This being the season that the pond routinely checks out the Academy screeners and decides on its vote, the pond got to brooding about the way intellectual content is now routinely snaffled and recycled.
How desperate are things getting in the reptile herpetarium?
Well, it takes some fair cheek not just to borrow The Economist's editorial, but then to run it alongside prattling Polonius - already covered by the pond - with the skew, "Ousting Trump is a fantasy", and "be careful what you wish for."
Everybody's sharing content these days - the AFR, for example, has shamelessly pillaged and recycled stories from the NY Review of Books.
Last Thursday the pond was astonished to discover a two page spread for G. W. Bowersock's review of Gary Wills' book, entitled The Voice of God (at the NYRB here, now inside the paywall), dressed up for the AFR's 'summer review' as No Basis for a Holy War.
The original had been published 7th December last year, while the mouldy, green with age reprint landed in the AFR on 11th January 2018.
Of course Wills himself had set that particular hare running way back in March 2016 in the NYRB with My Koran Problem (inside the paywall) but that's another story...
Now the reptiles at least have the decency to do their pillaging and grave-robbing in a fresh and timely manner ...
See? Only a couple of days before interring and disinterring ... but still, it's not as if the original was inconspicuous and hadn't been noticed in its home setting ...
What was most notable about the Oz recycling was the bit they left out ...
Sheesh, surely they could have sprung for the cartoon.
Instead they opted for a photo with all the gravitas both the Donald and Polonius might have wished for ...
Of course, in those opening pars, they also ungraciously omit a link to The Economist's review of the Fire and Fury ...(may be paywall affected) ...
Around this point, the disinterested observer might begin to wonder whether the reptile business plan is to get people to sign up to The Economist? So that they might read the original and score the links ...
Indeed, indeed ...
In that spirit, the pond decided to carry on, but with the original text ... and look, see how the Economist seized the chance for some cross-linking and cross-promotion, sadly all disappeared in the reptile presentation ...
Wouldn't you be better off with The Economist than the lizard Oz, if this is the sort of inspirational, glass half full guff you want to read?
Indeed, indeed, and we haven't yet dealt with the massive improvement in the fortunes of late night comedy show hosts, cable pundits and cartoonists ...
But enough of the good times, it's back to the Economist, doing the cheering for the reptiles who would be cheering for the Donald themselves, except that it seemed easier to borrow a British cheeseburger to do the job...
Actually if the pond might be so bold, that article appeared with deleted links as the top of the lizard Oz rotating digital splash on a lazy Sunday under the headline Ousting Trump is a fantasy ...
And frankly, the pond would be extremely distraught if somebody worked out a way to take out the Donald, as he diminishes American power, authority, status and effectiveness around the world ...
Oh sure there are some that look on the gloomy side and wonder why ...
... but there's always fun to be had with the losers, and now, though it's taking some time to dawn on the country, the Economist and the lizards of Oz, it's not just Steve that's an epic loser ...
It's the entire country, and we have Fox and Friends and the rest of the Murdochian tribe to thank, and now they generously hand it all over to the Economist to save them ...
Long may it continue, long live comrade Putin and the soft dictatorship of the glorious republic of Beijing ... oh and drain the swamp and Make the Lizard Oz Great Again - MLOGA - by recycling product ...with a bit of luck, one day they might achieve full pond status and become a blog ...
Economist: "[Trump] does not appear to be any madder than he was when the voters chose him over Hillary Clinton..."
ReplyDeleteExcept that, of course, "the voters" actually chose Hillary Clinton by a margin of nearly 2.9 million votes. It was the gerrymandered 'Electoral College' that chose The Donald. Which is one of those deadly facts that The Right just won't acknowledge in any way, shape or form.
Hi GB,
DeleteTrump does not appear to be any madder because he could not be any madder!
Apologies to R.A. Zimmerman
DeleteHey! Mr Tangerine man, tap a tweet for me
I’m stupid and your handle’s where I’m going to
Hey! Mr Tangerine man, tap a tweet for me
I’m a twisted tangled moron who’ll come following you
Though I know your twittish empire will one day turn to sand
Slip from your tiny hands
Leave you dumbly there to stand bereft of tweeting
Your twittiness amazes me, with words so indiscreet
And grammar incomplete
But the size of your toupee’s beyond believing
Hey! Mr Tangerine man, tap a tweet for me
I’m stupid and your handle’s where I’m going to
Hey! Mr Tangerine man, tap a tweet for me
I’m a twisted tangled moron who’ll come following you
Take me on a trip to your casino on the strip
Where those billions all got ripped
From every gambler’s grip
So you could fill your crypt
With untaxed cash you love to boast you’re squandering
Like all those who believe your tweets and join your masquerade
And guzzle your Koolaid
That rots their brains away, I promise to serve under you
Hey! Mr Tangerine man, tap a tweet for me
I’m stupid and your handle’s where I’m going to
Hey! Mr Tangerine man, tap a tweet for me
I’m a twisted tangled moron who’ll come following you
Fabulous, Kez, just fabulous. There's just one more major challenge, I reckon, but I'll keep that under suspenders for a while (and no, it's not Boots of Spanish Leather, nor It Ain't Me, Babe, nor even Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - though I might contemplate All Along the Watchtower - but just something a little more underground than those.
DeleteAs to Trump's madness, don't be too sure he couldn't get madder, he is a most stable genius after all who can always find a way.
Cheers GB,
DeleteBut Trump's not really a stable genius -
he's a shithouse genius!
Kinda the same thing in the U. S. of A. I reckon, Kez.
DeleteIt sorta struck me this arvo that although I've indicated my appreciation of your poesic efforts (and I do appreciate them, especially these Dylan 'retakes') I've never complimented DP on her very enjoyable efforts. Hmmm ... maybe I just take DP's exercise of literacy for granted and hence it's no more noteworthy than whatever else she writes. Or something.
But between the two of you, I enjoy the read.
I totally agree GB!
DeleteIf it weren't for DP's untiring collations, laser sharp commentary and keen sense of humour I doubt I would be inspired to put digit to keypad.
As a somewhat jaded 62 year old user/critic/addict of the internet since its inception in the early 90s it was a delight to finally stumble across, (wade into?) the Pond some three event-packed years ago.
Every day DP unflaggingly distils the reptilian zeitgeist and fearlessly negotiates the venomous ravings of the overtly right wing Murdoch press. This is not a job for the faint-hearted! This is the front-line of the good fight and I applaud her courage and tenacity.
Loon Pond is my ultimate daily inspiration for my rhymings. I use DP’s erudite posts and superb commentary, together with selected outside comments, (such as your own), as cerebral seeds for my own flights of literary fancy.
May we Pondsters all continue to observe, comment upon, and celebrate DP’s exceptional blog as long as we can.
Flattery and lyrics will get you everywhere Kez ...:)³
DeleteMessage to The Economist - we don’t wait for Trump’s tweets – they are foisted upon us incessantly through global media saturation. Unless we live under a rock we can’t escape his narcissistic nattering.
ReplyDeleteI would say the compulsion for Trump watching comes from our constant bewilderment that this arrogant, bullying prick is currently the most powerful human being on the planet.