Word Matters

Samantha Power Pulitzer Prize winner
professor of public policy & practice of
global leadership at Harvard & Obama’s
key foreign policy aid called Hillary a
“monster” the other day in Scotland—
off the record she said but not soon enough
to disclaim (it has to be disclaimed before saying
something you don’t want recorded, not after).
Oh no you dint!

Years ago William Buckley Jr. of National Review
said he’d rather be governed by the first 40 names
in the Boston phone book than the first 40 faculty
at Harvard.

“monster”—from L. monstrum, prodigy,
portent, from Indo European, men¹ : to think.
mind,
mental,
maenad,
minion,
memento,
Minerva,
Meno (spirit),
manic,
mantra—
all in the monster family & so: related. Relative.

To ad-monish, muster, demonstrate a showing as
in a monster hit—"monstrance": the container where
the “host” is held while serving Catholic Communion.
Monstrous.

This democratic campaign: a monster ball. A showing.
“Don’t tell me words don’t matter.”

Imagine: the reaper cushions. Some pundit could
claim the whole future of the western whirl was
determined by that slip of the tongue-tipping
point like some butterfly flapping wings in
Brazil.

It’s possible.

If it hadn’t a been for burglar’s bullet fired into an
armpit in Stamford Connecticut in the late 19^th
century, none of you wouldn’t even be considering
this right be-here-now, wanna bet? I could
PROVE it.

It’s a consolation of philosophy to realize how
impoverished my explanations, reasons-why,
interpretations, because-&-affects: arbitrary,
conventional, convenient--omitting impractically
practically every thing in my necessary but
insufficient account abilities & assess-
mentalism not even close to monstrous.

xxxooo, Sam