Generation of Swine
This title has been used before, but I'm sure
Hunter S. Thompson won't mind.
What I really want to know is whether he blogs. If not, why not? You see, "
gonzo journalism, of which Hunter S. has been a prime exponent,
is characterized by the use of quotes, sarcasm, humour, exaggeration, and profanity."
Generation of Swine is my current re-read, mainly because I haven't got anything new. It was sitting on my desk yesterday and an Indonesian colleague with good English, and it should be because she teaches it, asked if 'swine' meant pigs. Which, of course, it does, as well as hogs, boars, porkers or "any of a family of omnivorous, artiodactylous mammals with a bristly coat and elongated, flexible snout." (Websters)
It also means "a vicious, contemptible or disgusting person."
Pigmeat is
haram (forbidden) for Muslims.
J.I. has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bomb outrage. They also claim to be Muslims.
They should be called the Generation of Swine.
And that's enough sacrilegiousness, profanity and sarcasm for one day.
Later:
Further to the above, I've just found
a review by Paul Theroux of Hunter S's
Kingdom of Fear, published last year. Paul writes the following:
"Last year, well before the Iraq war, Thompson wrote: "
We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world - a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. George W Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the people I respect in this world."
That is included in his new book, along with another prescient piece, written on September 12 2001, in which he predicted "
a religious war, a sort of Christian jihad, fuelled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerrilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines. We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once."
Two out of three ain't bad.
And on a totally different matter, I'd like to wish many felicitations and congratulations to the
Diamond Geezer in London. On
Thursday his blog was two years old and he celebrated his 40th birthday, or maybe not according to his calculator.
I've written to him offline several times to express my awe at his consistency of insight, visual sense and general competency with the Blogger templates.
There are several London-specific blogs, but none for Jakarta. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that I'm pleased to prematurely announce that the
Reveller,
Jave Jive and
Jakartass hope to provide just that.
If there are any other bloggers here (with reasonably good English) who would like to join us, please do drop us a line through our comments or emails.
Who knows, but we might be able to make a difference to the shitty.
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