"Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelly (1817)

[Democrats_win]

In addition to discussing the basic idea of how far science (or government) should go in creating new things, Mary Shelly's novel emphisizes taking responsibility for the things we create. The most striking part of the book is the tremendous pain that Dr. Frankenstein created because of his ambition which developed as he grew up in an idyllic Swiss city. In some sense, it's a "Paradise Lost" story.

Dr. Frankenstein's greatest sin is NOT that he created a monster who was initially innocent, benevolent and ugly. His greatest sin was abandoning the creature to the world and the creature came back with revenge on the doctor's friends and family for abandoning him.

Does this remind you of someone? Bush took on Iraq (& NO) and now we are learning that he's given up reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure. According to Paul Krugman, the U.S. built a bunch of electric plants that run on natural gas. However, getting natural gas to the plants is a problem and now electricity is scarce. Instead of trying to fix things, the BA is nearly abandoning its monster to our soldiers who have nothing to look forward to except more violence. Already Iraq is a haven for violence. How long will it be before this spreads?

For America, this too is a "Paradise Lost" story. Bush however was never a good person like Dr. Frankenstein. Bush was always evil and we should not be surprised that his ambitions and plans would produce evil. Evil has become bu$h's good.

[PATRICK]

1. Romanticism

the hero of progress and the individual above society and outside all social boundaries. The pride, the self affirmation, the inconsequence of anyone getting hurt in their exhilarating passionate and dispassionate quiet. The infection of the Age of reason with the impatience of this conscienceless hero, who even while repenting the disasters never quite rejoins the human race.

This Mary Shelley's observation of her fiends, her society, the darkness of personal tragedy and unshakable social oppression. After more hard years and the death of her children and husband her book "The Last Man" gives a final defeatist comment. In that book all people, those who are good or bad, the heroes or the apathetic, succumb bit by bit before an implacable plague. Pessimism like that is formed in personal experience. "Can do because I can" is an emotional fix and at least the Romantic writers end a lot of these flights of fancy with hubristic tragedy still containing the Paradise Lost poison that the trip as worth it, man. Mary was a bridge of the rationalist and liberal to the radical romantics, her father a fringe socialist idealist curmudgeon, her husband a dedicated poet. In few of these scenarios are the privileged people of the status quo the rebellious heroes.

Bush is a sad exploiter of emotional gas with as much passion or less as he has for petroleum. In fact his power madness is more lazy and ineffectual and all too typical of the position and powers he grabbed. He breaks the mold of social mores with no compunction for the consequences of his weird actions than Mengele, but with less personal effort. If we had a strong(in any sense except BO) character sitting in that spot how much worse things would be instead of this pathetic and phony tyranny by any standards.

And Frankenstein blamed the monster instead of himself, passive suicide attempt notwithstanding. And he didn't act too hard to save victims in a way to reveal his guilt. The destructive attitude of pride and honor was something Mary's father decried in the nobility in his own books of the hunted and hunter and the confusion of both. Even the outcast monster had more education, human feelings and smarts than Bush.

[leveymg]

2. Mr. Bush, you're no Prometheus. You're just a monster

[ExclamationPoint]

3. Incredible story

I think it really adresses the idea of "who is the monster?"