For my first diary here, I am going to simply toss out this annotated little summary of some of Steve Martin’s best work on Saturday Night Live. I didn’t write it, but i did Google it; Shirley, that counts for something.
While George W. Bush may not have taken the country back to 1378, he has certainly taken it back to 1978, and is aiming for at least 1928. Enjoy, follow the links, or gag, whatever:
Theodoric of York was a character played at least twice by Steve Martin. The sketches link through Martin’s portray of Theodoric, a medieval character who was sought for help in times of trouble by others who lived in his village, and with the endings of each sketch.
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In one of the sketches Theodoric was a barber and in another he was a judge.
In the barber sketch he poses the rhetorcial question whether it would be better to use scientific method and clinical procedures in medicine or to still believe that disease was caused by a patient swallowing a toad or perhaps a small dwarf. He seemed on the verge of creating modern medicine.
In the judge sketch he poses the rhetorical question whether it would be better to try cases using law and evidence and court procedure rather than trials by torture or other superstitious means. He seemed on the verge of creating the modern legal system.
The final tie in with the sketches was that when at this historical turning point, Theodoric would ask himself if he should dedicate his life to forwarding mankind to a greater good through new learning and philosophies or perpetuate ignorance and superstition.
The final line of each sketch was a resounding and sarcastic “Naw!,” by Martin as the character turns from the verge of enlightenment and embraces ignorance and superstition.
Folks, let’s call a spade a spade: there is something profoundly wrong with a country that could twice elect this fool as president. I’m not sure what all it is that infects our old US of A, but it continues to give this village idiot a near 40% approval rating, and that scares the piss out of me.