Today on the homepage, I have a Salzburg journal, replete with “photos, points, and aperçus from Mozart’s hometown.” I have quoted the subheading. If you are interested, go here.
A little mail?
Earlier this week, I wrote about the ad that Dick Cheney made for his daughter Liz. I said,
There is something I dislike about the Cheney ad, strongly: the music. Any music at all. One video after another — in politics, sports, etc. — is spoiled by music. Dick Cheney’s ad does not need music. A soundtrack. A soundtrack can only detract. The man and his message are potent on their own.
A reader writes,
You know where I get most irritated with musical “background”? In church, while someone is praying. Certain churches have made the practice common — I think it’s designed to provoke a sentimental response to the prayer, but I have always found it distracting.
In a recent Impromptus, I cited an article headed “Fox Host Attacks Service Members in Spat With Former Marine, Says Vets Went ‘Across the World’ to ‘Murder Brown People.’” I wrote,
For many years, I have heard from the left that the U.S. military “murders brown people.” I guess everyone is getting into the act now, as lefties and righties blend, on all sorts of things.
You know, I have never heard anyone say that the Taliban, or Saddam Hussein, or al-Qaeda, or ISIS, or Bashar Assad murders brown people. Ever.
And how about the “brown people” fighting alongside U.S. forces? Do they count?
When I made a similar point, over the weekend, a reader responded, “No one ever says that the U.S. went to Europe to kill blue-eyed, blond-haired Germans.” No, they never do.
Another reader writes,
Jay,
You said, “And how about the ‘brown people’ fighting alongside U.S. forces? Do they count?” I would add: How about all the “brown people” fighting in the U.S. forces? Do they count?
The best point of all.
I had a post headed “In These United States.” At the bottom of it, I explained,
The heading over this blogpost is an homage to Reader’s Digest, which had a feature called “Life in These United States.”
A reader writes to say,
Update for you: Reader’s Digest is still going, and it still has a feature called “Life in These United States.”
It’s still the first feature I turn to when I open my new issue. Just as it was back in the ’70s, when I would visit my grandparents’ lake house. They had bookshelves lining one wall with Reader’s Digest and National Geographic issues going well back into the ’60s. I always had plenty of reading material to occupy me, when I was avoiding loud family gatherings.
Marvelous.
Finally, a reader says,
Mr. Nordlinger, were you a musician in the rock group Aorta circa 1969? Or maybe that’s a relative or no relation at all. Great music!
Ha! Well, I’ve looked it up. Aorta had two members named “Donlinger.”
Thanks a lot, everyone, and, again, my Impromptus today — a Salzburg journal — is here.