Those who follow the banners of Reason are like the well-disciplined battalion, which, wearing a more sober uniform, and making a less dazzling show, than
For some reason I always come back to Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Gods of the Copybook Headings (https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_copybook.htm). It is 10 stanzas so a little long to stick in a post (if it is new to you it is well worth going and reading it), but here are the last two talking stanzas about how things end
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
It is an appalling good prediction, Kipling could see things screwing up well over 100 years ago (the poem was first published in 1919) and got them darn near spot on.
“The Dresser” is a very odd film. It’s based on a stage play and since it involves the staging of a performance of King Lear, you could say theater suffuses the movie. It takes place in England during WWII. Albert Finney plays Sir; an aged Shakespearean actor of the old school, full of exaggerated gestures and overblown histrionic elocution. He leads a company of actors travelling around Britain performing Shakespeare to the wartime population. But it’s not going well. Because of the draft, Sir declares that he must find his actors from amongst, “old men, cripples and nancy-boys.” And he says this to his dresser Norman even though Norman is obviously one of those nancy-boys.
Tom Courtenay plays Norman as a somewhat flamboyant homosexual who assists Sir in preparing for his performances. He bathes him, helps him apply his make-up and if necessary, reminds him of his lines from the wings. But this assistance has of late become much more difficult because Sir seems to be having a mental and physical breakdown. He becomes incoherent and agitated and is liable to run screaming through the streets shouting that he can’t go on.
On the day of his first performance in a new city he is hospitalized because of one of these fits coming upon him in public. And the company and especially Madge the business manager are convinced that Sir has reached the end of his career and must retire to a rest home. But when he shows up back at the theater Norman uses all of his knowledge of Sir’s psychology to calm him and orient him into the mental state needed to perform the part of King Lear. Using visual and vocal cues he walks him through the ritual by which the make-up and costume of Lear bring Sir back into the mindset needed to perform.
And that is the film; Norman coaching, praising, wheedling and sometimes chastising the old man into producing a performance of Lear that the audience receives enthusiastically. And during the performance and the breaks in the play when the Lear character is not on stage we learn about Sir’s relationship to his troupe; Madge’s basically unrequited love for Sir and his relationship with his wife; “Her Ladyship” who is playing Cordelia and how he stands with the other members of the acting troupe, who mostly fear him for his cantankerous temper.
And by the end of the play when Sir dies peacefully in his dressing room with only Norman there to witness his end we find out that Norman loved him too although it was completely unexpressed in life. And he weeps over the body of Sir.
Now this is a very strange film. And if it’s a pro-homosexual movie then it’s a very odd one. Norman takes abuse by anyone outside the theater who sizes up his obviously gay speech pattern and mannerisms. He’s told to “sod off,” “get stuffed” and “bugger off” by three different characters. One of the actors who knows of his friendship with a homosexual actor who has been arrested, notes to Norman that, “The pansy fraternity is always upset when one of their own is caught.” And even Sir, when discussing this actor’s arrest with Norman states that he himself “holds no brief for buggers.” So obviously this is not one of the modern paeans to gayness.
But I found it quite entertaining. Albert Finney’s portrayal of Sir is by turns; interesting, humorous, sad and extremely human. The character of Norman is also well-drawn. He’s a fussy, neurotic but loyal friend to Sir and a hard-working part of the acting company. You can see that this acting troupe is his whole life and Sir’s death represents the end of his own small world. He will be all by himself.
Recommending this film is difficult. The gay identity of Norman may put off some viewers. So, let’s put that in as a caveat. If that doesn’t preclude someone from watching the film then I can recommend it from the point of view of entertainment. The play within a movie keeps your attention and the characters are well-drawn and interesting.
I guess I don’t know for sure what most people think nowadays but from my vantage point it seems clear that the world is going insane. And it seems to be accelerating. Crazy things happen almost constantly and no one even bats an eye at them anymore. At the same time, it feels like some people (Trump and his administration) are trying to course correct. To give an analogy, it’s as if a pilotless airliner at twenty thousand feet was flying straight toward the ground and finally a pilot takes the controls and is trying desperately to pull the plane out of the nose dive while the rest of the crew tries to stop him. It’s like a madhouse where the lunatics are running the asylum. So how does all of this end up?
I’ve got to be honest, I’m not very hopeful. I think we have a chance but so many things have to go right for us to survive this that it seems much more likely that we’ll come up short. The main problem seems to be that people nowadays just don’t seem very bright. They believe things that are just obviously not true. Take this transgender thing. The whole millennial generation were completely alright with going along with the idea that drugging and mutilating children was the appropriate healthcare for a childhood delusion that they allowed mentally unbalanced teachers to indoctrinate their kids into. How in the name of all that’s rational can this be possible? And yet this is just one of a host of crazy ideas that have taken hold across the country. Defund the Police was another really stupid idea. Open Borders was also a suicidal policy that was put into effect even though it went against federal laws. None of these ideas make any sense and all of them were allowed to happen because apparently people are too stupid, scared or evil to stop them.
And so, I have to say if there are that many Americans who are unconnected from reality it doesn’t seem likely that we can avoid a major societal catastrophe. Near the top of the list is a major war. I guess that means a nuclear exchange. I don’t really believe that the “nuclear winter” that has been used to try and scare everyone will finish off over five billion people. But I do know that a full nuclear exchange will devastate this country horrifically. We might lose thirty percent of the population in the first few days. And the disruption to the food supply chain might kill another thirty percent.
And war is not the only disaster to consider. The geniuses in Washington who had China mutating bat viruses into bioweapons screwed us up pretty well with a cold virus. The idea that these same psychopaths might try something with Ebola or small pox has to give one pause. And there are endless other scenarios that could wreck our civilization pretty thoroughly. So that’s kind of why I’m not very bullish on our future.
But at the same time, I have all my chips bet on us getting through. And those chips are my kids and grandkids. I haven’t gathered up the clan and flown off to some tropical island with only dolphins and manta rays for neighbors. The United States, for better or worse, is the last best hope of humanity. This is our last stand. We have to make this work somehow. I give Trump full marks for trying. He could buy that island and take his family there and wait out the apocalypse. But he’s not going down without a fight. Every day he tries to pull us out of this nose dive and every day the lunatics try to pull him away from the controls.
