with white guilt. The first half of the book is set in Leonard Bernstein’s Park Avenue duplex where the conductor had assembled many of his wealthy socialite friends to meet with representatives of the Black Panthers and discuss ways to help their cause. Wolfe termed the liberal guests, mostly from the world of arts and journalism, the "radical chic." He described their behavior as “white guilt” and considered their “armchair agitation” strictly a social activity, intended to make them feel better about themselves.

The second half of the book takes place in San Francisco’s Office of Economic Opportunity where the bureaucrats (Flak Catchers) are antagonized by hustlers from the Black and other minority communities (Mau-Mauers). The Mau-Mauers barter items such as ice picks, switch blades and razors - theoretically confiscated from gangs - for seemingly endless funds made available from anti-poverty programs. Another black/white dance guaranteed to accomplish nothing.

Although this book is nearly 50 years old it is still as accurate today as it was then, which tells you all you need to know about the Democrats’ “Great Society.”  Update the tales with the names of current “woke” celebrities and increase the percentage of Hispanics in the mix and virtually nothing has changed…in 50 years. Except for the original cover of the book, which no longer passes muster with the PC police.

radical chic

The two essays in this book however display what was heralded at the time as “new journalism.” Wolfe, along with Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion, invented the genre. 

New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, which uses literary techniques deemed unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non-fiction and emphasizing "truth" over "facts," and intensive reportage in which reporters immersed themselves in the stories as they reported and wrote them. This was in contrast to traditional journalism where the journalist was typically "invisible" and facts are reported as objectively as possible…

The phenomenon of New Journalism is generally considered to have ended by the early 1980s. - Wiki

The genre, intended primarily for literary magazines, did not go away with the demise of most “literary” magazines. Instead, “new journalism” simply migrated to straight “journalism” where it has become common place to inject yourself into the story and relating the facts as you fancifully see fit. It is now “advocacy journalism” and it is mainstream. That was, of course, never Wolfe’s intent.

As Wolfe helped define it, the "new journalism" combined the emotional impact of a novel, the analysis of the best essays, and the factual foundation of hard reporting. He mingled it all in an over-the-top style that made life itself seem like one spectacular headline. San Francisco Chronicle

So rest in peace, Tom. It’s not your fault. A great many good concepts have become perverted when they fall into the hands of less skilled practitioners.

But it was a great ride! tom wolfe acid

“Everything was becoming allegorical, understood by the group mind, and especially this: "You're either on the bus...or off the bus.”

Tom is off the bus now, but we’ll always have his social X-rays; so thanks for that.

Posted from: MOTUS A.D.



TOPICS: Humor; Politics
KEYWORDS: blackpanthers; racism; radicalchic; tomwolfe

1 posted on 05/16/2018 6:49:37 AM PDT by NOBO2012
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To: NOBO2012

I’m so sorry to hear this. RIP.


2 posted on 05/16/2018 6:53:31 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: NOBO2012

Read Tom Wolf and you will have no doubt why conservatism is righteous and liberalism is massive self delusion.


3 posted on 05/16/2018 6:54:41 AM PDT by allendale (.)
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To: NOBO2012

“Bonfire of the Vanities” is a very good book.

L


4 posted on 05/16/2018 6:55:48 AM PDT by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
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To: Lurker

Great Author one of my favorites. He really cut through the BS.


5 posted on 05/16/2018 7:01:43 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: Jamestown1630

I have a book group meeting tonight to pick our next read. What was his best book? BTW, I think that most of our members already have seen the movie “Bonfire of the Vanities”. We are of a “certain age”.


6 posted on 05/16/2018 7:06:18 AM PDT by MHT (,`)
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To: NOBO2012

“Former Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz must not have taken the knock against Bedford-Stuyvesant to heart, since during his tenure he put “Fuhgeddaboudit” on a highway sign leaving Brooklyn, showing how the interjection had become firmly entrenched as a tongue-in-cheek marker of local identity.”


7 posted on 05/16/2018 7:13:47 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
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To: NOBO2012

Tom Wolfe was one of my favorite authors. I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS was so close to the reality of present college life that I would recommend it to parents as a “forewarned is forearmed” preparation for what they and their college bound children will be experiencing.
Rest in peace Tom Wolfe.


8 posted on 05/16/2018 7:14:33 AM PDT by mountainfolk
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To: NOBO2012

9 posted on 05/16/2018 7:15:42 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
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To: Lurker

Always loved the term Master of the Universe.


10 posted on 05/16/2018 7:22:21 AM PDT by Mouton (The MSM is a clear and present danger to the republic.)
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To: mountainfolk

I have read all his books and certainly enjoyed Charlotte Simmons. Seen her case in real life, repeatedly.

His book Mau Mauing The Flak Catchers and Radical Chic hit home for me when I was young and involved on the periphery of those sorts of folks.


11 posted on 05/16/2018 7:25:47 AM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: MHT

‘The Right Stuff’ will always be my favorite (though I haven’t read all of his books). For some reason, it’s the funniest book I’ve read, and it evokes the era he writes about very well. I was a kid very excited about the ‘space race’ back then.


12 posted on 05/16/2018 7:50:59 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: NOBO2012
The genre, intended primarily for literary magazines, did not go away with the demise of most “literary” magazines. Instead, “new journalism” simply migrated to straight “journalism” where it has become common place to inject yourself into the story and relating the facts as you fancifully see fit. It is now “advocacy journalism” and it is mainstream. That was, of course, never Wolfe’s intent....

So rest in peace, Tom. It’s not your fault. A great many good concepts have become perverted when they fall into the hands of less skilled practitioners.

This.

13 posted on 05/16/2018 8:09:40 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (We're even doing the right thing for them. They just don't know it yet. --Donald Trump, CPAC '18)
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To: MHT

The movie was terrible. The book was genius.


14 posted on 05/16/2018 8:10:36 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (We're even doing the right thing for them. They just don't know it yet. --Donald Trump, CPAC '18)
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To: MHT

Worst movie ever.

.


15 posted on 05/16/2018 8:12:25 AM PDT by Mears
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To: Lurker

“The Great White Defendant” came out of “Bonfire” and it still holds true today.


16 posted on 05/16/2018 8:16:21 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: MHT

If you haven’t read “The Right Stuff,” I highly recommend it. History of the early days of the manned space program, against the parallel track of USAF test pilots at Edwards AFB, CA. Wolfe does a marvelous job at chronicling the confidence, ambition, fears, tragedies and triumph that accompanied our entry into space. Chuck Yeager owes his second career (as the living embodiment of the “right stuff” to Tom Wolfe.

BTW, the film adaptation of “Bonfire” was terrible. Philip Kaufman did a much better job with “The Right Stuff.” Interestingly, the first draft of the script (by noted screen writer Bo Goldman) focused only on the Mercury astronauts and ignored Yeager altogether. Kaufman rejected Goldman’s effort, rewrote the script himself, and included the Yeager element as well. Great film, based on an unforgettable book.


17 posted on 05/16/2018 8:30:51 AM PDT by ExNewsExSpook
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To: NOBO2012
One of my many favorite Tom Wolfe quotes:

“A lie may fool someone else, but it tells you the truth: you're weak.” ― Tom Wolfe

18 posted on 05/16/2018 9:21:52 AM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: NOBO2012
F U R T H E R
19 posted on 05/16/2018 9:43:07 AM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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