There was a link to a poem by John Updike the other day- "Perfection Wasted" which tries to get at the finite. I never connected to Updike like I did to Roth and other writers but maybe I was too young when I read him which was often the case. So much art is wasted on youth. No one will do your life again. "Who will do it again? That's it: no one;/ Imitators and descendants aren't the same." JU
On Jan 30, 5:48 am, "\"Lone Wolf\"" <[email protected]> wrote: > Edging into Madness > July 19th, 2008 ・ 2 Comments > > BY JOHN STEPPLING > > 7/19/08 > > Simulposted with The Greanville Journal and Voxpop > > MILITARISM REMAINS FRONT AND CENTER in western psychic life -- > especially in the US. There is at least a sort of anti-militaristic > backlash going on in Europe ( the Irish voting down the Lisbon Treaty > was at least partly against the military aspects of an EU super > state). In the US however the marketing of war seems to be ever > escalating. > > Here is a particularly creepy expression of it: > > http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/27/9923/ > > This is an easy sell for US government propagandists because western > culture has been so totally co-opted the last thirty years by US state > department and Pentagon PR. The audience has been softened up to the > degree that any jingoistic appeal to violent heroism is quickly lapped > up. Alongside this, of course, are the realities of life in the > administered world of advanced capital. The feelings of powerlessness > and, even more importantly, the mental vertigo born of capital's > extreme contradictions helps foster a real need for some form of > resentment-outlet. > > Let me give you another link: > > http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9430 > > I wrote a bit about Doomsday films last week, and one might add to > this -- rather obviously -- the trend in films about humans programmed > for super violence (to chart the road that leads from The Manchurian > Candidate to Wanted is quite telling I think). RoboCop was a sort of > benchmark I suppose, but even the Bourne franchise is really about > this de-humanizing proto robot-as-hero motif. > > The total irrationality of an attack on Iran really leaves one slack > jawed and stunned. Here I would suggest a reading of the final chapter > in Edward Said's classic Culture and Imperialism, a book ever more > relevant. The need for a threat from outside is the basic trope here, > and in a world where Imperialism and Colonialism continue unabated, > albeit in new clothes, it's easy to now demonize any resistance to > same as *terrorist*. The racism is clear enough in the entire Iran > nuke debate, since both Israel and US have quite a few nuclear > weapons. That's alright, we are the *West*, we need to take care of > the clueless towel heads around the world, those dark skinned coconut > eating poor people in crowded slums like Karachi, Lagos, Jakarta, or > Cairo. The knee jerk *truths* of today's capitalists include the end- > of-history types; those who see western technology as the ultimate > trump card in any argument about Imperialism. > > The madness of life in the suburbs of Connecticut or Omaha or Atlanta, > or LA is not examined -- even as it is lived. An overweight and > unhealthy populace that finds it harder and harder to pay the rent or > heating bills, will still scream its superiority to the poor of > Algiers or Port au Prince. The slum dwellers around the world, those > who live in a shadow society and are most decidedly *outside* are > gradually awakening as a collective, but they remain invisible to most > western eyes. If they appear at all in media, it's usually in the form > of some nitwit actress or singer taking a NGO tour of a refugee camp > and holding two black children while the photographers snap away. The > end of white western civilization cannot be better expressed than an > Angelina Jolie UN photo op in Africa. > > The system that is destroying the planet cannot continue to reproduce > itself, and the waste economy is slowly reaching fail safe because > it's (per Don Rumsfeld) running out of targets. Despite the overthrow > of the Soviet Union, the rabid anti-communism of western media has > actually escalated because somewhere in the toxic corners of the > collective Bilderberg Id is the understanding that the slums of Sao > Paulo and Calcutta are awakening and forming a new culture, and that > culture is inherently socialist. Socialism springs to life when people > cannot fail to see, even in the midst of exhausting daily struggle, > the inequality around them. > > The media ever more desperatly tries to sell products about the super > rich, the lifestyles of the rich and stupid, but the frisson isn't > there, not quite, because my heating bill just went up 200% and > because another kid went ballistic at the local high school, and > because corporate reality makers are having a harder and harder time > hiding the poisons of their products -- the pseudo food and the > recreational junk. The biggest growth industry in the US is self > storage. What does that tell us? Junk we don't need, food we can't > live on, and a more desperate embrace of super violence and death. It > is the last gasp of a people screaming their own superiority, even as > they fail at almost everything. > > When a people begin to accept and even desire the madness of self > destruction, we are close to the edge. > > Senior Editor John Steppling is Cyrano's VOXPOP editorial director. > His essays on culture, politics, cinema and theater have appeared in > numerous venues across the Internet. > > Share and Enjoy: > > 2 responses so far ↓ > 1 avalon // Jul 20, 2008 at 4:09 pm > > Let's see, Angelina Jolie is a spokeswoman for the U.N. and aid > agencies and in this vein of world peace, portrays violent assassins > on film. Sounds like one of your hypocritical, dumb bimbos if you ask > me. > 2 Nikon // Jul 21, 2008 at 8:23 am > > Great commentary; hard hitting truths. I feel the dystopia, I see the > dystopia, and I live in the dystopia here in the good 'ol USA. We are > irreversibly doomed as a nation and the evidence that the end is very > near is just looking at the two pre-selected presidential candidates. > Either one of those guys will finally put this horse out of it's > misery......and that might not be such a bad thing after all. > > The USA was born out of violence and warfare by greed-fueled > Europeans, first against the Indians, then against each other, to > nowadays against every living human being in the USA and the world. > There's no way the American "experiment" was ever going to end up in a > good place. God will have his vengeance but, hopefully, He will have > mercy on us somehow. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. 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