so I gave in and bought another copy to tide me over until I can find the original copy. Then I'll give someone the new copy, or maybe just keep it in my purse in case I lose the old copy again. Either way, it doesn't matter because I'm not writing this to tell you what I'm going to do with my copies of EB White's essays. I'm writing this because I want to quote one of the essays. It's from 1941 and was written from a small cottage on one of the Florida keys.
"In the kitchen cabinet is a bag of oranges for morning juice. Each orange is stamped "Color Added." The dyeing of an orange, to make it orange, is man's most impudent gesture to date. It is really an appalling piece of effrontery, carrying the clear implication that Nature doesn't know what she is up to. I think an orange, dyed orange, is as repulsive as a pine cone painted green. I think it is about as ugly a thing as I have ever seen, and it seems hard to believe that here, within ten miles, probably, of the trees that bore the fruit, I can't buy an orange that sombody hasn't smeared with paint. But I doubt that there are many who feel that way about it, because fraudulence has become a national virtue and is well thought of in many circles."
See there? 1941. And he could be talking about politics in 2012.
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