The Swiss Disease: "Oh Won't You Please Take Me Home?"
Since the election, I have searching for the thread to pull that unravels the event and reveals the exigence; certainly, the material realities for the working class in this country was a big factor, and to some extent, racial and gender paranoias that handed the victory to Trump, despite polling, indicating a Clinton victory in a national example of the Bradley Effect.
South Park's 20th season has, thus far, been a meditation on nostalgia; Mr. Garrison, as a Trump style candidate, becomes President in part due to a toxic nostalgia in the form of addictive member berries. While Parker and Stone are not the first to observe nostalgia as a narcotic, what is interesting to me is that nostalgia, out of our usual usage, was considered a medical condition until the twentieth century.
Given that we now understand addiction as not a moral failing but a brain disease, I am not sure the torpor of nostalgia shouldn't garner a similar re-evaluation.
True, I am no addiction specialist, nor a medical doctor; I am nothing but a struggling academic, writer of occasional philosophic/philologic soy bombs, and rubbernecker at the self-immolation of the American Dream as Dumpster (Trumpster?) fire. So feel free to disregard this assessment of the current zeitgeist as the quintessence of nostalgia: Matthew 5:14 is Paradise City.
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There are studies that show conservatives are predisposed to racism and lower I.Q.s, and while that maybe true, it is also the confirmation bias of the smug liberal attitudes about conservatives, and is one of the reason we are all forced to inhale the burning milk carton smoke that is Trumpster Fire administration; the lazy reliance on essentialism.
People did not vote for, nor elect Donald J. Trump, because they were biologically determined to vote that way. It was not because of some variety of cognitive impairment; the numbers tell a different story. College educated whites, people making over 70 grand--all voted for Trump. This doesn't fit the "deplorables" narrative of rednecks as Trump's base.
Further contradicting the narrative is the unsurprising generational oppression factor; Baby Boomers voted for Trump.
The hell, you say?
The hell.
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As far as generations go, the Baby Boomers suck. They fought for Civil Rights, only to "grow up" and fight against Civil Rights. They protested the Vietnam War, and saber rattled us into Iraq. They turned self-expression into selfishness, individuality into individualism. For all the hippie ethos and Woodstock nation horseshit, when change didn't come easy, they cut their hair and ran into the arms of the Establishment. Instead of reforming the Establishment from the inside, they gutted it, and replaced it with a all-consuming obsession with personal freedom (theirs) as the hegenomy. They may have read Ginsberg in college, but they offered themselves to Moloch by the eighties.
Ironically, in terms of social safety nets, organized labor and infrastructure, the real liberals were their parents, who actually lived through real hardship. All the Boomers had do was make sure women, homosexuals and black and brown people had equal access to these things. That's it.
Instead, they decided to do "their own thing, man." The "we" became the "me". Remember the eighties? Remember Reagan? America as the shining city on the hill?
We built this city. On Rock N Roll!
The "we", of course, is in the royal sense.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In my 42 years, I've lived through the eighties at least twice: the first time, from the first grade until the ninth grade under St. Reagan of Santa Barbara, with all the terrible hair, fashions and gated drums and synth horns, not to mention the Cold War, Iran-Contra and the inflation of the bubble to burst twenty years later; the second time, at the turn of the Millennium, with Bush and the simulacra of the first era--which is funny, because the eighties were, in many ways, just the simulacra of the fifties, really, with some of the sixties and seventies that had been distorted from self-expression to self-regard. The eighties--and the oughts, were reactionary. After the upheaval of sixties, the disappointments of the seventies, and the post coke and disco malaise of the late seventies, America wanted its wubbie, and regressed to the jingoism, perceived moral absolutes and safety of the Boomer mediated 1950s, when men were men--unless they were black or brown or into other men--and women didn't utter the letters "ERA" unless they were asking their husbands about Fernando Valenzuela.
The second times, the reactionary wasn't baked into the election of 2000 and was not the zeitgeist, though it quickly became reactionary at September 11th, and re-regressed to the jingoism, adding received moral absolutes of the War on Terror (which, pronounced .by Bush, sounded like "Terra", as in, Earth, but whatever). Certainly, by this point, women, the LGBTQ community and Black and Brown people were pushing back against the reactionaries, as were youth seeking a more inclusive society. This push back came in the election of our first African American President.
But let's be clear; each period of reaction ideologically doubled down on the last. Reagan made Eisenhower look like Roosevelt, Bush made Reagan look Carter. We are entering another period of reaction, with an evident doubling down on ideology of the last. Thought Bush Cheney raided the treasury, appointed no-nothings, and promised dangerous incompetence on an epic scale? Have you been paying attention to the transition?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Washington State woman, born during Truman's second term, voted for Trump because she "gave up on hope" after Obama failed to fix four hundred years of capitalist-racist exploitation, again demonstrating why those of us in Generation X and younger think the tales of the Woodstock generation are mostly a dodge along the "I didn't sell out, I bought in" variety to justify how "do your thing" became "do my thing", how individual expression became rugged individualism, how "we" became "me"--or the royal "we", as it were.
Hollow as Jerry Rubins hocking vitamins. Yippie!
Hollow as David Horowitz "Academic Bill of Rights". O'er the Ramparts he watched.
I didn't sell out; I bought in.
When you buy in, you wanna protect your investment, ya see? And what could be safer than a return to when that investment was absolute virtue.
Given that we now understand addiction as not a moral failing but a brain disease, I am not sure the torpor of nostalgia shouldn't garner a similar re-evaluation.
True, I am no addiction specialist, nor a medical doctor; I am nothing but a struggling academic, writer of occasional philosophic/philologic soy bombs, and rubbernecker at the self-immolation of the American Dream as Dumpster (Trumpster?) fire. So feel free to disregard this assessment of the current zeitgeist as the quintessence of nostalgia: Matthew 5:14 is Paradise City.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There are studies that show conservatives are predisposed to racism and lower I.Q.s, and while that maybe true, it is also the confirmation bias of the smug liberal attitudes about conservatives, and is one of the reason we are all forced to inhale the burning milk carton smoke that is Trumpster Fire administration; the lazy reliance on essentialism.
People did not vote for, nor elect Donald J. Trump, because they were biologically determined to vote that way. It was not because of some variety of cognitive impairment; the numbers tell a different story. College educated whites, people making over 70 grand--all voted for Trump. This doesn't fit the "deplorables" narrative of rednecks as Trump's base.
Further contradicting the narrative is the unsurprising generational oppression factor; Baby Boomers voted for Trump.
The hell, you say?
The hell.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As far as generations go, the Baby Boomers suck. They fought for Civil Rights, only to "grow up" and fight against Civil Rights. They protested the Vietnam War, and saber rattled us into Iraq. They turned self-expression into selfishness, individuality into individualism. For all the hippie ethos and Woodstock nation horseshit, when change didn't come easy, they cut their hair and ran into the arms of the Establishment. Instead of reforming the Establishment from the inside, they gutted it, and replaced it with a all-consuming obsession with personal freedom (theirs) as the hegenomy. They may have read Ginsberg in college, but they offered themselves to Moloch by the eighties.
Ironically, in terms of social safety nets, organized labor and infrastructure, the real liberals were their parents, who actually lived through real hardship. All the Boomers had do was make sure women, homosexuals and black and brown people had equal access to these things. That's it.
Instead, they decided to do "their own thing, man." The "we" became the "me". Remember the eighties? Remember Reagan? America as the shining city on the hill?
We built this city. On Rock N Roll!
The "we", of course, is in the royal sense.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In my 42 years, I've lived through the eighties at least twice: the first time, from the first grade until the ninth grade under St. Reagan of Santa Barbara, with all the terrible hair, fashions and gated drums and synth horns, not to mention the Cold War, Iran-Contra and the inflation of the bubble to burst twenty years later; the second time, at the turn of the Millennium, with Bush and the simulacra of the first era--which is funny, because the eighties were, in many ways, just the simulacra of the fifties, really, with some of the sixties and seventies that had been distorted from self-expression to self-regard. The eighties--and the oughts, were reactionary. After the upheaval of sixties, the disappointments of the seventies, and the post coke and disco malaise of the late seventies, America wanted its wubbie, and regressed to the jingoism, perceived moral absolutes and safety of the Boomer mediated 1950s, when men were men--unless they were black or brown or into other men--and women didn't utter the letters "ERA" unless they were asking their husbands about Fernando Valenzuela.
The second times, the reactionary wasn't baked into the election of 2000 and was not the zeitgeist, though it quickly became reactionary at September 11th, and re-regressed to the jingoism, adding received moral absolutes of the War on Terror (which, pronounced .by Bush, sounded like "Terra", as in, Earth, but whatever). Certainly, by this point, women, the LGBTQ community and Black and Brown people were pushing back against the reactionaries, as were youth seeking a more inclusive society. This push back came in the election of our first African American President.
But let's be clear; each period of reaction ideologically doubled down on the last. Reagan made Eisenhower look like Roosevelt, Bush made Reagan look Carter. We are entering another period of reaction, with an evident doubling down on ideology of the last. Thought Bush Cheney raided the treasury, appointed no-nothings, and promised dangerous incompetence on an epic scale? Have you been paying attention to the transition?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Washington State woman, born during Truman's second term, voted for Trump because she "gave up on hope" after Obama failed to fix four hundred years of capitalist-racist exploitation, again demonstrating why those of us in Generation X and younger think the tales of the Woodstock generation are mostly a dodge along the "I didn't sell out, I bought in" variety to justify how "do your thing" became "do my thing", how individual expression became rugged individualism, how "we" became "me"--or the royal "we", as it were.
Hollow as Jerry Rubins hocking vitamins. Yippie!
Hollow as David Horowitz "Academic Bill of Rights". O'er the Ramparts he watched.
I didn't sell out; I bought in.
When you buy in, you wanna protect your investment, ya see? And what could be safer than a return to when that investment was absolute virtue.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anyway, GN'R could have--and probably do-- relied on the pumping middle aged fists wasted on
Member berries during the third verse of "Paradise City"--a verse rife with longing for return:
Captain America's been torn apartThe Trump supporter might assert that diversity, "PC" culture, feminism, Black Lives Matter and the usual bogeymen have torn apart Captain America, and that "the start" was the time before all of "this nonsense". Try the Member berries--they are delicious, imported from Switzerland, apparently.
Now he's a court jester with a broken heart
He said "turn me around and take me back to the start"
I must be losing my mind "are you blind?"
I've seen it all a million times
Yet this song was written during Reagan, and longs for time before the Reagan era's Ozzie and Harriet mediated past, but something else--perhaps not for past that ever was historically, or a mediated past that exists as subsequent simulacras, but the creed erasaed by mediation and simulacra.
In that case, it is not nostalgia at all, but a wistful remembrance of what could be, and the work we still have to do.
It's worth noting that GN'R are, demographically, on the bubble between Boomers and X'ers, so maybe that blows up my whole point.
Or maybe it doesn't.
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