There are two great American traditions, and one of them is mindless violence. This occurs in the political arena, where a war can be declared against a country that does not pose a threat to America while the terrorist group who are widely believed to have committed the greatest mass murder there's ever bin on American soil are considered not a priority. It occurs in entertainment medium, where music and movies about guys with big guns are huge sellers (and politics and entertainment have been known to cross over here and there). It occurs on the streets and in the home.
The greatest avatar of mindless violence is, of course, the zombie. Zombies are not an inherently American phenomenon. The first zombies were probably created by Haitian voodoo houngans. However, the first zombie movie was American, and according to the imdb they've made more zombie movies than every other country put together.
I nominate the noble Zombie as the new Symbol of America. The zombie is known for its extreme hunger; America has a large proportion of obese people, who I figure must be pretty hungry. Zombies are also known for standing around doing nothing useful while everything around them goes to hell; an enormous amount of eligible Americans don't bother to vote, despite supposedly being proud of the free, democratic status they are so keen to spread around.
Americans could learn a lot from zombies, like how to eat all the brains they want without gaining a pound. Zombies don't kill each other as often as Americans do. Zombies even dance better than most Americans.
So let us all praise the noble American Zombie!
Today I'm mostly listening to Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys. "Time and money for girls covered with honey!"
I forgot to say thanks to Idiot/Savant for providing the title I spun this rant from.
Posted by pearce at November 27, 2003 10:20 AM
Quine hates America and I can prove - aaargh! Someone ate my brain!