-
From the Obama Ministry of Truth
May 21, 2013 | 59 comments
-
Alan Abelson, RIP
May 10, 2013 | 20 comments
-
South Carolina on My Mind
April 30, 2013 | 31 comments
-
Dream Sequences
April 26, 2013 | 62 comments
-
Just Like a Woman
April 25, 2013 | 35 comments
Ben Stein's Diary
Perchance to Dream
A week in Washington — ending up in Century City.
Monday
On American Flight 144 to Dulles. I have many errands in D.C. and
the area. I’ll tell you about them soon.
The man next to me in row 6 was a middle-aged fellow with thick glasses. He reminded me of a younger version of Dr. Eldon Tyrell, inventor of the replicants and their brains in Blade Runner. Not quite normal, and a bit off base in his comments to me. Like many annoying people, he started off his interaction with me by saying, “I know I’ve seen you before but I can’t think where.”
“TV,” I said. “I am on all of the time.”
“I don’t watch TV,” said this man, like many another annoying people before him.
He told me his story. His father was a Czech Jewish man who was an ardent Zionist and emigrated to “Palestine” before World War II. He lived on a commune, a kibbutz, but the kibbutz foundered when its engine — a single cow — died.
So, my neighbor’s father joined an Israeli rebel brigade similar to the Irgun. Then, after Independence and fighting in all of Israel’s wars, the dad came to New York and lived in a Hasidic, ultra-orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn. My neighbor went to an ultra-orthodox Jewish day school, then went off to college to study to be an engineer. He said he was the first in his school to go to college. The others went into their parents’ business or else started their own businesses. “They made more money than I did until I became a partner at Blank, a huge consulting firm.”
I wondered how he knew how much money they made but I just said, “I am about my father’s business.”
“Really?” he asked me. “What was your father’s business?”
“Just a line from the New Testament,” I said. “My father was not in business.”
I went to sleep for a very long time. My neighbor does not eat airplane food because he is strictly Kosher and for other reasons he did not divulge. He offered me his meal. I declined but thanked him. The meal was not worth eating. A pitifully dry, tasteless chicken.
When I awoke, we were nearing Dulles. The man asked me, “Are you Jewish?”
“Of course,” I answered. “Don’t I look Jewish?”
”You quoted the New Testament,” he said.
“I don’t know what to say. There is a lot of wisdom in it.”
He man smiled cleverly and said, “I looked you up when you were sleeping. You’re quite a controversial guy.”
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (31) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Ben Stein
More Articles From Ben Stein's Diary
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/06/18/perchance-to-dream
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Of Wizards and Weapons
- The End of the Castros?
- Ailes: A Voice for the Silent Majority
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Appleby| 6.18.12 @ 7:26AM
Thank you for reminding us little people that out there in the Celestial Heaven, Our Betters are returning after a day of slumming to Beverly Hills and enjoying the rewards of a hard day spent, um, watching television, going to the movies, and visiting friends.
I spent Saturday working hard on a job that started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and didn't end until 9:00 Sunday morning, went to bed at 9:15 and slept til 11:30, then got up and slowly built up enough energy to eat dinner, feed the cat, and finally go to bed at 10:00. Today I will go off to my temporary job (no permanent work to be had here, apparently; I have had no job offers since I lost my last one in November) and be thankful they have air conditioning. God bless the squire and his relations and keep us all in our proper stations. Amen.
MK48| 6.18.12 @ 10:47AM
Ditto..Appleby most of us out here are daily grinding out life and we have to read this nonsence by somone who pushes his elitist lifestyle in our face weekly.
Ben .........go find a real job donate your time and money to the needy.
Come back and tell us about THAT story, just like the most of your liberal friends you are out of touch.
Jeamar| 6.19.12 @ 1:17AM
MK48: Mr. Stein is writing a diary not a political or economy articke. A diary comments on his personal life and memories and interesting people he meets and his feelings about these encounters. He is wealthy and shouldn't have to apologize for it. He is not pushing his elitist lifestyle in your face. If you're not interested in it, ignore it.
Bairkus| 6.19.12 @ 11:21PM
Appleby, MK48: ...and then on the other hand, Ben should be commended for sitting in airplanes for nine hours last week so he could spend all day Tuesday visiting injured soldiers and soldiers families in Walter Reed -- but not by you guys, of course. Or maybe you just missed that.
Ben will be sixty-nine this year. He's a bright man who already has put his many gifts to work for a lifetime, and has met with much good fortune. Unfortunately your prospects are not so good...
Jack in Wi| 6.19.12 @ 7:04AM
Ben has more homes then the Queen of England. He seems to move around them in a perpetual wandering looking for some answers to life. I suggest he stick to the New Testament especially the Beatitudes and the Golden Rule. I myself really like " Blessed are the peacemakers."
Trish Trotter| 6.18.12 @ 8:24AM
Cleo? My God! Is that dog still living?
Where's Julie Good Girl? And why didn't you mention her? I specifically requested in my last post that you write more about Julie Good Girl.
And you wrote not a word.
You're a hopeless ditz, Ben. This becomes more evident everytime I read one of your tedious, vacuuous columns.
Ho hum. That's all I can say about your ditsy life.
The Big E| 6.18.12 @ 9:01AM
"I simply cannot recall a movie that has heroes and villains where the villain was not a super rich businessman."
Setting aside moves where the villian is some monstrous creature, how about:
Brazil
Demolition Man
12 Monkeys
Occam's Tool| 6.18.12 @ 1:46PM
Das Boot, Stalingrad, Enemy at The Gates, Exodus...I can go on, Ben. Your ignorance astounds as it amuses.
Man, I should have gone on your show and KICKED YOUR ASS. As College Bowl varsity at TCU, I could have mincemeated you, pal.
Cobalt| 6.18.12 @ 3:34PM
"Cross of Iron," Sam Peckinpah's only war film.
Shadow| 6.18.12 @ 9:37AM
I never read Ben's writing. I skip right to the comments, they are so much more entertaining and carry something Ben lacks, substance.
Bill84728| 6.18.12 @ 9:40AM
Well, there WAS Die Hard, where the villain was a left-wing German terrorist. But his motivation for his evil in the movie was money. But the Japanese corporation, in the person of the characters who worked for it, was not painted black.
Bill84728| 6.18.12 @ 9:45AM
For movies about heroes and villains that consisently avoid stereotyping capitalism you have to see the Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal movies. They're terrible, but the bad guys are usually not corporate baddies (except in the occasional big-budget movies that Norris and Seagal used to find themselves starring in).
Bill84728| 6.18.12 @ 9:47AM
Then there was the Dirty Harry movie The Enforcer. The group of bad guys were lefties whose leader was motivated by money.
AllAmericanAmerican| 6.18.12 @ 10:50AM
Sometimes I wonder if Stein has compromising photos of ol' R. Emmett??? I mean, what's the point of his columns???
jimcarroll | 6.18.12 @ 11:46AM
Thank you, Mr. Stein. Nicely written, as usual.
fdcampbell| 6.18.12 @ 11:48AM
Ben always brightens my day.
May our mutual God bless and keep you.
beniyyar| 6.18.12 @ 12:15PM
Ben I am glad that you use your notoriety for positive projects, unlike most of Hollywood's stars and moviemakers. Of course you are probably sober and drug free most of the time and thus rational unlike those same Hollywood stars and moguls who seem to spend most of their free time under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol thus destroying their minds and bodies!
MK48| 6.18.12 @ 4:20PM
Positive projects.........? name one..Oh maybe you were joking.....sorry.
Ya right...................
Jon Roland | 6.18.12 @ 12:23PM
I also loved Blade Runner but I don't see Tyrell as the villain, except perhaps in a technical sense of dramatic analysis. He is himself a tragic figure, who did the best he could with the technology available to him, and finally surpassed his earlier work in creating Rachel. He is a Frankenstein who finally got it right. The villains were the replicants who chose to waste the little time they had left destructively instead of using their time to make the Universe a better place. But in that they are also tragic figures, exhibiting a very human foolishness.
Visit my website. Much there for more columns.
mstein609| 6.20.12 @ 3:10PM
I would agree. I got the strong sense that the government forced Tyrell to limit the lifespan of replicants as a safety measure. Tyrell himself wanted his "children" to live. Rachel was an experiment to see if it would be possible to create a replicant with long-term mental stability, removing the need for the automatic self-destruct mechanism.
Gary B| 6.18.12 @ 12:30PM
Regarding the wounded soldiers Ben visited... They certainly were not all heroes when deployed to the Middle East rock pile, but they're all heroes now. I would not want to go on living with the massive woulds they suffered and continue to suffer. Finding the courage to piece their lives halfway back together is something I don't think I could do. God bless every one of them.
soldiermom11| 6.18.12 @ 12:43PM
I think very often of those who have gone before us and fought for liberty. The Jews in Poland, the Americans who fought against the largest military in the world, the Catholics who were swooped up by Hitler. The liberal elites never suffer the consequences of their ideology so they never make correct decisions which affect other people's freedoms. And what is so frustrating that they are so educated but never studied history. It just always boggles my mind.
hpcooperjon| 6.18.12 @ 12:50PM
Loved your article. I suspect you quoted Jesus to yank that man's chain knowing he was Jewish. You have at least some respect for Christianity, I think. Perhaps some of your friends are Christians, much like me who had Jewish friends in high school. The Old Testament tells of a time when "they shall see Him whom they pierced and mourn". The Apostle Paul, a highly educated Jew and persecutor of Christians says "and so all Israel shall be saved". I love that. The only Jewish employer I ever had fired me after 2 months for whistling in my office "put your hand in the hand of the man" but I didn't hate him for it. I understood. Hugh Phillips
Occam's Tool| 6.18.12 @ 1:48PM
@hp: hpefully it was not the tune but your inability t0 keep on key? :)
@soldiermom: The soldiers are heroes, beyond belief. Agree with Ben there.
Rhoetus| 6.18.12 @ 1:19PM
Ben: You should go to Crete, you can afford it- I bet you will have a wonderful time.
Seek| 6.18.12 @ 3:45PM
A lot of the supposed "anti-businessmen" movies more accurately should be understood as anti-collaborationist. That is, they depict businessmen as corrupt, but also working in cahoots with government officials and international "wet work" criminals every bit as corrupt -- and violent. (e.g., Tom Tykver's "The International"; Tony Gilroy's "Duplicity"). Today's movies are not anti-capitalist so much as they are anti-corporatist. Whether deliberately or accidentally, they wind up strengthening the case for unsubsidized free enterprise.
SteveHC1| 6.18.12 @ 5:55PM
Ah, Ben Stein - My hands-down favorite columnist... and I don't even consider myself a "conservative." I have always admired your energy, humanitarianism, eloquence and intelligence.
But I have to admit that I'm surprised to find that you continue to believe that capitalist film makers, including but not limited to the ones that you referred to in this "diary" entry, are *anti*-capitalists - for they most definitely are NOT. They are merely against *unbridled* capitalism - that is, extreme capitalism that when left unchecked erodes our concern for our planet and our fellow man, undermines our respect for human dignity and life in general, and which would reduce us to nothing more than entities which either contribute to corporate profit or do not. In fact, this balanced approach has been manifested by "Hollywood" ever since the creation of the original major studios and continues to this day. This is *responsible* film-making, at least by both my definition as well as that of the studios, producers, writers and directors.
Let's hope that this will be at least one aspect of the industry that never changes.
G-d bless.
Troon62| 6.18.12 @ 7:19PM
Ben,
I love the way your mind works. We were at Yale a few years apart. While I quibble with some of your more pointed commentary, I wholeheartedly second your keen appreciation for the suffering of so many who fought the great battles. Good for you to spend meaningful time with our severely wounded veterans at Walter Reed. It must be almost a sacred experience. Dittoes for your regard for the Poles who seem to suffer endlessly, only to be bruited about by the world powers. Those remarkable people deserve so much better.
tmac| 6.18.12 @ 7:33PM
Ben is a god. Lower case 'g'. All you Stein haters are A**holes. Capital 'A'
owend| 6.19.12 @ 11:38AM
Great article Ben. Thanks again. I appreciate and enjoy your observations.
oldbuck| 6.19.12 @ 2:04PM
Each and every time I read something Mr. Stein has written, sooner or later it makes me laugh. Page 2 at the Tidewater Inn, he wrote: I like being known.
I wonder if he has any idea how much many of us would enjoy getting to know him at a more personal level. My wife wishes Ben was my friend. When Ben would speak, I would listen, and it isn't often I'm still. 'o) oldbuck