Nat King Cole had a hit in 1963 when he sang, in stereo, "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer." The album cover at right shows people on the beach; interestingly, in that era, there were lots of 'white-only' beaches. Crazy segregationists.
I wonder if heat and humidity trigger mental instability? It seems to be true this summer, even though here in the Midwest, it has been a mild summer. The South and the Southwest, on the other hand, have sizzled with record-breaking heat all summer long. As an aside, you don't suppose that this solid GOP section of the nation is somehow connected to the constant heat that must be endured by those living there? Just a random thought. Maybe not.
Crazy. Sarah Palin comes to mind. Glenn Beck as well. It goes without saying that Rush Limbaugh rings the crazy bell too. The word jester also comes to mind. These three would have made an excellent jester-trio in Medieval Europe- a touring show travelling from court to court, entertaining the townsfolk and peasants who needed comic relief from their miserable, mundane lives. Jesters, troubadours, and madrigals would be welcomed with great enthusiasm. Remember in your childhood the excitement when you heard the circus was in town?
Sheer mindless entertainment. Mindless, as in 'no thought necessary.' Pure emotion. Raucous belly-laughs and farts. Palin, Beck and Limbaugh: belly-laughs and farts.
Those other people, well...the hooligans who have been robotically programmed to attend and disrupt the town hall meetings light the crazy bulb as well. Zot! Zot! Zot! Mindless zombies directly from the 50's sci-fi flicks who walk around in a dazed state and scare the hell out of the good citizens of the town. The zombies of this summer, on the other hand, are pre-programmed to shoot off their mouths with a kind of psycho-babble. Whether dazed or with psycho-babble, the end result is that the zombies still scare the crap out of the towns' folk. A living nightmare in broad daylight!
Were this Medieval times, the travelling show would eventually move on to another village to delight and scare the folks, to relieve their boredom for a short while. Unfortunately for this summer, it looks like this court of jesters wants to stay a while, to spend the entire summer with us.
And so goes this crazy summer- a summer that is setting all kinds of records and testing the ultimate tolerance levels of our fellow countrymen.
Lemonade anyone?
