If you’ve lived any sort of life outside of the prefab, you have friends whom you have to explain. Most prominent among mine is conservative law scholar John Yoo, whose Wikipedia page ties him to government torture in its opening graph. There’s the movie centered on his transgressions that stars Adam Driver. And for years Yoo was the “reasonable” commentator on Fox who would also do The Daily Show.
Basically, his name rings bells in politically-awakened circles like top crack dealers did among cops on The Wire.
Obviously, I’d be more into having a top-tier notorious friend if he were in the mode of Oscar Ocosta or Luigi Mangione. But the person I have history with is the UC Berkeley professor, and the last time we had lunch in San Francisco I played things super low key, hoping all the while that no one would notice us.
That was two springs ago. Wildly different times.
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The audio excerpt above provides the proceedings’ general tone. At one point I tell my old Boston running buddy that I have moved him out of the bucket with the friend I suspect will be named as a Diddy abettor and into the one with Kamala Harris, whom I don’t know but from whom I need an epic Gaza apology if our relationship is to move forward.
That’s a good thing, needed it be said.
Friendship’s weird, right? My suggestion to you is to figure out your friendships, and fast, because we may soon need each other in ways that can’t yet be comprehended.
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