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April 19, 2003

The Happy Tutor UnBound

The Happy Tutor blogs that one of the sponsors of the Digital Genres event being organized by Alex Golub has objected to one of the twenty aphorisms that constitute the Tutor's talk, Bound, Beaten and Branded On Our Noble Trade. The aphorism classifies the branding of children as a type of pedophilia:

You peep timidly from your window. A pedophile is loose in your neighborhood? Worse: He is loose in your home. The pedophile knows your children. They wear his logo on their shirts, their shoes, their caps. They plead for his name on their underwear. They fall asleep hugging his mascot. They croon his name in the shower. They dream his face in their sleep.

Now, the Happy Tutor is one of the least reliable of narrators, a master of rhetoric and satire in service of a passionate argument over the nature of truth. (He is certain to disagree with this characterization). He's also quite brilliant and funny and serious. So, I don't know what's really going on. But I do suggest you read his paper, twenty slaps to wake us up to how deeply branded we all are.

Posted by D. Weinberger at April 19, 2003 10:53 AM

Comments

Thank you. I am very flattered by the characterization. It is exactly what I am trying, though often failing, to do. Moral philosopher as Trickster -- Diogenes, Socrates, Kiekegaard, Nietsche. If truth is a lie in accordance with a fixed convention, what is a Brand? Thank you for the note.

Posted by: The Happy Tutor | April 19, 2003 06:13 PM

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