Notes on Being Nothing...

I am a fan of the Peter Sellers 1979 film 'Being There'. In it he plays the gardener to a rich man who passes away and is mistaken for his wizened confidante and madcap hilarity ensues.

Anyway... this important essay (Being Nothing) by Carol V. Hamilton compares and contrasts the persona of the simpleton played by Sellers (who knows about the world only from having watched television) with our (now former) President George W. Bush. Some have attempted to view him as an Evil Genius rather than as the Village Idiot, but the reality seems to be a bit of both, except when we needed a Genius we got the Idiot and when we needed the Idiot we got the Genius!
My view is that history will not absolve us for having elected him at all.