communistmanifesto

Communist Manifesto....

Knew that would get your attention!

So I knew that on my way to California, I would be on a plane for several hours, crammed into this little tiny space that is designed to make you want to turn in all your frequent flyer miles to get out of coach. So what does this have to do with communism? Well, I'll tell ya.

I went to the Gray library to pick up a few books to amuse myself on the plane. (Although I have to say that even if there were Chippendale dancers in the aisle of the turboprop Rob booked, I STILL wouldn't have been amused.)

I just wasn't feeling "fiction". Fiction is like food or movies and some other things that aren't coming to mind because I've destroyed too many brain cells. Once you've had the really good stuff, it totally raises the bar and the mediocre just doesn't cut it any more. So I went over to the non-fiction and picked up a few books that looked interesting. Plus, I might actually learn something while reading them. Oh yeah, I learned some things.....like what the authors' political leanings were...but that's all well and good and fodder for more rants.

Now for the communist part. I picked up a book called "Reds - McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America" by Ted Morgan. Hey, yeah, I'm a geek...wanna make something of it? Anyway, I was 10 pages into a 600 page tome, getting some background about communism, when I came upon this passage..."In his (Lenin's) ratty rooms at Speigelgasse 14, which he shared with his dough-faced wife, Krupskaya....."

Whoa...for all you with delicate sensibilites, read no further because there could be much swearing involved.

What the hell! What does Lenin's wife's physical attibutes have to do with the history of communism? Am I to believe that if Lenin's wife was a tall, svelte goddess with chiseled features, he would have been "other-wise engaged", and not have had the time or inclination to pursue politics and the history of the world would have been changed? Ahem. I'm thinking...ummmm, not so much. I can't yet bring myself to read anymore. I lost all respect for Ted Morgan as a historian and an author with just that one little blurb. How can I possibly take you seriously when you bring in such a completely trivial and assinine anecdote? What is your definition of "dough-faced?" Does it matter? I will be the first to admit that I know NOTHING* about Lenin's wife, but God forbid that a man of some intellectual acumen marry a woman not for her physical attributes but because she was intelligent, sharp, witty, warm, loving and fun!! How friggin' shallow do you have to be to include such drivel? What place does this have in historical context, unless of course you ARE indeed implying that history would have been changed had Lenin's wife been more attractive? I am disinclined to read further to find out if this idea (if it is indeed included) has any merit.

I can just imagine Ted Morgan googling his name or the title of his book.....then him finding my semi-literate blurb....then him chuckling to himself...."Oh, she's just some dough-faced housewife. What does it matter what she thinks?" Because, let's face it, the way we look (particularly if we are female) is all that really matters.

I thought I was done ranting, but I'm still too pissed to let it go. I picture Ted as a professor at some esteemed liberal arts college that uses his position and credentials to sleep with as many attractive female students as possible.

No matter how intelligent and attractive you are, Ted, no matter how many books you have published, no matter how many professional accolades you may have garnered, if this ONE passage is any indication of who you are as a human being, you are still, in my mind, a shallow, low-life slime. And I can only hope that you are in no way actually involved in academia, poisoning (insidiously or otherwise) the minds of those that are positioned to take their part in American life.