Winter in America

"'...For p. 2441. Lucian in the Dialogue Χάρων ἢ ἐπισκοποῦντες ["Charon or the Inspectors"], after two-thirds of the Dialogue, in Charon's voice says: "'Ορῶ ποικίλην τινὰ τύρβην, καὶ μεστὸν ταραχῆς τὸν βίον, καὶ τὰς πόλεις γε αὐτῶν" (ἀνθρώπων) "ἐοικυίας τοĩς σμήνεσιν, ἐν οἷς ἄπας μὲν ἰδιόν τι κέντρον ἔχει, καὶ τὸν πλησίον κεντεĩ. ὀλίγοι δέ τινες, ὥσπερ σψῆκες, ἄγουσι και φέρουσι τὸν ὑποδεέστερου"  ["I see a great variety of occupations, a great bustle in life, and their cities" (of men) "similar to beehives, where each has his own stinger and stings his neighbor, while some few, like wasps, rob the weaker"]'** (Rome, 13 Dec 1822.)  

...[p. 2441, part way down] 'Never is anyone so willingly called, or heard called, as the person who has a recognized defect, either physical or moral, and is called by the name of the defect. So-and-so the deaf fellow, the cripple, the hunchback, the madman. Indeed, these people are ordinarily called only by these names, or if we call them by their name when they are not present it's very rare that the other name isn't added. In calling them or hearing them called thus, men feel themselves superior to these fellows, they enjoy the image of their defect, they feel and in a certain sense remind themselves about their own superiority, self-love is flattered and gratified by it...' (13 May 1822.)"

        - Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, First paperback                       revised edition, 2015

Surely an invidious assessment that does a great disservice to actual bees and wasps.

**("What a jostling life it is! What a world of ups and downs! Their cities remind me of bee-hives. Every man keeps a sting for his neighbour’s service; and a few, like wasps, make spoil of their weaker brethren.") -- from The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Volume 1, translated by Fowler and Fowler.

Coming to a newsstand near you

The publishers of VAUGE magazine would like the public to understand... that there is nothing to understand. 

Or rather, that there is probably something to understand, but it's sort of nebulous and difficult to define, and we'd just rather not get into the details.

 

Thank you for your attention. 

The next issue will be about penguins. Well, not about penguins exactly...

 "... And what exactly is a dream? And what exactly is a joke?"

                - Syd Barrett, Jugband Blues

"An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth -- scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books -- might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity, and consumerism. We keep at it, and through constant repetition, many of them finally get it. What kind of society could we create if, instead, we drummed into them science and a sense of hope?"  

 - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, First Ballantine Books Edition, 1997, p. 39

Naming names

Vivek Ramaswamy can take his family values and insert them firmly into his tired, crusty anal cavity on an habitual basis.