Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Silly News in a Not Very Silly Season
The 1964 Stanley Kubrick movie Dr. Strangelove is the classic dark comedy of the Cold War, a preposterously humorous take on global apocalypse. Set against the backdrop of inescapable Armageddon, the entirely human foibles and obsessions of its various protagonists stand out as absurdly petty, and give the movie its quirky and subversive charm.
In the movie, US strategic bombers race toward Russia under the command of a crazy American general. The President and his men gather in the War Room and do everything they can to prevent the errant bombers from achieving their objective of dropping nuclear weapons on the USSR and, in the process, triggering the Soviets’ doomsday device that will extinguish all life on Earth.
So the stakes are, you know, pretty high.
In an effort to reassure the Soviets, the President invites Russian Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky into the War Room. This prompts an objection from red-blooded American General “Buck” Turgidson (George C. Scott), who is afraid that the Russian will “see the big board,” the situation board on the War Room wall. Turgidson goes so far as to make a transparently obvious attempt to plant a camera on the Russian in hopes of incriminating the man and having him ejected.
The attempt fails. But, in what I think is one of the funniest small gags of the film, toward the end of the movie as the bombs are about to rain down and the end of the world is moments away, the Russian can be seen surreptitiously using his own tiny camera to take pictures of “the big board.” Because he can’t help himself. It’s in his nature.
The United States is in a very real crisis. Whether or not the disease is serious enough to warrant the economic loss our actions have precipitated, the loss is real. The deaths are real. The impact on our lives is real. We are in an extraordinary time, a backdrop against which the pettiness of small men should appear anachronistic and unworthy of the moment.
Yet our nation’s press can not help itself, and a people desperate for information are subjected instead to 24/7 gotcha “journalism” in the media’s relentless, obsessive, tortured pursuit of the great orange whale.
Published in General
Mickey Kaus gestures as he talks with Drew Klavan.
Afternoon Henry,
Spot on! We have to know if there is a ventilator gap and who said Kung Flu, he must be shot.
Exactly. And we must maintain social distancing to preserve our purity of essence.
“Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk, ice cream? Ice cream, Mandrake? Children’s ice cream!”
“But if you don’t get the President on that phone, do you know what’s going to happen to you? You’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.”
In the end they could not keep up with the expense involved in the arms race, the space race and the peace race. And at the same time their people grumbled for more nylons and washing machines.
Well boys, I reckon this is it, biological war, toe to toe with the ChiComs.
Mr, President, I would not rule out the possibility of survival with the help of experienced health professionals. Of course, with a quarantine period of some (does calculation on a circular slide rule),,,umm…eighty-three years…there would be much time and little to do…
Doctor, you mentioned something about a breeding ratio of ten females to each male. Wouldn’t that require the abandonment of the so-called monogamous family structure, at least as far as men were concerned?
Regrettably, yes! But it is a sacrifice required for the future of the human r-r-a-a-a-c-e!
“Sir, we’ve begun doing 725 million daily random tests of RNA, but given that there are 345 quintillion possible combinations, this is going to take about 18 months”.
“When is the maximum death wave arriving?”
“In thirteen days, sir”.
“And my advice to you, Jack, is to give me the code now. And if those devils come back and try any rough stuff, we’ll fight ’em together, boy, like we did just now, on the floor, eh? You with the old gun, and me with the belt and the ammo, feeding you Jack! Feed me, you said, and I was feeding you, Jack.”
Henry,
In this, they reveal how truly pathetic they are. Small men & women who are willing to desert the country in a crisis for a few lines of snark against an enemy that doesn’t exist.
Regards,
Jim
Maybe rework Colonel Ripper’s line:
A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. That’s the way your hardcore Commie works.
to this:
A politicized journalist class is introduced into our precious body politic without the knowledge of the citizenry. That’s the way your hardcore Frankfurt School Commie works.
“General, do the viruses have a chance?”
“Well, sir, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an entire US compliance committee made up of medical professionals committed to diversity, I mean a whole bunch of ’em, ooh, angry at every turn, getting triggered, firing up social media, going on Twitter, like hundreds and hundreds of thousands, going ballistic, freezing the target and swarming in, wowee, you ought to see it sometime–!”
“But do they have a chance?“
“Do they have a chance? Hell, ye–” Then he stops.
“General, I find this very difficult to understand. I was under the impression that I was the only one in authority to bar travel from the tri-state area.”
“That’s right, sir, you are the only person authorized to do so. And although I, uh, hate to judge before all the facts are in, it’s beginning to look like, uh, Governor Raimondo exceeded her authority.”
EW: Major Kong, I just received a message from base over the CNN; it decodes as COVID 19 – Everyone Go Home.
AC: Goldie, Did you say COVID 19 – Everyone go Home?
EW: Yes Sir I have.
AC: Goldie, How many times have I told you guys not to fool around with the Economy.
EW: I’m not fooling around, that’s how it decodes
AC: Well, I’ve been to 1 big city, the grocery store and a gas station and that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard said by the media.
We don’t wanna have a Mine Shaft Gap.
Nor a Mein Schafft Gap.
They’re not Frankfurt School commies. Such true believers are long gone, replaced by paid shills. Leftist politics now are just a career move, embraced for mercenary reasons.
The fault is also with the right. We got too used to the post-WWII corporate america of “What’s good for America is good for GM”, people who were at least nominally pro market and pro liberty. We forgot about the pre-WWII corporate mindset that saw the likes of Hitler and Stalin as “men who could get things done” and were perfectly happy to get in bed with them. The corporate world has simply returned to the status quote ante, but this time in bed with the CCP.
What’s interesting about Dr. Strangelove is that it was based on the book Red Alert that was not a comedy, but instead a dramatic thriller. It came out around the same time as the book Fail-Safe, also a thriller. The latter book was made into the 1964 movie of the same name. It was played straight, more faithful to the book and definitely not as a comedy.
There is a good video on YouTube that covers the differences between the movie Dr. Strangelove and the book Red Alert:
It is heartening to know, in these trying times, that a small group of educated, discerning people known as “Ricochetti” remember the greatness that was Dr. Strangelove, and can apply its lessons to the present crisis.
Meh, can’t be good when they use a wire diagram of a B-25 instead of the B-52 to illustrate the bomber parts. Dudes must be dyslexic or something.
Movie version:
“You can’t fight here; this is the War Room!”
Today’s version:
“You can’t give us information here; this is the Press Room!”