On Twitter, post-election riots, UKIP, Putin, 9/11, and more
I love a comment that Miguel Cabrera made. Cabrera is a baseball player, a Detroit Tiger, and one of the best players of our time. See what you think of what he said. I will quote from an Associated Press article:
Miguel Cabrera isn’t a big fan of social media in September.
Shortly after his seventh-inning homer broke a tie and led his Detroit Tigers to a crucial 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins, Cabrera talked about keeping negative energy out of the clubhouse.
“This is dangerous,” he said, holding up his cell phone.
Miggy knows. (“Miggy” is Miguel Cabrera’s nickname, maybe I should say.)
I was talking with a colleague of mine yesterday. Of Twitter, she said, “That place is the work of the devil, for the most part.” She had recently gotten into a funk because of it. “And if social-media bullies can get to us adults — imagine what teenagers go through.”
Yes. Oh, yes.
‐Here is a story out of Frankfort, Ky.: “Kentucky’s Republican governor said blood might be shed if Democrat Hillary Clinton is elected president.”
I hear the same thing from others about a Trump victory: Blood will run in the streets. We are supposed to be a “nation of laws, not men.” Our elections are not supposed to occasion bloodshed.
What times.
‐When Donald Trump held his “birther” event — the event at which he renounced his belief in President Obama’s foreign birth — he surrounded himself with veterans. Many people say, “He uses vets as props, and that’s wrong.” But what they don’t say is, “What if vets gladly do it? That makes a difference, right?”
You see what I mean. Two to tango. I wonder whether it’s “using” when the other guy wants to be used, so to speak.
‐Over in Britain, UKIP has a new leader, Diane James. She counts Vladimir Putin as one of her three political heroes, along with Churchill and Thatcher. I wish the dead leaders were alive to speak about this. Of course, their lives, and their careers, speak for themselves.
Ms. James is the type to defend and justify Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
And here are her words, about her hero: “I admire him from the point of view that he’s standing up for his country. He is very nationalist. He is a very strong leader. He is putting Russia first.”
That language is pretty much identical to Trump’s. Diane James would be right at home in today’s GOP, the Trump GOP. In my view, America needs and deserves a better Right.
‐For as long as I can remember, the Left has told me that the Castros are popular in Cuba. One response to this is, “Okay: Let them allow multiple parties and a free press, and let them hold democratic elections. Then we’ll see.” Strangely, the Castros never get around to doing this.
Now I hear from the Right that Putin is popular. In an interview with me earlier this year, George W. Bush quipped, “Yeah, I’d be popular too if I owned NBC,” and the other networks.
Let me quote from a news story, published a week ago:
While stumping for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Obama tore into Donald Trump for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reminding voters that the Republican nominee raved about Putin’s “82 percent” approval rating, Obama noted that former Iraq President Saddam Hussein had a “90 percent poll rating.” “I mean, if you control the media and you’ve taken away everybody’s civil liberties, and you jail dissidents, that’s what happens,” Obama said . . .
You know what makes me sad? Republicans used to talk this way. Now it’s left to our left-wing president.
Which is just so . . . weird.
‐Speaking of Bush, Politico published an extensive oral history of 9/11 — specifically, the odyssey of Air Force One. Security officials determined that the safest place for the president to be that day was in the sky.
My favorite part of the history is this: Shortly after the president and his entourage boarded the plane in Florida — he was doing a school event that morning, you recall — Bush said, “Okay, boys, this is what they pay us for.”
That is so Bush.
‐Say that someone had said this to you, sometime in the past, about Rick Perry and Donald Trump: “In the fall of 2016, one of them will be on Dancing with the Stars and the other will be running in the general election.”
Funny to think about, isn’t it?
‐Some people like to argue over who was the worst man of the 20th century: Hitler? Stalin? Mao? Pol Pot? These men were cut from the same cloth, making the argument unfruitful. But no one did greater damage than Mao: with the 70 million dead, a culture destroyed, and minds and spirits broken.
Nonetheless, Mao has his fans, in China and elsewhere. They all do, no matter how bad they were.
Australia has a large immigrant community from China, and one member of it, a wealthy developer, organized concerts in honor of Mao. They were to be held at the Sydney and Melbourne city halls. PR material said that Mao “led China’s democratic revolution” and restored China’s “status as a great country.” The concerts were to “illustrate Mao Zedong’s humanitarian personality.”
There were protests, especially from other Chinese Australians — and the concerts were canceled. City officials cited the risk of public disturbances: protests outside the halls and so on. They could have cited grotesque immorality. The difference between a concert in honor of Mao and a concert in honor of Hitler — which is practically unthinkable — is nil.
‐Speaking of music, may I throw you some links? To posts of mine at The New Criterion? This one is about a new book on “Bach Country” — where Bach lived and traveled. This one is about a recent recording of The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by the next music director of the Metropolitan Opera. And this one is about the Baltic states: their musicians, plus a performance of The Sleeping Beauty in Tallinn.
(Sometimes I sneak some ballet into these posts. Sometimes I sneak a lot of it into them.)
‐Prince Fielder has retired. He is a baseball player. He has wrestled with injuries. Let me give you a memory, from when he was playing for the Tigers (my team). This stands out to me, somehow. He caught a foul ball, which led him into the stands. There, he picked a nacho off a fan’s plate. Some of us wish he had dipped it.
To see this episode, go here.
I’ll tell you something just a little bit freaky-deaky: He and his father Cecil ended their careers with the same number of home runs (319). What are the chances?
‐Let’s end with some language. Some kids were in Central Park — American kids, South Asian in origins. They were talking about where they were on 9/11. One kid said he had gone into a Wendy’s in Virginia. He pronounced “Wendy’s” “Windy’s” — the way some of us do in the Midwest. (I’m a native Michigander.)
A young woman said to him, “What did you say?” “Windy’s,” he replied. “Wendy’s?” she said. “Yes,” he said. “I say ‘Windy’s.’” He went on to explain that he also said “melk,” instead of “milk.”
I felt right at home. We also say “vanella” instead of “vanilla.” Why, I can’t tell you. We just do.
In high school, I had a teacher who had a daughter named Wendy. Some kids referred to her as “Windy.” The mother would sometimes point out, “No, ‘Wendy.’”
Well, I’ve been windy enough in this column. See you later.