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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Saturday, February 09, 2008

kurt vonnegut on humanism and his dog

When I was a young teenager I adored Kurt Vonnegut's work. When I got older, and understood more about why people who write write the things they do, I adored him. He infused everything he did with a gentle, self-depreciating global kindness and sense. You got the feeling he had thought very carefully about everything, but thrown his heart into it as well for what it was worth.

Which is why I am so tickled to have found the speech he made upon accepting the American Humanist of the Year Award in 1996. Typically, he gave his ideas the most appealing framework to hang upon and be thereby understood: he explained why his dog is not a humanist. Not in too much detail. But you'll start to get the idea and find out where to pursue further knowledge.

1 comment:

parlance said...

Wow! The end of that speech sure is confronting.