Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
This may be off topic - is anything on topic here at Ricochet? - but it made me laugh, in that humorless-bark-of-disgust way. You’ve probably heard of Terry Jones: he was one of the members of the Monty Python troupe, a director, a writer, and a naked guy playing an organ. He later distinguished himself with predictable, if effervescent, critic of the West for its primary sin, i.e., existing. If you’re wondering whether he’s still sticking it to The Man:
Whether taking on Chaucer, challenging Ireland's most doggedly held beliefs of the Middle Ages, or having a child out of wedlock with a woman more than half his age, Terry Jones is not afraid to take on the establishment.
“The establishment” is a term that means something only for people who had their first kiss while the Strawberry Alarm Clock was in the top 40, and the idea that there’s some frumpy, hidebound organization of greybeards who zealously guard interpretations of Chaucer seems overheated. Oh no! Doggedly held beliefs of the Middle Ages are being challenged that fellow over there! Alert the authorities! The last line makes you clench your molars, though. Having a child without marrying is an act of taking on the establishment, eh. The illegitimacy rate could hit 99.9% and these people would still behave as if enormous posters of Ward and June Cleaver dominated every public square.
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Aug '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Commissar Eduardovtich !
The hidden linkage behind Arianna and Carole would confuse Haskell.
Edited on Nov 26, 2010 at 10:51amJun '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Jumping on a woman half his age takes real heroism. Stickin' it to the man, not so much. Stickin' it to the hot young woman with her age appropriate body, not exactly my concept of sacrifice. Tough dude that Terry Jones. At least the baby was allowed life. Hopefully it will grow up with more sense than its daddy.
Jun '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
I've always felt that every once in a while somebody from the CIA or NSA or even the FBI should kill someone such as Terry Jones. I'm not advocating mass murder, all I'm saying is the odd pick off here and there so that all those now not afraid of taking on the establishment would have a reason to affect courage.
I'll take this opportunity to admit a guilty pleasure. My favourite scene in the Bourne Ultimatum the third movie in the Bourne series is the one in which the Guardian reporter gets shot. Loved the brain aerosol treatment the FX guys gave that lefty dweeb. In my heart of hearts I cheer every time I watch the scene.
Edited on Nov 26, 2010 at 10:47amOct '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
I really hate that some of my favourite cultural icons are exposing themselves (so to speak) in these ways.
Feels like a part of my childhood and young adulthood keeps getting ripped away, crumbled up, and thrown into the dumpster.
Not that I thought the Python people were ultra-conservatives or anything, but I wish they'd all stop parading it in front of us.
Aug '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
David Roy: I really hate that some of my favourite cultural icons are exposing themselves (so to speak) in these ways.
Feels like a part of my childhood and young adulthood keeps getting ripped away, crumbled up, and thrown into the dumpster.
Not that I thought the Python people were ultra-conservatives or anything, but I wish they'd all stop parading it in front of us. · Nov 26 at 10:42am
Yeah...they've taken the "twit" out. Shouldn't have tweaked it.
You're having a "shut up and sing" moment. They happen alot since all the media has become owned by a few people. They have to cross-sell all the stuff they make, so we have to hear people that have never been paid to talk, Terry was supposed to just mug and write funnily. They all think they're John Lennon.
Nov '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Carole Mallory writes a book on having an affair with a man married to his sixth wife. What is wrong with these people? It's no wonder they don't understand the conservative opposition to gay marriage.
Aug '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Gosh, by this point isn't Terry Jones part of "The Establishment"?
As for the lady writing the article -- it's all about her, innit?
The real point isn't that Terry Jones is a "great guy", but that he's a "great guy" who's expressed admiration for her book. Because having an eight-year affair with Norman Mailer ("loving" him, though Mailer strikes me as a supremely unlovable man) and then telling all is something that any woman deserves to be proud of.
It's an earth-shattering achievement. Designed to "shock" "The Establishment."
Never mind that the establishment is already Norman Mailer anyhow.
Oct '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
After slogging through the whole piece I'm left with two questions:
1) who, or what, exactly is "the establishment"?
2) Do they even know they're being taken on?
Nov '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Is there anything more pathetic than an aging hippie pining away for 1967 and the "Summer of Love"?
As I typed that, I could actually hear The 5th Dimension start singing "Aquarius."
Oct '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Leave it to a writer for the Huffington Post to think a 26-year-old woman is "more than half the age" of a 62-year-old man:
"...At age 62, he fell in love with Anna Soderstrom, a 26-year-old student, and in September 2009 they had a baby...", then later "...or having a child out of wedlock with a woman more than half his age..."
Jun '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
dittoheadadt: Leave it to a writer for the Huffington Post to think a 26-year-old woman is "more than half the age" of a 62-year-old man:
"...At age 62, he fell in love with Anna Soderstrom, a 26-year-old student, and in September 2009 they had a baby...", then later "...or having a child out of wedlock with a woman more than half his age..." · Nov 26 at 1:50pm
Dittoheadadt: You are so pre-postmodern (i.e., establishment) in demanding that writers know the difference between "more than half" and "less than half." The HP's writer was obviously engaging in a hip kind of impressionistic writing. If Jones and his "partner" both live long enough, she will eventually become "a woman more than half his age."
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Somebody--probably James himself--will know more about this than I do, but I recall reading somewhere that John Cleese had made himself unpopular with the other members of the troupe. Why? Because he had from time to time espoused political views that proved...reasonable. Cleese, evidently, is the only member of Python to have grown up and lived a life.
May '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
cdor: Jumping on a woman half his age takes real heroism. Stickin' it to the man, not so much. Stickin' it to the hot young woman with her age appropriate body, not exactly my concept of sacrifice. Tough dude that Terry Jones. At least the baby was allowed life. Hopefully it will grow up with more sense than its daddy. · Nov 26 at 10:29am
Yeah, that was my reaction. Brainless, immature hedonism with a brainless groupie. Great profile in courage.
May '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Right on, Brother Lileks! If "race" is not real, just a "social construction", then I have often wondered what is the ontological status of the establishment, the bourgeoisie, the working class, the poor, etc?
Peace and love, Bro, I'm off to do some transgressive community organizing.
Jul '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Excuse me, but aren't we the establishment? If Mr. Jones offends so many of us, well, not me, but enough of us, shouldn't we convene a conclave beneath the roses of the Star Chamber and call forth the Inquisitors, the keepers of the Comfy Chair, and the Bishop? I'll go for a simple majority vote, just like when we're at the Trilateral Commission or with the Bavarian Illuminati. We'll see who stands up to us in "The Establishment" then!
Sep '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Remember: Everybody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Everybody!
Jul '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
As a survivor of those times, it is my duty to inform the assembled here that the Establishment are (British plural collective in honour of John Cleese) all of those straight gits that gaze baffled into space and say: The Establishment? Who are the Establishment? And then scan the Times and then, with mounting frustration, the Telegraph to sort it all out before settling for the horoscopes and exchange rates.
It's the guardians of culture, the British Museum, the Beeb, that dodgy David Frost bloke, the school teachers, every classical languages department ever conceived, the bloody tithing Anglican Church, those fascist red coats guarding Buckingham Palace and all the Tommys. It's everyone who talks duty and expects anything from anyone at any time. And don't leave out the bobies and the House of Lords and 10 Downing that whole lot.
But mostly, the Establishment is, of course, Paul D. Lawyer, Pseudodionysius, Victor Davis Hanson, and that Peter Robinson guy who interviews him on Uncommon Knowledge.
It's all about oppressing the slackers, at least according to the Establishment.
Sep '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
But mostly, the Establishment is, of course, Paul D. Lawyer, Pseudodionysius, Victor Davis Hanson, and that Peter Robinson guy who interviews him on Uncommon Knowledge
I hope this means I'm due for some type of compensation increase here on Ricochet. Oppressing the slackers isn't a job for penny pinchers.
Sep '10
Re: Help, I'm being depressed, or, Come see the idiocy inherent in the system
Cleese is a huge Obama supporter who suggests that Bush made America seem like a "backward, redneck, racist society." So, I might question just how much he has "grown up."