Christopher McKitterick

I'm thinking of adding a new feature to my blog: Daily Quote. Shall I?

On War and Bush
War is so reputable still, because of Hollywood, that George Bush can say "I am a war president." That’s like saying "I am a syphilis president." War is the most horrible disease that the planet could experience.
- from "Kurt Vonnegut's 'Stardust Memory,'" Harvey Wasserman, The Free Press

On "Home"
Where is home? I've wondered where home is, and I realized, it's not Mars or someplace like that, it's Indianapolis when I was nine years old. I had a brother and a sister, a cat and a dog, and a mother and a father and uncles and aunts. And there's no way I can get there again.
- from Simon Houpt's, "The World according to Kurt," [Toronto] Globe and Mail

On the Internet Culture
Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope... Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.
- from an interview by David Brancaccio, NOW (PBS)

... and on that note, I'm off to fart around on my scooter.

Best,
Chris

That's fantastic. I hadn't heard this quote before, but apparently it's well-known among journalists.

Just had to share that.

Best,
Chris

Saw this on my "quotes of the day" in Google. I so agree.

Chris

This made me think:

The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots. - Erich Fromm

Robots are just another form of slave, right? Just ask the Cylons. But I'm not sure Fromm meant that; I suspect he meant something more subtle. What do you think?