lunes, 25 de agosto de 2008

Mediocrity is needed too

Former U.S. Senator from Nebraska Roman Hruska was (in)famous for saying, during the hearing for a poorly regarded (and ultimately unsuccessful) nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court: "Well, mediocrity should be represented in the Court, too." How does that sort of thinking relate to what Vonnegut's getting at with this story?

2 comentarios:

N. Tre. dijo...

Well, U.S. Justices of the Supreme Court have to be appointed by the president and the U.S. Senate.

I hate to say it, but I think we can agree that most of the president's in the country's recent history are criminals. But it's O.K. No one can do anything about it because the presidents can rely completely on the Senate. The Senate has had a record for voting to enable the presidents' actions.

Therefore, when a president appoints a mediocre Justice to the Supreme Court, it can be expected the the U.S. Senate will be there to back him up.

I guess that the point that Kurt Vonnegut is trying to make is that people who are mediocre and unqualified can easily make it to high-level positions. Vonnegut was highly critical of the Bush administration, so it is probable that he wanted us to know the sleazy politics that takes place in Washington-where unqualified, mediocre criminals can actually make it to the Supreme Court.

Kevin dijo...

As I said before every single person makes a difference in what they do because they bring ideas and thoughts to what they do. Mediocrity can only be achieved on a large scale if a government does in Vonnegut's story. But someone who is below average would be someone who is average in our world and so we still give them their chance like they do in the story.