Random Shots: A Kind and Gentler Ollie?

R.F. Kampfer

OLLIE NORTH’S IDEA of community service in the area of drug abuse would be to call in an air strike on the community.

“I have no particular love for the idealized ‘worker’ as he appears to the bourgeois Communist’s mind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.” —George Orwell

Moral Considerations

THE CURRENT EPIDEMIC of Bat-mania must really be torturing Dr. Frederic Wertham. Wertham (may he rot in hell) led a disgustingly effective crusade against comic books in the 1950s. He had a special hatred for Batman and Robin, whom he regarded as a pervert conspiracy to corrupt the youth of America. In “Seduction of the Innocent” he alerted us: “Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of homoeroticism which pervades the adventures of the mature ‘Batman’ and his young friend ‘Robin.’”

Domino’s pizza czar Tom Monaghan is conducting a “charitable” campaign to promote pizza and Christianity in Honduras. He says he is “more interested in people’s souls than their health or wealth.”

“I don’t want to waste what little money I have just bringing up people’s standards of living so they can get into a position where they can raise hell and sin all the more,” said the Michigan multi-millionaire. Hold the anchovies on those wafers?

Recently, radio fundamentalists have been engaged in a campaign claiming that the New Age movement is conducting a worldwide conspiracy to take away our children. Thousands of parents have called in for the number.

There are a lot more crosses burned than flags, but that doesn’t seem to bother the politicians.

The pro-democracy movement in China has been one of those historical filters that allow us to sort out political organizations and individuals. One can safely say that anyone who supports the Beijing government stands revealed as being so totally bankrupt as to be unworthy of further consideration.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

CONCERN FOR consumer safety has led to warning labels on cigarettes, disposable lighters and chain saws. Equally dangerous products, however, are overlooked. We leap boldly into the breach…

Babies: The Surgeon General has determined that this product will consume all your leisure time and most of your sleep for the next eighteen years. Hazardous to furniture, cars and peace of mind.

Against the Current: regular consumption of this product may lead to a lifetime of industrial work, meetings, demonstrations and leaflet distribution. Possible side effects include prison, exile and death on the barricades.

September-October 1989, ATC 22