What's great is I've heard this "I used to be a liberal but one day I was listening to NPR and just had to scream Shut Up" story from a dozen people (incld my own brother), always people who were always right wing and also old enough to likely have been Rush Limbaugh "dittoheads" back in the day
When someone decides Palestinians are sub-human, or perhaps merely that they do not deserve any consideration at all, their spin down the ideological drain can be swift.
Once people get rich enough they become disconnected with reality and recede into a world where they’re the main character-hero who is proved worthy by the totally fair and unbiased judgement of the market which must be perfect because look what it did.
From his work, I don't have a hard time seeing Mamet as having a bit of a hardon for the same kind of guy who fell hard for Trump. "Working class" (but not really), a bit of a blowhard, resents the fact that he isn't 25 any more, resents that he's attracted to women, resent resent resent.
What’s wild about this anecdote is that I remember Daily Kossacks always being mad at NPR, and saying it stood for “Nice Polite Republicans”. 😏
So, averaging things out, NPR is a) doing a good job, b) only succeeding in pissing off everyone, or c) both? 🤔
I'm shocked, shocked to find that the desire to exterminate Palestianians and build beach resorts upon their mass graves has turned another smart Zionist into a sexist, racist right winger
What's fascinating for me is how this "collapses the wave function" of Oleanna, which was remarkable at the time for the audience debates it sparked.
With Mamet making his worldview so clear, it's obvious which character he sides with.
I would have liked to have seen Pinter's staging, but yes if I hadn't been a starry eyed theater kid determined to find depth in the regional production I saw, I might have formed a different lasting impression.
I'll admit to owning every first edition of his essays and lemme just say: you could feel it coming years before then. The NRA membership, the Men's Rights stuff, the crypto-misogyny, etc.
He was a long way from the Speech for Michael Dukakis by 2008.
In2015, I saw Mamet’s awful play “China Doll,” an incomprehensibly boring, meaningless play (starring Al Pacino who was terrible in it!) about a rich man’s struggle to get his new plane where he needs it to be without paying taxes. Mamet has a clear affection for MEN WHO TALK ABOUT MONEY.
David Mamet claimed in a NYT magazine interview in the 90s that 20% of all babies in the USA were "switched at birth" (because someone told him that and he believed it)...
Not an ounce of respect for him remains to this day...
