Where Is Our Mencken?
I was reading John Derbyshire’s latest NRO article where he argues against a continuing US military presence in Iraq. He starts out the article with a quote from H.L. Mencken, which hardly ever fails to tickle me. This one is no exception:
We suffer most not when the White House is a peaceful dormitory, but when it is a jitney Mars Hill, with a tin-pot Paul bawling from the roof.
Now THAT’S funny. But it got me to thinking: who is our modern-day Mencken? P. J. O’Rourke? He’s funny enough, but not quite bitter enough. Your thoughts?
February 9th, 2005 at 11:56 am
To qualify as a Mencken replacement, I think the candidate would have to be:
1) Well educated, but fluent in idioms that appeal to Joe and Josephine six-pack.
2) Having no political allegiance whatsoever. A new Mencken must be equally adept at skewering Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Greens.
3) The ability to be extremely judgemental withou appearing arrogant or hypocritical. This is perhaps the tallest order to fill.
What the “new” Mencken should not have:
Any whiff of anti-semitism, misogyny, or racism. Bigotry, no matter how cleverly worded, is not something we currently have a shortage of. The old Mencken had some liabilities in this area(but hey, nobody’s perfect).
Who fits this bill?
P.J. Rourke, while funny, is too slick, and he is mostly aligned with the Republican Party. Maureen Dowd is less funny, and just as biased. Dave Barry is short on venom. Arianna Huffington is willing to skewer both Left and Right, but she doesn’t have any sense of humor that I can detect.
The character that Merle Kessler created for Duck’s Breath Theater, “Ian Shoals,” was just about perfect, but he isn’t real.
Tough question.
I’m betting the new Mencken is out there right now in the blogosphere.
February 9th, 2005 at 12:46 pm
It would’ve been Johnny Carson.
February 9th, 2005 at 12:58 pm
It would’ve been Johnny Carson.
You’re absolutely right. Yet another reason why he’ll be sorely missed. What a national treasure. I can’t imagine who could fill those shoes either.
February 9th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
Carson, eh? But he wasn’t very vitriolic, was he? Lobbygow, you’re right about Dave Barry, I think; if he were just a teensy bit more vicious.
And you’re also right, I think, that the blogosphere is the place to look. Or maybe here.
February 9th, 2005 at 11:43 pm
Did you guys ever watch Showtime’s “Bullshit w/ Penn and Teller.”
I’ve always been a big Penn and Teller fan. However, after watching Penn rant on that show, it was clear he had some passionate beliefs concerning the emotional exploitation of our fellow human beings by charlatans Left, Right and Center. If he wouldn’t say “f*ck” so much, I think he could be mainstream commentator. We need more dyed-in-the-wool skeptics out there. The MSM is pathetic.
February 10th, 2005 at 10:09 am
Good point about Penn, too.
February 10th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
Nobody is ever the modern-day anyone else. There cannot be a modern-day Mencken any more than there could be a modern-day Elvis or a modern-day Dylan.
February 10th, 2005 at 7:03 pm
Nobody is ever the modern-day anyone else
Spoken like a modern-day triticale.
February 11th, 2005 at 10:13 am
Party-pooper. Well, I guess now we gotta go back to arguing who would win in a fight: Godzilla or Ditka?