It's another beautiful day at the art factory. I'm currently writing playbill bios for dead playwrights. Did you know that as a young man, Miguel Cervantes was kidnapped by pirates and spent five years in captivity in Algiers? After four unsuccessful escape attempts he was finally ransomed by a family friend. I love that kind of stuff, which officially identifies me as a hopeless theatre geek. It's the only category I've every "run" on Jeopardy (well, that and 19th Century Authors, but that's another obsession.)
I've been thinking about geeks this week as I watch the convention. One of the raps against Obama is that he's too wonky, too geeky, too reserved. He doesn't come off as a Joe Six Pack. Since when has geniality become a requisite for leadership? Here's a ferociously intelligent man, thoughtful, nuanced, complex, and people won't vote for him because he doesn't watch NASCAR? What the hell is the matter with this country?
It's all just code for race isn't it? When the right wing conveys the message that Obama is exotic, unusual, not like us, their talking covertly about race. When they refer to his supposed elitism, it's code for "uppity negro." They don't want to vote for a black man, but they can't admit it, even to themselves.
I am so looking forward to voting for a fellow geek. I've been waiting my whole life to vote for someone who doesn't dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator. Those jocks who kicked our asses in high school? They voted for George W. Bush. It's our turn now.
No comments:
Post a Comment