March 23, 2012

O dear WHAT next?



The older I get the more I like it off-season. The toadies and parasites of the truly rich have followed their masters to places such as St. Barts or the Bahamas. Tarts, pimps, art dealers, jewelry salesmen, real-estate sharks—you name them, we have them.  During the season, that is. New money needs new art, and there’s a lot of the former around during the busy season.
Speaking of art, the Telegraph reported last week how a human-rights organization that advises the UN on discrimination issues wants to have Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy censored. Bad Dante! Bigoted Dante! His book represents Islam as a heresy and Jews as scheming moneylenders. The spokeswoman and president, one Valentina Sereni, want’s the book removed from school and university curricula. She calls the epic poem racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic. She covered all the bases so at least we know where we stand if we read The Divine Comedy.
I now leave you because I have The Divine Comedy in front of me and am looking forward to hours of bliss this weekend. You know what that makes me. I don’t even have to explain it.