Mini-review - The Second Plane

About ten years ago I picked up an old copy of London Fields. Then I put it down again, somehow finding the sexual content distasteful. Weird. It's not like I was a prude or anything. Maybe I should take another look at it. Anyway, that's been my only experience with Martin Amis up until this week when I read The Second Plane.

And it's good. 

What, I said it was a mini-review. Okay, fine. This is a collection of articles published in UK papers (and the odd short story) linked by the theme of 911, or more accurately, the theme of the rise of Islamism. 

Amis has a few interesting things to say with a couple of puzzling tangents, such as a somewhat childish rant about the "pitiful contrivance" of the Americanism 911 (for September 11th, in case you weren't familiar). I mean, text-speak deserves such a response, but 911? It's the one thing the Bush administration gave the world that's of much use. (I mean the abbreviation, not the attack. Because that almost certainly wasn't the work of the Bush junta.)

Amis mentions his shock on returning to Britain after some time away that political centrism had shifted far to the left. Which I found interesting as we've been long aware of a similar shift in the US, where the centre has tipped to the right. Anyway, now that I've imparted that little gem, I'll wrap up. Like I said, it's good. What, more? Okay, a collection of pieces forming an engrossing diatribe against the violence of extreme religionism. Better?

Why I (almost) heart Bill Maher too

The always funny Mr. Graham Linehan today posted this on his blog, and I feel that I have to agree with him. Mostly. Well, thing is, I've always liked Real Time (though it has suffered from the lack of writers and some of the better guests apparently refusing to cross picket lines), and in general terms I tend to be in agreement with Bill on most things. I'm thinking here primarily of his views on religion and Bush being a moron.

But then you have his thing with animal rights. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely against needless suffering no matter what species you are. But getting into bed with PETA is a mistake. I think that if most animal-lovers who donate cash to PETA knew that there core ideology embraced the banning of animal food products, of pet ownership, and of essential animal medical trials (not to mention having links to the no-shit animal rights equivalent of Al Qaeda), then they may reconsider. Check this out:

That aside, you also have Bill cosying up to creationist Ron Paul (although to be fair, he may not have known he was that crazy). And the bit where he wished Dick Cheney dead...

...And the earlier bit where he said the 911 hijackers were brave to have killed themselves in the process of committing mass murder (footage not found). But apart from that, he's a pretty cool guy. And I'm not being snide, I do think he's a cool guy.

UPDATE: Anonymous (if that is his/her real name) has pointed out in the comments section that I wasn't fully clear in my remarks regarding the 9/11 thing above. To clarify, I acknowledge that Bill was responding to the various pundits who had unanimously labeled the hijackers as cowards. Maher said, on his show Politically Incorrect if memory serves, that it was ridiculous to say these jihadists were cowards as they had made the decision to kill themselves in defense of their principles, and such a decision obviously takes courage.

Now this is an example of left-wing reactionism. I consider myself to be a liberal, but you have to keep yourself grounded in reality. The attacks of 9/11 were cowardly. If Al Qaeda had a problem with American military presence in their holy lands, why not get all their guys together and concentrate an attack on a US base in Saudi Arabia? No, much easier to sneak Stanley knives onto planes and crash them into a major tourist attraction. And then get an express pass for themselves and their families into paradise. Deluded, yes. Courageous, no.

That said, you gotta love Maher for calling it as he sees it, standing by his remarks and getting up in Bill O'Reilly's grill so often. 

Now I'm going to try to lay off the serious stuff for a while. It gives me indigestion.