With the significant amount of down time I’ve had in the last few days it is no wonder I read two books, watched a couple seasons of tv shows, and a few shitty movies. That is the one and only thing I enjoy about being sick being able to “relax” and do your own thing without having to worry if your place is clean or what you are doing at work tomorrow.
Over the last couple years I’ve grown to love Chuck Thompson’s writing. I picked up his book “Smile When You’re Lying” shortly before heading down to Mexico a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed reading it in the Mexican sunshine. So as soon as I found out he had a new book out I picked it up at my local book store and read the shit out of it while I was sick.
Within the few pages of “To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism” I was hooked. So I had to share a particular couple paragraphs with you from page 7.
“We’ve become to soft. Like Jell-O. You. Me. Everyone. America. Americans. Too fragile to breath in some else’s cigarette smoke, ride a bike without a helmet, or play Texas hold ‘em without a pair of wraparound sunglasses. We’re turning into a nation of fearful twats, obsessed with supposedly tragic childhoods, lousy parents, career disappointments, social outrages, political grudges, and long lists of personal grievances that until recently were collectively known as the human fucking condition.
Our edges have been beaten away by trophies handed out just for showing up; schools that no longer make kids memorize multiplication tables; doctors who pass out brain meds like Skittles; and therapists who indulge the public’s every impulse to whine and wallow in self obsession. The pussification of America, promoted by corporate empires with an interest in keeping the nation in a state of suspended me-me-me childhood, is especially insulting to anyone with a memory that stretches back to a time when comic books and superheroes were a cultural mainstays only for those under twelve years old and our national leaders didn’t use words like “bad guy” to describe criminals, misfits, and every third unlikable foreigner.”
I highly recommend this book and any work by Chuck Thompson. I’ll lend you some books as long as I get them back. They are always a fun read.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 7:13AM