On Tony, The View, and Life Eternal

James Wolcott's Blog: Obstructed View (updated): Wolcott's Blog: vanityfair.com: "Imagine The Sopranos without James Gandolfini in his Yogi Bear bathrobe cleaning out the refrigerator. That's what's it's like on The View post-Rosie O'Donnell.* Deprived of her physical power and unstable force field of personality--her solidly planted dissonance--The View panel is like a backroom meeting at the Bada Bing without Tony's presiding presence. Poor Barbara Walters looks stun-gunned as she occupies Rosie's place at the table like a parakeet in a birdbath; Joy Behar seems bereft, stuck between Walters' maternal platitudes and make-nice mouthings about celebrities (Paris Hilton's mother, such a trial these last days have been for her) and Elizabeth Hasselbeck's nattering chipmunk idiocies; and the guest panelists have brought nothing to the proceedings--even Kathy Griffin didn't look or sound comfortable fielding the caroms. Today there was a to and fro about evolution and faith that was so jejune and uninformed--the guest panelist said she hadn't read Darwin, but the Bible seemed good enough to her in explaining How We Got Here--that it made you feel that our education system has failed so badly we should just give up and let the Chinese take over the world until the next generation of robots is ready to assume rule. So much of belief in God the Creator is simply narcissism--a way of saying, Life must have transcendent meaning, otherwise why would I be here? How can the rich wonder of existence that is ME be the product of blind forces and cosmic chance? Don't try telling me I evolved from a primate and robbing me of the false dignity I've spent my entire life propping up, dammit!..."