The Ever Limber

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“You want him to recycle for the planet? He’s there. You want him to dive into eugenics? He’s with it. You want him to establish a man’s character by counting the bumps on his head? Got it, check.You want him simply to accept what Approved Opinion has determined about (check all that apply) 1) the inferiority of blacks, 2) the rates of climate change, or 3) the undesirability of nuclear war. Approved Opinion never stays in one place, so you do have to be limber . . . but some people are ever-limber. They were born limbering up . . . But there is a certain kind of man who knows how not to be stampeded. He is not valued greatly in any generation, for he consistently is a pain in the neck, but after he is dead and deep, the praise starts to trickle in.”

Skin and Blood, p. 122