R E C E N T L Y Forget Foucault; remember the facts (11/04/98) The dangers of the gay agenda Plus: Elizabeth Dole, Ayn Rand and Grace Jones (10/28/98) Take your thinking elsewhere! (10/21/98) Do Bill and Hillary swing? (10/13/98) Enough with the "male gaze"! (10/07/98) - - - - - - - - - - A L S O About Camille Paglia Ask Camille archives - - - - - - - - - - C O L U M N I S T S Sexpert Opinion By Susie Bright I'll write the book of love (10/09/98) The Reluctant Capitalist By Heather Chaplin Halloween's hollow spree (11/06/98) Left Hook By Joe Conason Head of Newt: Will Gingrich pay if Republicans blow the election? (11/03/98) Unspun By Steve Erickson The amazing disappearing Newt (11/11/98) Right On! By David Horowitz Baa baa black sheep (11/09/98) Mr. Blue By Garrison Keillor Have I become one of those people William Bennett scorns as having no moral compass? (11/03/98) Word by Word By Anne Lamott Mother rage: Theory and practice (10/29/98) Media Circus By Susan Lehman I wrote about Michiko Kakutani and lived to tell the tale (11/05/98) On Television By Joyce Millman Dancing with the Television On (11/09/98) Under the Covers By James Poniewozik Weep and read it (11/10/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Profiles in cluelessness (11/10/98) Home Movies By Charles Taylor Camp Classic (11/09/98) Second Thoughts By Sallie Tisdale Should a boy be expelled for thought crimes? (11/05/98) Salon Columnists - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.

A S K_C A M I L L E +|+ C A M I L L E+P A G L I A --- Online advice for the culturally disgruntled --- Can actors (or wrestlers) be great leaders? AND DOES IT HELP IF THEY HAVE NAMES THAT RING LIKE THE HAMMER BLOWS OF THOR? Dear Camille: Forget Gloria La Riva and the Peace and Freedom Party in California. Let's congratulate Minnesota Governor-elect Jesse Ventura (of WWF and "Predator") and the Reform Party. Is it only in recent American history (and I guess the Philippines, where action star Joseph Estrada is president) that actors have played a noticeable role in politics? Ronald Reagan is just the obvious tip of the iceberg. There's Sonny Bono, Clint Eastwood and Fred Thompson of Tennessee, to name a few. Were there actor-politicians in antiquity? And are they a sign of our inevitable political decay, or proof of 20th century American progress? Curious in Texas Dear Curious: Jesse Ventura's stunning election as governor of Minnesota last week is exactly the kick in the pants that our ossified two-party system needs. But the Ventura victory was regrettably overshadowed by another shocker, the fall of that puling narcissist, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich -- for which hecatombs of thanks must be burnt to Cleisthenes, founder of Athenian democracy. A letter to this column signed Another Third Party Booster rightly celebrates former Navy SEAL and ex-wrestler Ventura as "fresh, dynamic, and a true political outsider" and goes on to observe: "Talk about masculine confidence: a straight male politician with the balls to support gay marriage!" Apologies to Booster and other readers who protested that by commenting in Salon's speedy election-night coverage only on the New York senatorial race I had uncharacteristically surrendered to "typical East Coast media myopia." However, unlike some pundits, I refuse to make judgments on network projections based on exit polls; by democratic principle, I wait for actual precinct reports, which show us the will of the electorate unmediated by journalists and pollsters. Please blame our majestic American transcontinental time zones! While Ventura's victory delights me in one way -- by encouraging voters to use their power to challenge the status quo -- it worries me in another. Ventura's sexual persona is that of the "strong man," a Hercules-like Mr. Clean who sweeps in to shovel out the Augean stables and hose the old guard down the sewer. There are unnerving precedents in dynamic Hellenistic-era Eastern Mediterranean dictators and modern-day figures like the smooth-pated, initially very efficient Mussolini, who made the trains run on time. Alas, to your question -- "Were there actor-politicians in Antiquity?" -- there is indeed a dark answer: Nero. In the section on imperial Rome in "Sexual Personae," I argued that Nero and Caligula, with their mesmerizingly chameleonic David Bowie/Joan Crawford theatricals, demonstrated how ostentatious self-actualization and good government are mutually exclusive. All politicians are actors to some degree in the ceremony of public life, but they must have basic integrity -- that is, quiet inner unity and continuity of self. I wish Ventura well. But just as Gingrich needed to mature (and did not) once he advanced from House insurgent to speaker, so must Ventura quickly shift personae and focus on the tedious, make-or-break task of appointing staff and senior advisors. Ventura is a hot-blooded, gladiatorial Mark Antony type who will need cold-blooded administrative geeks to do the day-to-day business of the state. Management is a difficult organizational skill that, were American education on track, would be taught in every high school. The hopes and dreams of third-party supporters everywhere are invested in Ventura's success. But can he delegate authority, and does he have the instinct to gather reliable policy guides? President Clinton, for example, is a gifted politician with terrible judgment in appointments who has had to be saved again and again by his virago wife. May Jesse Ventura prosper, unbowed and unhenpecked! Dear Camille: An old column of yours about Prozac came to my mind the other day. I live in Houston, associate with 40ish professionals of all the major ethnic varieties (this city isn't as segregated as the North and East) and have noticed that the women seem to be on anti-panic drugs like Xanax and Buspar. The men are on antidepressants -- I don't remember the names -- and the kids on Ritalin or other behavior-modifying/controlling drugs. I just live my moods and try to relish them, since they show me that I'm alive. That doesn't seem to be an acceptable alternative. The "crises" the pharmacies are treating look to me like panicked women, depressed men and sedated children. All of whom are numbing themselves so that nothing matters very much. I think that's their reaction to their basically empty lives. The other undercurrent I keep sensing is men who are withdrawn emotionally and sexually from their wives. Husband sleeping down the hall is something I hear women talking about to one another. I think it's connected to the drugs. Bob Davidson Dear Mr. Davidson: You paint a horrifying and all-too-true picture of American life. Something has indeed gone very wrong in the collective unconscious. History shows again and again that when material needs are met in a society, psychological disturbances like anomie and abulia come to the fore. Paradoxically, as America has become more affluent, our educational system has become more impoverished. The rampant automedication (or forced drugging, in the case of Ritalin) is a symptom of spiritual malaise. Without moods -- which you rightly "relish" -- no one will ever make interesting or lasting art. My platform for cultural redemption is arts-centered educational reform. We must take America back from the pharmacies! N E X T_P A G E | What's in a name?