9.01.2004
Let Freedom Kick Some Ass!
I've long maintained that pro football is the realest thing one can possibly watch on television. I started thinking about this one afternoon as a Seattle Seahawk was splayed across the turf, possibly paralyzed, and the network broadcast did nothing but zoom closer. Violence is crucial to the logic of football, so the extreme ends of that violence-real, disgusting physical harm--doesn't get the cut-away or the commercial break, it gets replayed, over and over.
Anyhow, the RNC has renewed my faith in the possibility of seeing profoundly nutso things happen on live television. Tonight: Zell Miller challenging Chris Matthews to a duel. A truly magical moment.
"Let freedom reign" is a strange, somewhat disturbing figuration of a genuinely well-meaning idea-it doesn't make any sense. One wonders why reign was substituted for the traditional and kinder, gentler sounding ring, as the former doesn't exactly cue a lot of positive images. Mnemonically, to me at least, reign calls to mind Robespierre, Slayer and pixelated blood. But maybe they're just referencing this.
Lastly, the RNC has yielded few moments I'd call 'cute,' but this is surely one of them.
Anyhow, the RNC has renewed my faith in the possibility of seeing profoundly nutso things happen on live television. Tonight: Zell Miller challenging Chris Matthews to a duel. A truly magical moment.
"Let freedom reign" is a strange, somewhat disturbing figuration of a genuinely well-meaning idea-it doesn't make any sense. One wonders why reign was substituted for the traditional and kinder, gentler sounding ring, as the former doesn't exactly cue a lot of positive images. Mnemonically, to me at least, reign calls to mind Robespierre, Slayer and pixelated blood. But maybe they're just referencing this.
Lastly, the RNC has yielded few moments I'd call 'cute,' but this is surely one of them.
