Sunday, July 01, 2007

Final Word on Hate

And if you don't want to look at my blog anymore, that's fine. Goodbye.

And yes, this is from Off-Broadway's The Mad Show (think Alfred E. Newman), 1966, with music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (in what, to me, is a foreshadowing of "A Little Priest" from "Sweeney Todd").

And yes, that's Joanne Worley. Full lyrics below the video.




We're gonna stamp out Hate, that's our creed.
Wipe out Violence, Intolerance and Greed.
We're gonna start right now, tomorrow is too late.
We're gonna stamp! Out! Hate!

We're gonna stamp out Hate, stamp it in the ground
And then take Happiness and spread it all around
We'll put an end to Grief, we can hardly wait
We're gonna stamp! Out! Hate!

We're gonna stamp out Hate, sock it in the eye
Shoot it in the stomach, yelling Die! Die! Die!
We'll pull its insides out, and look at what it ate
We're gonna stamp! Out! Hate!

We're gonna stamp out Hate, lash it with a switch!
Amputate its arms and legs and see how long they twitch!
We'll put its toes on hooks and dangle 'em for bait!
We're gonna stamp! Out! Hate!

We're gonna stamp out Hate, show it who's the boss
Take it up a lonely hill and nail it to a cross
Won't it be kicks to watch the blood coagulate?
We're gonna stamp! Out! Hate!

We're gonna stamp out Hate. Poke it with a pick.
Chill it til it's solid, then we'll sell it on a stick.
We're gonna stamp out Hate. Kill without a trace.
Stick a finger up its nose and pull it off its face!

We're gonna stamp out Hate. Lynch him with a rope.
Find a Nazi doctor who can boil him down for soap.
We'll pull his teeth right out and sell the silver plate . . . . .

(A door opens -- footsteps approach...)

(spoken) Ladies and Gentlemen. In these troubled times
I think there's a lesson to be learned from these dedicated young people...
(whispered "okay, get the door.") ...
getting together on a, uh, eh?
(whispered "hold him still.")

(The singers garrote the speaker, drop him to the ground,
and then walk away nonchalantly,
as they whistle the final bar of the song.)

We're going to staaaamp .... ouuuut .... haaate .....

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2 comments:

Alison Croggon said...

Hi Leonard

And gosh. I'm not at all sure that questioning a post (for my part, I wasn't sure about Isaac's demand for you to apologise, but his questions struck me as entirely legitimate) is anything like the same as lynching.

Ok, you're angry. But you get the chance to defend yourself, which is surely not the case with a lynching. Is it really hateful to question something? Or are we all above criticism?

It occurs to me that it might be useful to discriminate between an ad hominem attack ("Leonard Jacobs is a racist") and a criticism of something that you posted. One is personal, the other is an observation of something you wrote in public and which itself is up for public comment. Isaac took the trouble to make that distinction. His post didn't strike me as hate speech. Your post didn't either, but it was surely questionable and as a result - it seems to me - your intentions were misunderstood. One of the occupational hazards of writing in public, as I know well.

Jen Ryan's Brain said...

Joanne Worley = GODDESS