Table of Contents
For Eunice,
soles occidere et redire possvnt: nobis cvm semel occidit brevis
lvx, nox est perpetva vna dormienda. da mi basia mille.
People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.
JAMES BALDWIN
I
The Illusion of Literacy
Now the death of God combined with the perfection of the image has brought us to a whole new state of expectation. We are the image. We are the viewer and the viewed. There is no other distracting presence. And that image has all the Godly powers. It kills at will. Kills effortlessly. Kills beautifully. It dispenses morality. Judges endlessly. The electronic image is man as God and the ritual involved leads us not to a mysterious Holy Trinity but back to ourselves. In the absence of a clear understanding that we are now the only source, these images cannot help but return to the expression of magic and fear proper to idolatrous societies. This in turn facilitates the use of the electronic image as propaganda by whoever can control some part of it.
JOHN RALSTON SAUL, Voltaires Bastards
We had fed the heart on fantasy,
The hearts grown brutal from the fare.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Stares Nest By My Window
J OHN BRADSHAW LAYFIELD, tall, clean-cut, in a collared shirt and white Stetson hat, stands in the center of the ring holding a heavy black microphone. Layfield plays wrestling tycoon JBL on the World Wrestling Entertainment tour. The arena is filled with hooting and jeering fans, including families with children. The crowd yells and boos at JBL, who has had a long career as a professional wrestler. Many chant, You suck! You suck! You suck!
Last week I made Shawn Michaels an offer, and I have yet to hear back from the Heartbreak Kid, drawls Layfield. Michaels, another WWE wrestler, is a crowd favorite. He is a self-professed born-again Christian with a working-man persona. So earlier today I made Shawn Michaels an offer that was a lot easier to understand, Layfield continues. I challenge Shawn Michaels to a street fight tonight! So Shawn, I know youre back there. Now whats your answer?
HBK, HBK, HBK!!! the crowd intones. A pulsing rock beat suddenly shakes the arena as action shots of the Heartbreak Kid flash across the Titantron, the massive screen suspended over the ring. The crowd cheers, leaping up as Shawn Michaels, in jeans and an army-green shirt, whirls onstage, his long, blond hair flying. Pyrotechnics explode. The deafening sound system growls, I know Im sexy... I got the looks... that drive the girls wild....
Michaels bursts into the ring, fists pumping, stalking back and forth. The ref steps in to begin the match.
HBK! HBK! HBK! chants the crowd.
Hold on, hold on, referee, Layfield says, putting his hand on the referees shoulder. People in the crowd begin to heckle.
Shawn, he says, you got a choice to make. You can either fight me right now in this street fight, or you can do the right thing for you, your family, and your extended family, and take care of them in a financial crisis you never dreamed would happen a year ago today.
Michaels stands silently.
You see, I know some things, Shawn, continues Layfield. Rich people always do. Before this stock market crashed, nobody saw it coming, except, of course, my wife, but that didnt help you, did it? See, I was hoarding cash. I was putting money in gold. While most Americans followed the leaderblindly, stupidly followed the leaderI was making money. In fact, Shawn, I was prospering while you were following the herd, losing almost everything, right, Shawn?
Fight!! Fight!! Fight!! Fight!! urges the crowd. Michaels looks hesitantly back and forth between the heaving crowd and Layfield.
You lost your 401(k). You lost your retirement. You lost your nest egg. You lost your childrens education fund , Layfield bellows into the mic, his face inches from Michaelss. You got to support your extended family, Shawn, and now you look around with all this responsibility, and you look at your beautiful wife, shes a beautiful lady, you look at your two little wonderful kids, and you wonder: How in the world... am I going to send them... to college?
Layfield pauses heavily. Michaels face is slack, pained. Small, individual voices shout out from the crowd.
Well, Ive got an answer, Layfield goes on. Im offering you a job. I want you to come workfor me .
No! No! No! yells the crowd. Michaels blinks slowly, dazed, and lowers his eyes to the mat.
See, theres always alternatives, Shawn. Theres alternatives to everything. You can always wrestle until youre fifty. You might even wrestle till youre sixty. In fact, you could be a lot like these has-beens who are disgracing themselves in high school gyms all over the country, bragging about their war stories of selling the place out while theyre hawking their eight-by-tens and selling Polaroids. Shawn, you could be that guy, or you could take my offer, because I promise you this: All the revenue that youre goin to make off your DX T-shirts will not compare to the offer that I... made... to you.
He tells the Heartbreak Kid to look in the mirror, adding, The years havent been kind to you, have they, Shawn? He reminds him that one more bad fall, one more injury, and youre done, youre done.
The crowd begins to rally their stunned hero, growing louder and louder. HBK! HBK! HBK!
What else can you really do besides this? Layfield asks. You get a second chance in life.
Layfield sweeps off his white Stetson. Go ahead, he screams into Michaelss face. Ever since you walked out here... people have been wantin you to kick me in the face. So why dont you do it? Im gonna give you a free shot, Shawn, right here.
The crowd erupts, roaring for the Heartbreak Kid to strike.
HBK!! DO IT!! DO IT!! HBK!! HBK!!!
Listen to em. Everybody wants it. Shawn, its what you want. Youre twitching. Youre begging to pull the trigger, so Im telling you right now, take a shot! Take it!
The Heartbreak Kid takes one step back, his stubbled face trembling, breathing rapidly like a rabbit. The crowd is leaping out of their seats, thrusting their arms in the air, holding up handmade banners.
HBK!!! HBK!!! HBK!!!
Do it, Shawn, Layfield hollers, before its too late. This is your second chance, but understand this, understand this
HBK!!! HBK!!! HBK!!!
Listen to me and not them! If you take this shot... then this offer is off the table... forever .
The crowd stops chanting. Different cries are heard: boos, shouts to attack, shouts to stop. There is no longer unity in the auditorium.
Layfield holds his head outstretched until the Heartbreak Kid slowly turns his back. Layfield leers. Shawn Michaels climbs through the ropes out of the ring and walks heavily back to the dressing room, his dull gaze on the ground.
Lookin forward to doin business with ya, Shawn, Layfield shouts after him.
The crowd screams.
Layfield, like most of the wrestlers, has a long, complicated fictional backstory that includes a host of highly publicized intrigues, fights, betrayals, infidelities, abuse, and outrageous behaviorincluding goose-stepping around the ring and giving the Nazi salute during a wrestling bout in Germany. But tonight he has come in his newest incarnation as the self-made millionaire, the capitalist, the CEO who walked away with a pot of gold while workers across the country lost their jobs, saw their savings and retirement funds evaporate, and fought off foreclosure.
