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As so many of you know and are tired of hearing, I'm a fan of Kurt Vonnegut. I think if there was ever a writer that understood the human condition at it's best and worst, it's Vonnegut. He's my hero and I love him to death. I've found a recent article/interview of Vonnegut that reminds me of what it was about him that first attracted me to his books.
Vonnegut at 80 By David Hoppe - January 10, 2003
He's written a forward to a book of anti-war posters by Micah Ian Wright. He talks on being old, being an American, the Iraq conflict and the Sermon on the Mount.
An excerpt :
-- Eugene Debs, Terre Haute
Now why can't the religious right recognize that as a paraphrase of the Sermon on the Mount? Hapgood and Debs were both middle-class people who thought there could be more economic justice in this country. They wanted a better country, that's all. Hapgood's family owned a successful cannery in Indianapolis and Hapgood turned it over to the employees, who ruined it. He led the pickets against the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti [anarchists from Chicago]. Hapgood was testifying in court in Indianapolis about some picket-line dust-up connected with the CIO and the judge stops everything. He says, "Mr. Hapgood, here you are, you're a graduate of Harvard and you own a successful business. Why would anyone with your advantages choose to live as you have?" Powers Hapgood actually became a coal miner for a while. His answer to the judge was great: "The Sermon on the Mount, sir."
My God, the religious right will not acknowledge what a merciful person Jesus was.
Read the article. At 80, Vonnegut is still very much Vonnegut.
Vonnegut at 80 By David Hoppe - January 10, 2003
He's written a forward to a book of anti-war posters by Micah Ian Wright. He talks on being old, being an American, the Iraq conflict and the Sermon on the Mount.
An excerpt :
As long as there's a lower class I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.
-- Eugene Debs, Terre Haute
Now why can't the religious right recognize that as a paraphrase of the Sermon on the Mount? Hapgood and Debs were both middle-class people who thought there could be more economic justice in this country. They wanted a better country, that's all. Hapgood's family owned a successful cannery in Indianapolis and Hapgood turned it over to the employees, who ruined it. He led the pickets against the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti [anarchists from Chicago]. Hapgood was testifying in court in Indianapolis about some picket-line dust-up connected with the CIO and the judge stops everything. He says, "Mr. Hapgood, here you are, you're a graduate of Harvard and you own a successful business. Why would anyone with your advantages choose to live as you have?" Powers Hapgood actually became a coal miner for a while. His answer to the judge was great: "The Sermon on the Mount, sir."
My God, the religious right will not acknowledge what a merciful person Jesus was.
Read the article. At 80, Vonnegut is still very much Vonnegut.
