There’s Beer in the World, You Know
(Kruiser’s Permanote Description: This column is intended to be a lighthearted, short-form way to frequently connect with our cherished VIP readers. Sometimes it will be serious. Sometimes it will be fun. Sometimes it will be a cornucopia of intellectual curiosities and fascinations. OK, maybe not so much the last one. Anyway, as this is a departure for me, I’m including this explanation at the top of each post for a while. Also, non-subscribers can see the first couple of paragraphs so I am in desperate need of filler until we get to the private stuff. Please remember that there is a standing invitation to ask me anything in the comments. Once a week, I’ll answer.)
I am just coming off an unpleasant book reading experience and those really bug me. I love to read and wish I could do it faster (Any speed readers out there in VIP Land?), so I really resent it when a book disappoints.
This one was a book about Kurt Vonnegut’s advice about writing that was written by a former student of his who went on to become good friends with him. Like most prominent American writers who emerged from the WWII era, Vonnegut was a lefty. The reason I didn’t like the book is that the author had to constantly remind the reader of that. She then used her frequent mentions of Vonnegut’s politics as an excuse to shoehorn in some of her own political opinions, all about President Trump.
There was a lot of good stuff in the book but it was buried under the author’s incessant political chirping.
People who politicize everything or talk about politics all the time are tedious, no matter where they are on the political spectrum.
Don’t confuse repetition with passion. Politics, like sex, is something you can be passionate about but also ruin a party by oversharing.
Keep the politics in your pants, kids.
I get paid to write and talk about politics, which often leads people to mistakenly believe that I want to have political discussions all of the time. I would rather talk about anything than politics. Football. Grilling. The mating habits of albino ocelots in Papua New Guinea.
Anything.
One way to keep your political passion fire burning without wearing everyone out is to spend some quality time reading good political books. Books that are supposed to be about politics are great. Books that are supposed to be about writing and end up being about politics suck.
The perfect distraction to this hyper-partisan, ultra-political time we live in is to ignore it all and enjoy yourself.
I wrote a book about that, remember?
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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.
