Kidnapped Boy Saves Self, or Humor Gone Awry

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:04:00 GMT

I'm usually a huge fan of The Onion -- one of those obnoxious chuckleheads who used to sit in his pod all day, snorting about the Area Man who held a news conference to announce his displeasure with Thursday -- but this story really missed its mark, and I have to say: I'm offended and completely unnerved by what I know is a fake news story.

The story has to do with 9-year-old kidnap victim Ethan Davis, who, while locked tightly away, imagines he has been rescued.

"Blocking out the sight and stench of his surroundings, the boy's imagination went on to report that Davis was led by authorities into the arms of his overjoyed parents—a complete fantasy the 9-year-old was somehow able to conjure up despite the fact that he was lying face down on a filthy concrete floor, his arms and legs restrained by rope."

I read and re-read the story and thought I had lost all sense of humor by not finding any in it. Maybe some childless freakshow thinks this is just a riot, or maybe I'm just getting cranky, but man, this story is really fucked up.

Am I alone?

[photo: The Onion]

Doris Lessing is cranky, old, fun

Brett Singer — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Sometimes it's nice to point out an article, or in this case a couple of articles, that feature smart women. Especially smart, accomplished women who speak their minds and don't care what anyone thinks.

Doris Lessing, a recent Nobel Prize winning writer, definitely fits the bill. How many people win a Nobel Prize and then say, "If I may be catty, Sweden doesn't have anything else."

Or this gem: "I hear girls saying, 'Oh I'm not going to bring a child into this wicked world,' which means they are going to be pregnant next week."

Both of those quotes are from a recent Time magazine interview she did (link via Gawker). There was also a piece in the Sunday New York Times Magazine where she talked about some other topics, mostly her latest work, "Alfred & Emily". The book is described as two novellas: one where she tells her mother's actual life story, then writes another one in which her mother is depicted "as she should have been if she had not been messed up by World War I." Something about that idea fascinated me. Sort of a "here's her life, and here's what should have happened had she been born into a better situation."

The new book will probably be her last, because, at 88 years young, she has "run out of energy completely." In the Time article she offers some advice to us younger scribes: "Don't assume you'll have it forever. Use it while you've got it, because it'll go; it's sliding away like water down a plug hole."

Now, she also said this about current conditions of Zimbabwe, where she grew up many years ago when it was known as Southern Rhodesia: "It's ruined. Under the whites it was an extremely efficient country. It could grow absolutely anything. We had railways and post offices and roads and water that worked. You can't just put that back overnight." The Gawker commenters rightly slam her for that, although its possible that there is more to what she said, since Zimbabwe is currently a bit of a mess, what with some countries claiming that Mugabe's Presidency is illegitimate. She was also, according to Gawker, "barred from South African and Rhodesia for denouncing apartheid." I'm not trying to excuse what she said, but I don't think it's in the same league as Imus' "Nappy Headed Ho's" riff.

I freely admit that I've never read a Doris Lessing novel, so I have no idea if she's "worthy" of a Nobel Prize or not. But I always appreciate it when someone says what's on her mind, especially someone who has lived a long time and accomplished a great deal. We get to hear plenty of old men talking, both wise and not-so-wise. So let's give the ladies a shot too.

image: nytimes

Strollerderby : cranky

Kidnapped Boy Saves Self, or Humor Gone Awry

Doris Lessing is cranky, old, fun

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