Wallace Chapman’s simpering interview with Lee Child
Radio NZ National, Sunday 31 August 2014
Radio NZ National, Sunday 31 August 2014
A good deal of this morning’s programme has been taken up with analysis of the floundering National Party campaign, which is sinking after one of its dirty bombs backfired on it. But no doubt a lot of listeners would have been tuning in for the interview, after the ten o’clock news, with best-selling thriller writer Lee Child.
I’ve heard Child talking before, and I wasn’t exactly expecting a liberal or a deep thinker. But I didn’t think he’d be quite as depraved as he turned out to be. And true to form, Wallace Chapman acted like a slavering fanboy instead of a journalist. Following are some of the lowlights….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Born Jim Grant, he became Lee Child, best-selling author. His hero Jack Reacher travels light, armed with a toothbrush, a fierce sense of combat, and dishing rough justice, occasionally cropping up to help solve a crime. He is back, with a new book, calledPersonal. Reacher is on a mission to hunt down a sniper….
The first part of the interview concerns Child’s former job, working as a union organizer at Granada Television. According to Jim Grant himself, he was a real tough guy….
LEE CHILD: In a way we were like Reacher, you know, no holds barred, we did what we needed to do.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Hm hm hm hm hm!
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Hm hm hm hm hm!
Later…..
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Where does the character of Jack Reacher come from?
LEE CHILD: I just closed my eyes and typed the story, and Reacher is what came out. On reflection, clearly, he’s an ancient character. This is the mysterious stranger, the knight errant who shows up in the nick of time, solves the problem and then rides off into the sunset. We’ve seen this story over and over again through the centuries and I think Reacher is just a modern version of one of those guys.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: He’s a Robin Hood character, and obviously he must have some resonance. The people I’ve talked to here in New Zealand admire him. It’s almost like they KNOW Jack Reacher, including the CEO of this company, ha ha ha ha! He’s a —ha ha ha!—huge fan of the Jack Reacher character. People love it! I’m just wondering, is it also a little bit about the man against the world, or the person against the world? The fact that he is beholden to no one, kind of a warrior of justice, standing up for the little person.
LEE CHILD: I think that’s exactly what it is, and I’ve noticed that too, I mean New Zealand is the absolute world capital of Reacher madness.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: IS it?
LEE CHILD: Yeah, I have more fans there per head of population than anywhere, I think. And I think that must be because New Zealanders see themselves the same way, you know, rough and tough, wanting to stay out of trouble, but if the chips are down, they will do the right thing. And I think that’s really what resonates around the world. We would all like to do the right thing, we would like to be brave, and of course most of the time we CAN’T be, because you know you see some injustice at work and you can’t really do anything about it otherwise you’ll get fired too. Everybody is a little inhibited, scared here and there, and so to read in a book, this character doing what you’d really like to do yourself I think is inspiring.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Hmmmm. But it’s also that type of character who not only has a sense of fair play but oh my God is he tough! I’m just reading Reacher’s Rules, including: “Use a switchblade to slice the web of a guy’s thumb”… phwoar….
LEE CHILD: Ha ha ha ha ha!
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha! I mean: “Painful and real disincentive against holding pistols again until they have healed, which could be a long time depending on their approach to nutrition and antisepsis.” [nervously] Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
LEE CHILD: Ha ha ha ha! Well, that’s the thing with Reacher. He’s got a heart of gold, but he’s not a goody-goody. You know, he will get the job done in the most brutal way imaginable. Which I think also resonates with people.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha ha!
LEE CHILD: I mean, people are FED UP with all these rules—
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha!
LEE CHILD: I mean, if you want to do something, just DO it.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: [laughing timidly] Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. …. Another thing is the finely honed information that you have in your books. For instance I learned a lot about AK-47s, just a quote here, it’s fascinating: “What does the panicky grunt do under fire? He grabs his rifle and pulls the trigger. Our guns go from Safe to Single Shot to Full Auto, which is nice and linear and logical, but they knew that 99 times in a hundred, their guys would panic and ram the selector all the way home and thereby empty a whole magazine in a single hasty shot. So the AK’s selector goes SAFE then FULL AUTO, then SINGLE SHOT. Not linear, not logical, but certainly practical. …..[Pause to convey wonderment]….Who would have known?
LEE CHILD: I just closed my eyes and typed the story, and Reacher is what came out. On reflection, clearly, he’s an ancient character. This is the mysterious stranger, the knight errant who shows up in the nick of time, solves the problem and then rides off into the sunset. We’ve seen this story over and over again through the centuries and I think Reacher is just a modern version of one of those guys.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: He’s a Robin Hood character, and obviously he must have some resonance. The people I’ve talked to here in New Zealand admire him. It’s almost like they KNOW Jack Reacher, including the CEO of this company, ha ha ha ha! He’s a —ha ha ha!—huge fan of the Jack Reacher character. People love it! I’m just wondering, is it also a little bit about the man against the world, or the person against the world? The fact that he is beholden to no one, kind of a warrior of justice, standing up for the little person.
LEE CHILD: I think that’s exactly what it is, and I’ve noticed that too, I mean New Zealand is the absolute world capital of Reacher madness.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: IS it?
LEE CHILD: Yeah, I have more fans there per head of population than anywhere, I think. And I think that must be because New Zealanders see themselves the same way, you know, rough and tough, wanting to stay out of trouble, but if the chips are down, they will do the right thing. And I think that’s really what resonates around the world. We would all like to do the right thing, we would like to be brave, and of course most of the time we CAN’T be, because you know you see some injustice at work and you can’t really do anything about it otherwise you’ll get fired too. Everybody is a little inhibited, scared here and there, and so to read in a book, this character doing what you’d really like to do yourself I think is inspiring.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Hmmmm. But it’s also that type of character who not only has a sense of fair play but oh my God is he tough! I’m just reading Reacher’s Rules, including: “Use a switchblade to slice the web of a guy’s thumb”… phwoar….
LEE CHILD: Ha ha ha ha ha!
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha! I mean: “Painful and real disincentive against holding pistols again until they have healed, which could be a long time depending on their approach to nutrition and antisepsis.” [nervously] Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
LEE CHILD: Ha ha ha ha! Well, that’s the thing with Reacher. He’s got a heart of gold, but he’s not a goody-goody. You know, he will get the job done in the most brutal way imaginable. Which I think also resonates with people.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha ha!
LEE CHILD: I mean, people are FED UP with all these rules—
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Ha ha!
LEE CHILD: I mean, if you want to do something, just DO it.
WALLACE CHAPMAN: [laughing timidly] Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. …. Another thing is the finely honed information that you have in your books. For instance I learned a lot about AK-47s, just a quote here, it’s fascinating: “What does the panicky grunt do under fire? He grabs his rifle and pulls the trigger. Our guns go from Safe to Single Shot to Full Auto, which is nice and linear and logical, but they knew that 99 times in a hundred, their guys would panic and ram the selector all the way home and thereby empty a whole magazine in a single hasty shot. So the AK’s selector goes SAFE then FULL AUTO, then SINGLE SHOT. Not linear, not logical, but certainly practical. …..[Pause to convey wonderment]….Who would have known?
Later….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Tell me, Lee, why did you choose an American anti-hero?.. You’ve really taken America and American culture to heart, haven’t you!
LEE CHILD: I like America and I like American people. ….
LEE CHILD: I like America and I like American people. ….
A little later….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: Of all the fans the world over, Bill Clinton is a huge fan!
LEE CHILD: [reverently] He’s a huge reader of all sorts of books, a man of big appetites…..
LEE CHILD: [reverently] He’s a huge reader of all sorts of books, a man of big appetites…..
The fan interview continues for another fifteen minutes, but I’ll spare you the rest.
I just had to send Wallace Chapman the following email…..
Lee Child’s casual contempt for law and human rights
Dear Wallace,
After you quoted a nasty torture scene from one of his books, Lee Child chortled and replied: “Well, that’s the thing with Reacher: he’s got a heart of gold, but he’s no goody-good. He does whatever it takes to get the job done. People are tired of rules.”
That’s a casual endorsement of violent, lawless thuggery—and it’s especially ironic coming in the middle of a morning dominated by the revelations about the flagrant contempt for rules by our government and its henchmen.
I was concerned that you did not even so much as demur at what Lee Child said.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Northcote Point
