Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Ever since I discovered it, I've wondered what to say about RightGoths dot com. ("Gothic. Freaky. Conservative.") The site's driving force, an English lad who calls himself "Ivan Groznii," just posted an "essay" comparing John Kerry to "Arnold Rimmer," the hapless protagonist of Red Dwarf, a U.K. sci-fi comedy series (which I admit I've never seen). Mr. Groznii amuses himself greatly by claiming that "Rimmer" is the spitting image of John Kerry -- odd because, as Groznii describes him, "Rimmer" sounds rather like another politician currently campaigning for high office (links below are mine): For many, John Kerry’s salute and “reporting for duty” remark at the Democrat National Convention was a trite gesture... ... for fans of the comedy / sci-fi programme, “Red Dwarf”, John Kerry’s curious salute was rather like that of a pompous character on the programme named Arnold Judas Rimmer. Like Kerry, Rimmer had a habit of occasionally doing just such a salute, merely for the purposes of show. ...Rimmer is nominally the senior officer, a fact which the audience is never allowed to forget. However, rather like John Kerry, this “authority” is due to mere accident rather than by merit. ...Like Kerry, Rimmer is power mad. In addition to constantly reminding the crew and the audience of his “authority”, his favourite magazine is “Fascist Dictator Weekly”, which has centrefolds of such personages as Adolf Hitler.... Kerry is obviously unclear on how riding on an expensive bicycle, or yachting, or ordering out for 5 star cuisine after having visited a fast food restaurant might be perceived by others outside his coterie.... Kerry's line at the DNC: "Reporting for Duty" and Rimmer's "Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast" both echo the same false heroism, arrogance, and ignorance of the capacity for parody. ... Rimmer often acted as if he was in charge or had superior knowledge. However, his deficiencies in leadership and knowledge were often exposed on the TV programme with hilarious results: having been asked to compute a series of equations by the ship’s computer, Rimmer had to ask what the meaning of “compute” was. On a world in which wax animatronic dummies in the likeness of famous personages from entertainment and history were set in battle with each other, Rimmer took command of the “good characters”, which, while victorious, were all killed.... And on and on. Mr. Groznii's writings include "Songs of Lost Love -- Sonnets" and "Dick Cheney: A Goth Icon?"

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