Linden as a Human

I felt that this interpretation of our former president wasn't as offensive as many seem think.

Many people I've discussed this with have cited the ways in which Johnson is viewed as weak or obnoxious as reasons that this interpretation is disrespectful or diminishes Johnson's memory. I disagree with this assumption. If anything, i think that David Foster Wallace wanted to make Johnson more human by making him both sympathetic and relateable.

 The way that we have been trained to treat presidents does a few separate things to how we view them as people. For one, we are taught that the President represents the country as a whole. He is meant to be wise, respectable, and level-headed in his approach to everything. Because of this way we portray our leader, we also find ourselves unable to relate to them.

We work so hard to make them seem professional and focused that we could never picture them doing a normal everyday task. This habit has changed for the most part, with the development of larger journalistic groups and the advent of paparazzi, but for Linden Johnson, many still viewed him as a wholly serious individual.

Those who didn't respect Johnson despised him. His involvement in the Vietnam War made him the closest relateable image for protestors to latch on to. This meant that Johnson was only ever viewed as traditional strong or diabolical and heartless.

Wallace uses the human flaws and "gross" asides to take apart the concept of Jonson we all hold in our countries collective memory, smashing it to pieces like taking a sledgehammer to a statue. Wallace also serves to present a human Johnson by showing the man's reaction to many socially and emotionally pressuring situations, such as the protestors heckling him.

Wallace allows the reader to consider how they've viewed great leaders of the past. By presenting Johnson in a human and vulnerable context, he's reinforced the idea that no one person is beyond doubt, weakness, or vulnerability. Ideally, a reader should walk away from this book with a new perspective of politics and celebrity of today.