Kurt Vonnegut senile and stuck on stupid

Oh yes yet another antiBush screed in the works this one from none other than Kurt Vonnegut, a real chesnut from the 1960s. What's the redeeming value in Vonnegut's work anyway as we approach the 21st century? Unlike Saul Bellow, Vonnegut's value diminishes over time. He sounded cool in high school but that's about it. It takes a grown up to figure out that Vonnegut is a fool. But the adversary culture admires him more particlarly when he sticks his foot in his mouth. James Lileks brilliantly calls out Vonnegut for appreciating ultimate high of suicide bombing. This from a man who made us uncomfortable about the bombing of Dresden. Vonnegut has certainly come full circle when it comes to indiscrimate death.

Vonnegut suggested suicide bombers must feel an "amazing high". He said: "You would know death is going to be painless, so the anticipation - it must be an amazing high."Mr. Vonnegut ? again, a patriot whose dissent is being cruelly ground into the nurturing earth before your eyes ? seems to think that suicide bombings literally happen in a vacuum, an unpopulated space where the bombers just pop like soap bubbles. It may be painless for them ? alas ? but it is not painless for the victims. You?d think such an obvious observation would go without saying, but we are dealing with an intellectual. What Vonnegut calls brave ? blowing yourself up so you can fly up to the great Bunny Ranch in the sky and rut with fragrant houris blessed with self-regenerating hymens ? does not exactly compare to the bravery required of the survivors.

Read the whole dressing down at Lilek's haunt, the ScreedBlog.