FRAN LEBOWITZ to WEIGH IN on the CONCEPT of NOW. But that was THEN, and this is ... a NEWER and (even) more FRAUGHT MOMENT. So we asked for her APPRAISAL on the CURRENT STATE of affairs: WHAT'S CHANGED, WHAT HASN'T, and why REVENGE is BEST SERVED when it DOESN'T DESTROY the foundations of WESTERN DEMOCRACY.

I BELIEVE pretty strongly that there is no now now. Because we live in an era—or you can say a moment, but it’s unfortunately longer than a moment—where things are not now.

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Then

They're either then or when. There doesn't seem to be a present.

WHEN PEOPLE SAY revenge isn't worth it, it’s not the best human response, that may be true. But I will tell you that any time I've been able to wreak vengeance on someone, I have found it to be delightful. Sometimes I'll see someone—I mean, not deliberately, but I'll see someone and I'll think, “Did you ever wonder why you didn’t get that fellowship?” I know. It was me. I know people say it's bad, vengeance and revenge, and politi- cally, not only is it terrible, it’s incredibly regressive. It’s incredibly undemocratic and it’s personal. I believe it’s always personal.

PEOPLE DREAD the future now-not everyone, I realize that—but you hear all the time all this horrible stuff that's going to happen. The planet is melting, and it is. There'll be no water. This I don't understand, but apparently there'll be no water. There'll be no water, or there'll be too much water, depending upon where you live. Al, which I don’t understand what it is, really, to tell you the truth. To me, it seems just like stealing. But everyone asks me all the time, are you afraid of AI? Are you worried about it? Maybe I'd be more worried about it if I understood it.

NOW

THINGS HAVE GOTTEN much worse. They will continue to get worse. They are much worse for everyone except Donald Trump.