The party’s over for everyone. Visit this cool website. The artists are suffering, but not psychologically. Economically. Somewhere in there I read about a guy who had himself shot during the Vietnam war as art. Or something like that. I remember the monks lighting themselves on fire to protest. Now that was cool, but having yourself shot NOT to death strikes me as very self-indulgent. Great career move, seems heroic, but come on, man, anybody can do that. How’s it art?
Okay, I’m being stupid. I don’t know the full story.
But check out this monk. This is not the act of a self-indulgent artist. This is pure insane courage. He goes into the lotus position, a couple other monks douse him with gasoline, and light him up. He burns to death in the streets of Saigon. I quote David Halberstam:
As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.
Can you imagine? I spontaneously burst into flames when the Phillies won the World Series, but I didn’t just sit there burning. I ran out and jumped into our swimming pool, like really fast.
And it was damn cold.
