The EU decrees no more bagpipe music; no more loud symphonies. There is a long list of foolishness put forth by this body which, in chaos theory, could be called a “strange attractor for neurotic people-pushers.” I recall a few years ago the EU mandating the size and shape of bananas, and ordering window-washers to forgo the use of step-ladders. All in all, this institutionalized satire on a dying system in a dying civilization reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s lovely story of “Harrison Bergeron,” whose “Handicapper-General” established and enforced all sorts of burdens upon the practice of beauty, excellence, and creativity in a best-of-all-possible-worlds.

The Best of Butler Shaffer