On his way to the hospital for another round of chemotherapy Harold Pinter was able to record his acceptance speech for this year's Nobel Prize in Literature. You can find the BBC story here with a link to his full speech on video. I hope they leave it there for good. Or if you rather read his remarks click here.
There is a little bit of hope in his otherwise angry -rightfully so- remarks. Mr. Pinter states that in the United States "thousands, if not millions of people were sickened, shamed and angered by their government's actions" and "As things stand they are not a coherent political force - yet.". So there is a tiny ray of hope - people are angry but not "yet" willing to coalesce - we are to busy shopping and covering our asses from crumbling below -or deeper- into poverty.
Yes indeed, we are not a coherent political force. Therein lies the tragedy of our day to day lives. As we approach the holidays it appears the media is more interested in covering the tragic shootout of bipolar airline passenger againsts remarks such as Mr. Pinters. On our end we get caught up in our daily lives trapped between trips to the grocery store and Sunday episodes of desperate housewives. While the Vice-President campaigns for Tom Delay (post-indictment) and the feds put out RFPs for Strategic City Stabilization Initiative (any good idea out there? anybody?) we are knee deep into the holiday shopping season, stampeding towards the cash register like trained monkeys. God Bless America.
Mr. Pinter leaves us with homework for the holidays:
He concluded by calling for an "unflinching, unswerving and fierce intellectual determination as citizens to define the real truth of our lives and our societies. If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision, we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us: the dignity of man."
Happy holidays.
