It shouldn't be a surprise to any of his devoted readers, but Daniel Handler -- a.k.a. Lemony Snicket -- is a leftist. I realized it when he had Sunny say "Busheney" and translated it as, "You're an evil man with no concern whatsoever for other people". If there were still any doubt, reader Daniel Day points me to an article about "Bay Area artists" which says of Mr. Handler:
Best known by his pen name, Lemony Snicket, the San Franciscan has been active in politics and says the next few years could "make for some really interesting work."As I wrote before, being brilliant in one area does not necessarily correlate with being brilliant in others."It's almost like the last four years have been a warm-up for this," he said. "Some artists have gone political in their work -- and it doesn't necessarily make for the best work. There were a lot of books that were hastily conceived. I don't think 'Checkpoint' is the best novel ever written by Nicholson Baker. But we'll see a polishing of that -- so that the artistic content will rise to match the political content. That's not always the case, of course. I just read 'Harbor,' by Lorraine Adams, and it was a really fascinating take on a terrorist cell.
"But can I just add: It's not worth it. No amount of great art or books is worth him being re-elected. I felt the troubles of the world breathing down my neck when I woke up Wednesday morning, but I put my head down and wrote.".
I disagree with most authors, but I don't think that's a reason not to read their work. I mean, look at Hemmingway or Faulkner. We would both say that we differed greatly in opinion from them, yet that doesn't mean that they should be disregarded or that it isn't a pleasure to read their writing.
.. and being a right-winger does not make a person brilliant in matters of public policy.
Megan: Certainly.
Mark: No, but winning elections, defeating communism, and building the world's best economy are good indications of correctness!
1.) Elections are as much about character assassination as they are policy proposals.
2.) Communism defeated itself. The Chernobyl incident accelerated the defeat of a system that was already headed toward collapse.
3.) Building the world's best economy is not something the right-wingers can claim for themselves. It was a group effort.
Mark: 1) Then maybe leftists should nominate people with at least a minimal amount of character?
2) Oh please, it would have taken a lot longer if not for Reagan's buildup. The left thought the USSR was indestructible at the time, and they all thought Reagan was a fool... no matter how many times Kerry decided to quote him during the debates, heh.
3) I thought the eeeevil corporations were all colluding to reelect Bush? What about the ooooooiiiill?
1.) Obviously you didn't notice that Kerry conceded defeat in a way that had Karl Rove saying "He couldn't have been more gracious." Edwards wanted to pursue some of the legal options that the campaign had, but Kerry said no. If that doesn't say something about character, then I don't know what does.
2.) I don't think the Reagan buildup was foolish, but if you think that communism's collapse is something that right-wingers can claim for themselves, you're not looking at things objectively.
3.) Umm... your guess is as good as mine on that one. I have no idea what you're talking about. I never said the election was a puppet that corporations were pulling the strings on... or that Iraq was about oil.
The other thing is that I don't think there's any Democratic candidate who's character you wouldn't tear down.
Mark: Jimmy Carter. Of course, he's not a candidate, and was a horrible President, but he has the kind of character that one rarely encounters.
MW: Ever hear of reverse psychology? Offer the opposite opinion and he'll drive your own points home for you. Heh.
Ahem, gentlemen, to return to the subject of your post...
Thanks for the tip. The Bradley children will not be subsidizing Messieur Handler's addiction to crack or "goat-love" or whatever he does with his royalties.
I'll let you return to your internecine squabble now with the reminder that Jimmy Carter was "history's greatest monster."
JP: "Offer the opposite opinion and he'll drive your own points home for you."
Sorry Jim.. that's not how it works here.
I've been reading the Series of Unfortunate Events books during my break times at work, and I've really enjoyed them. I just read the line mentioned above this afternoon, and I had to pause and read it again to make sure I wasn't crazy. I'm a conservative, so it's disappointing for me to run across things like this in the books, movies, etc. that I enjoy. However, I will keep reading. This particular line doesn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the books for me.