Yes, a sad day for both of us, I’m afraid. Sad for me because it’s obvious I do not have the skill to write parody without stamping IT’S PARODY at the beginning of each sentence.
I was happy to see that it had the effect of poking a stick in the eyes of the professional whiners and miserable, negative, joyless bastards that have been so successful in hijacking the mood of this country. That was the mission.
Unfortunately, I’ve received a lot of comments from former supporters who seem to think I have withered into some vile and bitter troglodyte who actually believes that he is the “conforming prototype” of the “Ideal American.”
Folks, there is no Ideal American. There is only one person’s opinion of what values we might want to foster to make this country a little better. Since I am repelled at the idea of trying to engineer this society, I thought I might take a humorous stab at my experience with trying to engineer the individual -- me. Clearly either I do not have the chops to do this, or we have become so infected that even people who formerly supported this website have to position themselves as moral watchdogs to make sure no one – especially not soccer players or book readers – takes any offense. One or two readers responded to my parody bombast with parody bombast of their own – well done! But the clear pattern is that I am destroying my lofty reputation as a Voice of Reason and Moderation – a role that I, for one, was never arrogant enough to believe in or enjoy.
I will continue to write it -- or something like it -- as most writers do: in private. I remain deeply saddened and disappointed that a large number of people seemed to think that I was taking myself that seriously. I had hoped that we might be able to poke fun at the Rampant Seriousness and Offend No One mentality that is squeezing all the fun out of life. But if every parody entry is going to provoke outraged comments about soccer (which I played almost daily for six year), Ice Hockey (go Kings!), and reading books (never tried it; sounds boring), then in the words of the President I have clearly misunderestimated people.
Unfortunately, I am not going to return to writing 22 page essays now that I am out of meaningful topics. I determined quite a while ago that the only thing worse than letting this website go blank would be to post pointless rehashes like TIDYNESS and PUNCTUALITY and pretend they meant something. So, barring some catastrophe, the days of free ice cream are winding down. I will spend the time finishing Silent America, and reflecting on what I want to do in the future.
Thank you for your support in the past.
Best Regards,
Bill Whittle