Caveat: Statements of Aggression

Ta-Nehisi Coates remains one of the more “mainstream” political bloggers (as opposed to the rather more antiestablishment marxisty types) who most often manages that rare mix of fine writing and scathing analysis to “knock the ball out of the park,” as his commenters like to say.

pictureHe recently wrote about the Gingrich’s deployment of race-baiting code in the recent South Carolina (and the subsequent, deeply depressing standing ovation). Most compellingly, with his concise prose, in his conclusion, Coates writes,

When a professor of history [i.e. Gingrich] calls Barack Obama a “Food Stamp President,” it isn’t a mistake to be remedied through clarification; it is a statement of aggression. And when a crowd of his admirers cheer him on, they are neither deluded, nor in need of forgiveness, nor absolution, nor acting against their interest. Racism is their interest. They are not your misguided friends. They are your fully intelligent adversaries, sporting the broad range of virtue and vice we see in humankind.

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Caveat: A maravilha seca

pictureI awoke from a dream in the middle of the night, last night. I was dreaming that I was… dead. Or nearly dead. I was like a skeleton. I was in house or mansion with other skeletons. They were complaining about the lack of healthcare, and the poor food, and their depressing “retirements.”

I kept wandering the halls aimlessly. It was like the mental hospital in the awesome Korean movie 싸이보그지만 괜찮아 (I’m a cyborg, but that’s ok). Some of people were speaking Korean, too.

There was a buddhist monk sitting very still in the middle of an empty room. I said to him, “why am I so old?” He said nothing.

I looked at a calendar on the wall – it was Korean. But the year said 2069. That would make me… 104 years old – in the dream. Really? Why am I thinking of this? Why do I feel like a skeleton? Why do I feel so sad? Am I feeling old?

I woke up. I had trouble sleeping again.

What I’m listening to, right now.

Wado featuring Curumin, “Esqueleto Samba 808.” I selected the song because of the dream, not the other way around. The lyrics (quite simple).

agradeci, agradeci o amor

e o esqueleto de uma folha seca
voa, voa, voa ao sol

agrade o amor
a folha seca
agrade o amor
a maravilha seca

I walked home in the rain. I feel tired, because of not sleeping well, last night. So good night.

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