Monday, May 07, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
kurt vonnegut died yesterday....so it goes.
kurt vonnegut died yesterday....so it goes.
To Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness.
The title character in his 1965 novel, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," summed up his philosophy: "Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies - 'God damn it, you've got to be kind."'
Though he was a vocal religious skeptic, noted humanist and atheist, Vonnegut wrote:
If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC
more quotes:
* The only difference between [George W.] Bush and [Adolf] Hitler is that Hitler was elected.
* "Kurt Vonnegut's 'Stardust Memory" , Harvey Wasserman, The Free Press (2006-03-04)
* We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.
- On Humans, in an appearance on The Daily Show (September 2005)
* …I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy—because we're experienced with it, you know. And, in democracy, after a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote. And, at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. And that's what's going on now.
o Appearance on The Daily Show (September 2005)
* I do feel that evolution is being controlled by some sort of divine engineer. I can't help thinking that. And this engineer knows exactly what he or she is doing and why, and where evolution is headed. That's why we've got giraffes and hippopotami and the clap.
-On Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, on The Daily Show (September 2005)
* His latest book, published two years, is a collection of biographical essays called A Man without a Country .
In it, he described the Bush administration as psychopaths as well as idiots.
KURT VONNEGUT: I've certainly drawn energy from my contempt (laughs) for our President, yes, and spoken rather rudely of him, as he is not a very smart person, and in high school we all recognised him as not being terribly bright.
And on PBS, I did say one very rude thing about him. I said George W. Bush is so dumb it wouldn't surprise me if he thought Peter Pan was a washbasin in a house of ill repute (laughs).
If that be treason, make the most of it.
sources:
http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5647183&siteId=36
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Miscellaneous_sourced
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/ENTERTAIN/70412013
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1895823.htm
and so it goes......
To Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness.
The title character in his 1965 novel, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," summed up his philosophy: "Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies - 'God damn it, you've got to be kind."'
Though he was a vocal religious skeptic, noted humanist and atheist, Vonnegut wrote:
If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC
more quotes:
* The only difference between [George W.] Bush and [Adolf] Hitler is that Hitler was elected.
* "Kurt Vonnegut's 'Stardust Memory" , Harvey Wasserman, The Free Press (2006-03-04)
* We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.
- On Humans, in an appearance on The Daily Show (September 2005)
* …I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy—because we're experienced with it, you know. And, in democracy, after a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote. And, at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. And that's what's going on now.
o Appearance on The Daily Show (September 2005)
* I do feel that evolution is being controlled by some sort of divine engineer. I can't help thinking that. And this engineer knows exactly what he or she is doing and why, and where evolution is headed. That's why we've got giraffes and hippopotami and the clap.
-On Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, on The Daily Show (September 2005)
* His latest book, published two years, is a collection of biographical essays called A Man without a Country .
In it, he described the Bush administration as psychopaths as well as idiots.
KURT VONNEGUT: I've certainly drawn energy from my contempt (laughs) for our President, yes, and spoken rather rudely of him, as he is not a very smart person, and in high school we all recognised him as not being terribly bright.
And on PBS, I did say one very rude thing about him. I said George W. Bush is so dumb it wouldn't surprise me if he thought Peter Pan was a washbasin in a house of ill repute (laughs).
If that be treason, make the most of it.
sources:
http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5647183&siteId=36
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Miscellaneous_sourced
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/ENTERTAIN/70412013
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1895823.htm
and so it goes......
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