Blowing Smoke - Michael Wolraich [181]
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“Rodeo clown.” As Beck gleefully professes his own imperfection, it’s sometimes apparent that the rodeo clown doth protest too much. When Jon Stewart parodied him on The Daily Show, Beck responded, “It was hilarious. But even Jon Stewart can’t make fun of me as well as I can make fun of me.” A self-refuting comment if there ever was one. (Annie Barrett, “Glenn Beck reacts to Jon Stewart impersonation,” Entertainment Weekly, 19 Mar. 2010, http://news-briefs.ew.com/2010/03/19/glenn-beck-reacts-to-jon-stewart-impersonation/.)
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“plot to infiltrate American’s personal computers” Note to the Obama administration: If you want to spy on Americans’ Web-surfing habits, do not advertise your intentions in a confirmation box.
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“Metanarrative.” Postmodernism being postmodernism, the term metanarrative is ill-defined, and there is plenty of debate about what exactly counts as a metanarrative as opposed to a not-so-meta narrative. If you disagree with my examples of metanarrative, I encourage you to think really big whenever you read meta. Feel free to cross out the letters if that helps. Unless the book doesn’t belong to you. In that case, you could cover the letters with a scrap of paper that says really big.
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“Executive vice-president.” As in some national governments, the president of the NRA is a figurehead. The executive vice president runs the show.
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“Searched on the streets.” Like in Arizona?
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“Watered down the Gun Control Act.” The potato chip theory doesn’t seem to work in reverse. No one expressed concern that loosening gun restrictions would lead to the legalization of civilian rocket-propelled grenades or intercontinental ballistic missiles in the backyard.
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“Too many coincidences.” Indeed, it is uncanny the way the public reacts to shocking gun violence by pressing for more gun control.
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“Freedom in Peril.” The blogger known as Wonkette obtained a leaked pre-production draft. The NRA confirmed that the draft was genuine, but it’s not clear whether the book was eventually published. The draft includes a letter signed by Wayne LaPierre that cheerfully states, “Only the NRA energizes the powerful pro-freedom voting bloc, resulting in election outcomes good for both American gun rights and for American business.” (Ken Layne, “NRA’s Secret Graphic Novel Revealed!” Wonkette, 22 Dec. 2006, http://wonkette. com/223889/nras-secret-graphic-novel-revealed.)
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“White terrorists.” Robert Williams had a somewhat better claim to government oppression than LaPierre, however, since blacks suffered genuine persecution from the authorities and were long prohibited from owning guns in many states.
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“What color star will they pin on our coats?” I suggest a flag pin.
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“Tree of liberty.” The Jefferson quote comes from a 1787 letter in which he pooh-poohed Shays’ Rebellion, an armed insurrection in Massachusetts during which four rebels were killed. Jefferson regarded the insurrection as wrongheaded but no big deal. Other founding fathers, including George Washington, disagreed, and the incident encouraged many to take James Madison’s view that “liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as by the abuses of power.” (Thomas Jefferson, “The ‘Tree of Liberty’ letter,” Atlantic, October 1996, http://www.theatlantic.com/past/issues/96oct/obrien/blood.htm.)
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“Hutaree.” According to Stone, Hutaree comes from the group’s private dialect, known only to Stone and four other privileged individuals. A linguist at the University of Pennsylvania hypothesized that the group’s hierarchical paramilitary ranks—Radok, Boramander, Zulif, Arkon, and Lukore—may have been derived from the Pokemon characters Arbok, Charmander, Zubat, and Rokon. (Doug Guthrie, “Hutaree dialect—rooted in religion