Jennifer Senior's wonderful interview with Antonin Scalia in New York magazine has rasied the question: How many things does Scalia hate about our beloved country? A partial list:
1. Most talk shows and most newspapers. "We used to get the Washington Post, but it just … went too far for me. I couldn’t handle it anymore."
2. The State of the Union address. "It is a childish spectacle."
3. Societal change. "One of the things that upsets me about modern society is the coarseness of manners ... It’s very sad."
4. The Internet. "I’m nervous about our civic culture. I’m not sure the Internet is largely the cause of it. It’s certainly the cause of careless writing. People who get used to blurbing things on the Internet are never going to be good writers."
5. Social networking, and friending. "I don’t know why anyone would like to be “friended” on the network. I mean, what kind of a narcissistic society is it that people want to put out there, This is my life, and this is what I did yesterday? I mean … good grief. Doesn’t that strike you as strange? I think it’s strange."
6. Swearing. "You can’t go to a movie—or watch a television show for that matter—without hearing the constant use of the F-word—including, you know, ladies using it." [Italics his]
Ah, but what about the things he doesn't hate?
For example, Scalia claimes he is "not a hater of homosexuals at all." I am willing to believe this is true. However, it also probably not something that anyone with openly gay (sorry, "homosexual") friends has ever stated verbatim in the history of humanity.
And then there is Seinfeld:
I loved Seinfeld. In fact, I got some CDs of Seinfeld. Seinfeld was hilarious. Oh, boy. The Nazi soup kitchen? No soup for you!
As anyone can tell you, though, Seinfeld does not take place in real America.