A Wolfe in elephant's clothing?

Some time ago at No-Pasaran, I came across this somewhat narrative piece on Tom Wolfe at The Guardian. It's what I'd call a "cup of coffee read", but for anyone whose thinking the writing of Tom Wolfe ever played even a minor role in, it's a must-read.

"I think support for Bush is about not wanting to be led by East-coast pretensions. It is about not wanting to be led by people who are forever trying to force their twisted sense of morality onto us, which is a non-morality. That is constantly done, and there is real resentment. Support for Bush is about resentment in the so-called 'red states' - a confusing term to Guardian readers, I agree - which here means, literally, middle America. I come from one of those states myself, Virginia. It's the same resentment, indeed, as that against your own newspaper when it sent emails targeting individuals in an American county."

Yes, this from the same guy who wrote The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Now, as then, he seems to have a keen sense of what something so vague and amorphous as "the left" can be said to center on. I think he just sold a book.

So what is it about his liberal neighbors and fellow diners in his adoptive New York that Wolfe cannot abide? "I cannot stand the lock-step among everyone in my particular world. They all do the same thing, without variation. It gets so boring. There is something in me that particularly wants it registered that I am not one of them."

And well that you should. Maybe you're someone who's explored the question of how a Kristallnacht could happen, and has seen some alarming parallels. I'm not sure the answer is going to be between the covers of "I Am Charlotte Simmons", but I'm curious to see for myself.

Yep, it's another short one this week, but there's probably another quickie or two coming over the weekend. You don't come for the writing anyway though, right? It's all about the furry lovin'. Friday Frickin' Cat Blogging!

Gazelles - a hot meal for cats on the go!