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(Source: anovemberbaby)

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The famed writer’s only recorded reading, from the Criterion Collection disc of “Wise Blood”

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If nothing else, the New Yorker fiction section has taught writers one valuable lesson: if you want your work to appeal to the literate, upper-middle class white audience, take a beautiful family and make them sad. No one publication has done more to reify the suburban drama in its knighted role as the country’s go-to story. And although recent editors have guided an easing towards more diverse and inventive fiction, the magazine’s legacy still evokes a chorus of Johns, Richards and Alices, all of whom are interested in the dynamics of miserable families.

While the story of the sad, beautiful family certainly has its echoes throughout the history of all books, Bible included, there’s no place like America where simply the premise of a suburban drama demands such a serious, literary response.

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But what strikes me about these kinds of apology (George Zimmerman’s as well) is this desire to appear contrite, without taking on any of the actual weight of genuine contrition. Qualities like “immaturity,” “stupidity,” “childishness,” and “insensitivity” can be chalked up to ignorance or biology. Whereas “hate” and “bigotry” have been moved into the realm of indelible moral stains carried only by those who sleep under bridges and eat people.

I have long thought of “racism without racists” as merely the product of the color-line. But it’s also the result of the American—and perhaps even the human—inability to admit fault. No one wants to be wrong. It is a great failing, not simply of morality and honor, but of imagination. Being wrong is painful. It would be painful for Ravi to tell the world he actually was trying to humiliate a fellow human for his own ends. It would be painful to admit that he actually has tried to spy on people in the past. But people who can’t admit to who they are, have little chance of ever becoming anything more.

There’s been talk in comments on what some community service, and exposure to different worlds might do for Ravi. I would not count on it. Until you can say “I was wrong” without pausing to defend yourself, there really isn’t much hope.

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"There’s a reason that Bridezillas is a show and there’s nothing called Reasonably Well-Planned Wedding Enjoyed by All. Americans don’t want excellence, and we certainly don’t want long-term sustained excellence. We want our dynasties to come with a side order of drama, controversy, and bad behavior. We want anti-heroes and the occasional impulsive retirement to pursue a baseball career. We want to watch a train wreck and then tut-tut in a smug self-satisfied way about the irresponsibility of the people who caused it. We want to maintain our high ideals, without needing to walk the walk. Nobody can hate the Spurs, so nobody wants to love them. It’s more comfortable for everyone if we can just pretend they don’t exist."


"The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude, but the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance, or so I wish to suggest to you on this dry and lovely morning."