The Stone Street Press

[Today's New York Times has a piece on the frontpage about Goldman Sachs new TV campaign, after it came out this week that GS referred to its suckers as "Muppets"]
My letter should appear in the Comments Section at the end of the article, later today.]

Here in the meantime is the complete text:

“Thank you for your submission. Your comment will appear once it has been approved.”

Malachi McCormickStaten Island, New York, U.S.A..

Dear Mr. Blankfein,

Get ready for OCCUPY GOLDMAN SACHS!

Check out FRONTLINE’s “Money, Power & Wall St.” & the Goldman Sachs it showed us before you start your intelligence-insulting PR campaign
I thought that you were the man at GS where “the buck stops”? Clearly, “The Buck” DOES stop there, but NOT the responsibility! That went spiralling on to the Suckers/Muppets/”Sophisticated Investors” who got caught.]
You & your 1% ilk seem to share the same management model with Rupert “I am not responsible. Those under me betrayed me & my trust” Murdoch. At the Senator Levin hearings, not ONE of those four GS top-earning witnesses –those brilliant “quant-nebbishes”– took a shred of responsibility. You yourself seemed incapable of grasping Senator Levin’s questions. [On a personal note I did find you more "likeable" than that scary foursome, though this mystifies me.]
GS’s “clever” recklessness played a huge part in causing the recession & the terrible pain it caused all over the nation. The question for you now is “What Lloyd Blankfein/ Goldman Sachs behavior will YOU change; what self-regulation will Mr. Blankfein embrace, so as to avoid causing such pain to us all again?”

There is an even more important question for you & all of Wall St. “Why do you & your 1% friends RESIST & REJECT the need for such regulation when justice REQUIRES it?”

We demand indictments & we demand Perp-walks. We require a healthy Wall St.

–Malachi McCormick, Staten Island
.

When I watched the Jon Stewart show this evening (–as described in the foregoing post) I laughed pretty hard, I can tell you. In a few short minutes I was feeling a sort of exhilartion that is –sad to say– simply too rare.

Exhilaration! I had no doubt –that was The Correct Word for it.

Not only was it caused by Stewart’s sense of fun of seeing through Fox’s supposed Grand Propaganda, and the amusing schtick that he employs (–the [perhaps wilder] Stephen Colbert can be equally devastating–) but it was very much magnified by the skill of application, combined with the “mot juste” aptness of it all. Delicious!

Indeed it was the simple truth of the bit that crowned the whole experience for me.

Exhilaration! I thought about the word: yes, no doubt about it –that was what I was feeling. Yes, it is an unusual word –one not often employed by us grownups. I considered it, and quickly saw the “hilarity” contained within. “Hilarity” is an even rarer word, again –not too often employed. [When I thought about it for a minute, an image of my grandmother Johanna O'Neill came to mind: she herself often shook with mirth, but in this case --from 60+ years ago-- she was corralling a bunch of us kids with a "STOP this hilarity!".]

Where does “exhilarate” come from? What does it mean? “To make cheerful” said my dictionary. “To INVIGORATE!, stimulate. To make happy.”
“Exhilaration”? “Cheerful; gladdening; invigorating; stimulating.” See synonyms at “Mirth”. See “Hilarity ” –boisterously funny, gay, merry. From the Greek.”
The name “Hilary” –which is for both boys and girls; I think of our own famous female “Hilary” but cannot think of a male counterpart.

Perhaps Bill might think of changing his name.

There was a Saint Hilary of Poitiers (d.368) but I could find no reference to his or her Holy Mirth.

My over-riding response to it all was –not just HOW VERY HEALTHY, and NECESSARY exhilaration and mirth and fun and boisterousness (not forgetting girlsterousness) are to our existence, but also how wonderful that our two root languages of Greek and Latinfo fully recognized that very centrality.

Beware the killjoys!

There is a certain holier-than-thou attitude that we allow to hang over our culture, that relegates and tries to sideline exhilaration and hilarity.
It needs dispelling –which is why people love Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert! (Sometimes I will catch the often humorless Bill O’Reilly give a grudging flicker of a smile. But don’t let Roger/Rupert catch you, Bill.)

And hey, FOX News!: why don’t you join us. You’ve been on this Unrelenting Toxic (and VERY UnAmerican) Binge since the day after President Obama was inaugurated. You’d have a lot more fun. People might listen to you more. Maybe you could make fun of “our” media –though I think they all tend to be a tiny bit more balanced.

How about it, Fox. What would it take?

I’ve had this idea that I might suggest to President Obama. You know, another one of your talking points is that he is always apologising and appeasing the Muslim World.

Of course, I disagree with you: I think you might grant me that any apology for a perceived slight which might actually save the lives of a few United States soldiers in Afghanistan is worth the while (whether it be for Koran-burning or Urinating on Corpses).

But –hear me out. This was my idea: to suggest to President Obama that he apologise to the Family, Wives etc., of Osama Bin Laden, you know –for taking him out. Then Fox could really come in and say “Hey, you’ll never guess what Obama’s gone and done now!” that would really last a long time on Fox news. Then some one like, say, oh, Charles Krauthammer or Mitch McConnell could Tweet them a “Just kidding!”

Think what fun we could have!

Tonight’s Daily Show showed off the great powers of satirist Jon Stewart. Clearly he is one who follows not just the news but the extraordinary partisanship with which it is almost always presented.

Trying to follow “the news” on ANY channel, but especially on Fox News, in this political season of Exalted Polarization can be deeply dissatisfying –even depressing when one thinks of the pathetic level of ‘reality’ that the public, with its generally restricted sources, is being offered. Those of us who do it rather more than probably is good for our mental health have long felt the presence of the hidden subtext of Talking Points that are circulated.

As an example, Fox has recently begun using the phrase “soaring gas prices”: one hears it seemingly –and relentlessly– everywhere. All Fox announcers are trained to attach a “This is Obama’s fault” subtext to this.

Tonight Jon Stewart demonstrated in a matter of 2 or 3 minutes this relentless repetition. Stewart is a master of the meter and cadence required for truly effective satire, and Fox was not spared. And he has a fine grasp of The Light Touch.

Added to this was the fact that one of the Fox announcers –Steve Doosey (sp?)– went too far and actually referred to the existence of said Talking points, which the announcers are NOT supposed to reveal (–I assume, to maintain a last vestige of supposed spontaneity.)
His colleague, Gretchen C. , did a double take at Steve’s breaking of the Rupertian-Rogerian First Law of Talking Points, to wit, Thou shalt never even ADMIT to the existence of Talking Points. Her transfixed ’stuck pig’ expression when she heard Steve’s “for all the world, utterly casual” mention of “Rising Gas Prices”, was a priceless detail for Stewart to have caught, and then presented to us –and REPEAT it, and then HIGHLIGHT it.

Jon Stewart’s sharp intelligence, matched with the extraordinary technology of Modern Vide-ology (Is that a word? It is now! ) is a formidable tool in this Year of the Votecatcher.

[TIP to FOX: Hey, Fox, you're always griping at the 'mainstream media' --of which you of course are a primary member-- partisan ship. Why not give Satire and Humor --oh, and The Light Touch-- a go?
Of course, when I think of my Radio Boys Rush-Sean-Mark with their daily high-pitched 9-hour Anti-Obama bombast --together with their shameless insults-- LIGHT TOUCH is not what one thinks of with this humorless gang of sneerers.

There is no humor in the hapless sneer (--nor can there ever be.)

[I will make a couple of points on the subject of Exhilaration in the next posting, which follows immediately.]