I’ve been reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and I’ve been loving it.
This passage in particular, from Kesey’s speech at the Vietnam Day rally:
I was just looking at the speaker who was up here before me…and I couldn’t hear what he was saying…but I could hear the sound of it…and I could hear your sound coming back at him…and I could see the gestures…and I could see his jaw sticking out like this…silhouetted against the sky…and you know who I saw…and who I heard?…Mussolini…I saw and I heard Mussolini here just a few minutes ago…Yep…You’re playing their game…
We’ve all heard all this and seen all this before, but we keep on doing it…I went to see the Beatles last month…And I heard 20,000 girls screaming together at the Beatles…and I couldn’t hear what they were screaming, either…But you don’t have to…They’re screaming Me! Me! Me! Me!…I’m Me!…That’s the cry of the ego, and that’s the cry of this rally!…Me! Me! Me! Me!…And that’s why wars get fought…ego…because enough people want to scream Pay attention to Me…Yep, you’re playing their game…
Reading this actually made me cheer.