L’esprit d’escalier is one of the most useful French terms to know. It successfully predicts that a slow wit, a few hours, and a blog can turn someone into Cyrano, albeit a still-slow-witted one.
So, usually I’m not that fast. Today I was. A commentator on NPR was discussing Bagram Airfield, where, notoriously, prisoners were tortured to death (fuck “allegedly” and “arguably”) in 2002. They were beaten, hung by their arms, and subsequently died.
“You know, the Bush Administration talked a lot about another guy who was beaten, hung by his arms, and died,” I said. “They also used it as an excuse to hate the Jews, and they started praying to the guy. How did they not know this would produce martyrs?!”
(Ha! See that?! My nose is pointy, and I got a cheap wisecrack out of illegal war, torture, and religious persecution!”)
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