Thoughts after first read of this book here.

Obviously I’ve subverted nothing. I mean, come on. How can worst-writer, leader of the uselesseater union of the world and advocate for forced early retirement (as long as the women-folk and their feminism pay for it), subvert anything? Unless, of course, subversion is defined by how one throws stale German Brötchen against an unfurnished wall in order to measure the velocity of freshness. But all über-seriousness aside.

There has been another exuberant display of bat$hittery in my beloved #Americant. The display, for whatever worst-reason, made me re-read Chris Hedges’ book. The exuberance? A nineteen year old pre-perpetual man-child, i.e. a teenager with an AR-15, is yet another example of growing up in consume-to-survive meaninglessness run amok. Never before has born-to-die been so obvious. It’s what #Americant provides. Nothing. Nothingness. Nothing else. And then death by an almost cult following of the act of killing. Considering future perspectives of so many man-children and their trigger fingers, the new measurement of achievement in their useless lives corresponds to under-achievement. Which raises this question: what’s it like to live in a cult-of-death run by Haves so spiteful towards Have-Nots? Or. Put another way. The only way a man in #americant can find meaning is if he subjects himself in a slave-like manner to the whims of both biology and greed. Biology and greed, if you don’t know, are the main ingredients of mindlessness and/or WWE-TV.

Enter Religion.

When I refer to a nineteen year old, I’m obviously referring to the latest mass shooter in my beloved #Americant. As usual, the dumbed-down voting populace of the united mistakes of #americant will be no better informed about WHY these types of killings take place so it really means little to go beyond there being a nineteen year old with a military-grade weapon who can run around like all deplorables should. I, for one, am still asking questions about what the hell happened at the last mass shooting in Las Vegas. Not many answers there. And so. We’re all deeply ill-informed about HOW-WHY these things happen. Yet we are overwhelming informed about AR-15s and the fatness of Kim Kardashian (she is so disgusting looking I’m worst-surprised I could type her name). Btw, it’s never about how one can buy an AR-15 or gluttonous ammunition or extended magazines, etc. Nea. It is about something else. Go figure. But I digress.

“The decline of America is described as the result of the decline of male prowess.” -Chris Hedges, American Fascist

I guess I decided to re-read American Fascist because, well, criticism of the political right is the only way I know how to deal with this stuff. Indeed. After every mass shooting I blame republicans because of how they’ve perverted conservatism. I mean, I hated conservatism back in the day of W. Buckley. But at least Buckley & Co. weren’t totally bat$hit. Of course, without Buckley & Co. there wouldn’t have been Dubya & Co. and now President Stupid Comb-Over. Also. I don’t blame republicans because they’re the easiest to blame–especially when it comes to the free-for-all of mass shootings. I blame then because they are sore winners of the worst type. And when I say “winner” I mean winning in the race to the bottom. Congratulations, suckers.

Religion loves all.

For those stuck in the world of #americant bothsiderism, i.e. blaming both the Democrats and Republicans as equals for #americant’s ills, there is no rational discourse. These are the people who would like to be republican but are unable at a minimal level to see through all the craze. I suppose bothersiderists have speck of rational thought left–I’ll give them that. Yet, when I question bothsiderists I’m invariably faced with the issue of religion. Specifically the perversion of religion–which is best exemplified in my beloved (and missed) #americant through eyes of utter terror and fear and an ice-cream cone filled with pistachio banana chocolate and briefly named Daisy by the child carrying it. With that in mind, three things seem to intertwine in my worst-writer brain when I search for the blame.

• Money
• Power
• Religion

Pretty simple list, eh? Keep in mind that the above list is not in any particular order. Also, obviously, the other side of the political spectrum lusts after the elements in the list, too. The difference, though, is that in my lifetime taking each one to new, higher levels via über-greed is the result of so much complacency or, as I like to put it: consume-to-survive. Of course, in the context of this post, the only item from the list that is truly relevant, and that which drove me to re-read this book, is religion. Not unlike the radicalised issue of abortion (or forcing women to be subjects of wannabe men-Gods), these people are not different than a mob with torches trying to hunt down a monster they don’t understand and will kill everything to get to it.

And so.

The man-boy that shot-up the school, killing seventeen of his peers, obviously wasn’t near money or power. But he was very and most certainly near religion. Now, I’m not saying that he was religious. I have no clue if he was or not. It’s just that when you don’t have money or power (or even if you do) then all that’s left for you is belief, faith, blind-will. To me, these mass shootings are all intertwined with the three elements listed above as utilised by men-boys who govern. When considering all the hate I feel for right wing politics, religion is the one that gets under my gander the most and it should not be given a free-pass just because someone saw a painting of a bloodied Jesus standing with a slit-throat lamb.

“Fundamentalism is the religion of those at once seduced and betrayed by the promise that we human beings can comprehend and control our world. Bitterly disappointed by the politics of rationalised bureaucracies, the limitations of science, and the perversions of industrialisation, fundamentalists seek to reject the modern world, while nevertheless holding onto these habits of mind: clarity, certitude, and control” -Karen McCarthy (as quoted in American Fascist by Chris Hedges.)

I’m betting that the WHY of these shootings is being systematically suppressed because the powers-that-be know full well that if words gets out about the true state of affairs of a once great nation that has so many mass shootings there will be mayhem of an apocalyptic scale never seen before–but wished for by religious $hitbags. Just read the last chapter of the New Testament. The difference to Biblical apocalypse, though, will be that the rich will finally have to pay. That is, Money and Power are tolerating Religion right now because the latter provides a brilliant filter, screen, airport security check–for the masses of Deplorables #Americant has become. For you see, dear worst-reader, by controlling the story, the narrative of a world where EVERYTHINGISWRONG, you control the meek, i.e. Deplorables.

“Since life has a way of not respecting these artificial lines, since ambiguity, inconsistency and irrationality are part of human existence, the only way believers can push forward is to pretend that these troubling aspects of our internal and external reality do not exist. They create a parallel reality, one that allows them to escape from reality-based world into world of their own creation.” -Chris Hedges, American Fascist

When you live a life of EVERYTHINGISWRONG where do you turn when the guns start slinging? Money. Power. Religion. You pay your money. You subject yourself to power. You fall for the Deity standing above you with his shinny halo and birch leather seat and a cock the size of your best mind. He tells you to contribute to his church and you do so. You reach in your wallet, digging into the forest within and you find a small toy out of your childhood that reminded of how things once were. How simple they were. Of a time when ice-cream didn’t feel so bad after it was consumed and excreted. The world you’ve created in your hiding place isn’t enough so you go deeper. Your wallet is big enough, it is empty enough. The green forest now brown within is a lost place and when you go to the next window to ask for direction you meet another salesman who tells you your credit cards aren’t full yet. So you switch from your wallet to your credit card. The forest within isn’t as greedy but it is as blinding. And the next methamphetamines fix is good.

“The hierarchy fears romantic love. Love, especially eroticism, in its most passionate, romantic form, threatens the iron control of the church leader. In Freudian terms, romantic love allows the id or the “it,” to be unleashed in a drive to satisfy uncontrollable passions. Restrain and self-control over these desires and passions are disarmed by romantic love.”. -Chris Hedges

I know it make no sense to go in this direction, but one thing that really struck me from my first reading of this book was Chris Hedges POV of love. Through out the book he refers to the act of love as an extension of God but also of people. He writes about how his father was accepting of gays and how homosexuality is not something to fear. I got the feeling that true love is embedded in Hedges’ religion as means of acceptance and tolerance. What a nice thing, eh! Indeed. Love. The way it should be treated/used/accepted. Of course, if one spent any time at all with deplorables, one also knows the vehemence against gays or even a wrong look at one’s wife. The insecurity of sexuality is rampant among conservatives. It’s as though Biblical fig leaves have become brain cells. And so. Perhaps there is a fourth element, sexual repression, that should join Money, Power, Religion. But for now I’ll leave it out.

Rant on.

-T

Links:
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Act_of_1918

The chapters of this book are titled Days Of…

• Theft
• Siege
• Devastation
• Slavery
• Revolt

Each chapter of this book takes place in a particular city or town of my beloved #americant. Each chapter goes deeper than the previous into the negative of what makes a once great country no longer great again. And each chapter features characters that were interviewed by Chris Hedges.  But before I get into the good, first this. The only problem I have with this book is 1) other than the chapter Days of Revolt, it doesn’t really inform (me) about what is going on back home that I didn’t already know and 2) the comics–or as others might put–the graphic novel sections of this book–felt to me to be more in the way than on the way. I guess I’m not a fan of comics–sorry, graphic novels. But I am interested in reading and/or owning the graphic novel Watchmen–and I already own Maus. But I digress.

I read Hedge’s American Fascist and Empire of Illusion a few years ago. Since then I’ve been reading his articles on truthdig.com. Unfortunately, not much from his books have stuck with me. That’s not because of Hedges, though. In fact, I’m a big fan of his speeches that are numerous on youtube. It’s just that, well, I guess I’ve started to lose my intellect. Either that or I just don’t give a sh*t anymore (about certain things). I suppose, in a way, I can easily blame such a loss on the frequency that I visit my beloved #americant or the amount of stuff I read about it (her)–which has been quite a bit since my step-father past and my mother isn’t getting any younger and #eurowasteland politics bores the krapp out of me. Indeed. Each visit to my beloved homeland has been scarier and scarier and scarier. My most recent visit, just last month, set new heights regarding what can come of a nation suffering from something that is no less than pathological. America really is starting to look and feel like a land of zombies. In fact, I bought Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt to accompany the trip.

I managed to read two-thirds of the book on the flight to PHL and within the first few days of my arrival. Then I got sick as a dog as the weather in Maryland was worse than in Germany. I mean, I froze my butt off the first few days I was there. And it’s not that I’m not used to cold weather. I guess I’m not used to going from far north Germania, where it was warm, to somewhat southerly Atlantic coast Maryland and freezing my a$$ off. So. Yeah. I got sick. And then I got caught up in the all work I’m supposed to do when visiting my mom. It’s just that my sickness didn’t want to go away. Of my two week visit, I was out of it for almost ten days with the worst head-cold and flu that I’ve had in years. I ended up finishing this book when I got back to Germany. But, again, I digress.

By-the-bye, I got lost in Camden, NJ, once, which is featured in one of the chapters of this book, after I switched my Atlantic flight destination from Dulles Airport to PHL (from Frankfurt). Back then there was no GPS to guide me and I made a few wrong turns leaving PHL and the next thing I know I’m in NJ. Aghast! Other than the panic that ensued being a caucasian driving a rental car through Camden, I remember vividly the landscape of #americant that was nothing new to me. It was just another broken place. In fact, a city like Camden looked as familiar as the small coal mining town my step-father grew up in that has been decimated like any other with mine and plant closings galore. To me, these places are all part of Reganomics and neoliberal greed politics that #americants have been voting for–a world that I was able to get out of so many years ago. As I follow all the goings-on back home, it’s sometimes hard to have mercy on those who are obviously too stupid to see what they are doing to themselves. I guess, in a way, I saw it all coming–first hand! Camden, NJ, is everywhere in the US. It’s everywhere there’s an abandoned strip mall, more potholes than asphalt on highways, it’s in every dive-bar where jaundice drunks occupy the rundown churches as much as the rundown Walmarts and every–EVERYONE!–is screaming about making something great again. Yes. Everywhere.

With that in mind, this book didn’t do much for me on the learning front. Except for the last chapter. Indeed. The last chapter, Days of Revolt, saved this book because I haven’t read enough about the Occupy Movement that, to me, seemed to come and go as fast as a rational thought on #americant cable TV news.  On top of that, Hedges manages to make a connection that has been lingering in the back of my mind for years. When people ask me “why Germany” I usually just tell them it’s because of the girls and the beer. But sometimes I’ll break down and give them the real reason. It was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that brought me to my expatriation–because I was right in the middle of it. And it was not just the joy of living in the end of the Cold War. It was the fact that the idear of authoritarian rule was finally gonna end. In those days I never thought in terms of America being the centre of the universe–whether it’s great or great-again. To me, the idear of how the people in Eastern Europe were able to discard the authority of The Soviets without violence was beyond mesmerising. Never in my wildest childhood Cold War dreams did I think it could happen. And even though the whole movement didn’t start in East Germany, the fall of that Wall will forever be my beacon. And then there’s the connection I started to make–not unlike Hedges makes in the final chapter of this book.

A quarter century has passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Neoliberalism is rampant and unabated in the western world not unlike an opposite ideology was rampant in Eastern Europe thirty years ago. The result of having gotten rid of the authoritarian rule of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union hasn’t quite turned out to be what it should be. Or? In my worst-opinion, the west has become the thing we defeated. Hedges manages to see this in the last chapter of this book. And so. I’ve always wondered where are the revolutionists that would call out the West for what it has become. Is that revolutionist Chris Hedges? It might just be. Or was it the movement that came and went with the Wall Street Occupiers in Liberty Square, NY, in 2011? I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that there is a heavy irony when considering what #americant has done to itself and subsequently the world since the fall of the Soviet Union. Just look deeply at our response to September 11, 2001, including the subsequent largest government expansion since… And check out those bank bailouts and the amount of consumer credit run amok. And then there’s the recent election that has given the world Trump & awe….

Why has no one been able to see the connection to a not-so-distant past with all that has happened in this still somewhat young new century? Ok. At least Chris Hedges has seen it. I think I have too. So. What the heck. Let history repeat itself.

Good luck suckers.

Rant on.

-t

Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges

So. Like. When did the intellectual demise of America begin? Could it have begun with the invention of American morality? Wait. Focus. Two things in two sentences that are incompatible. Intellect and morality. I know, I know. To many, America was never really a mecca of intellect to begin with. It is a place of commerce mixed with playboys, a lot of ditch diggers and fun-galore. Hidden behind all that is morality. You know, “In God We Trust” is printed on the money and ironically is all that American churches are about. Combine moneyed morality with a populace of ditch diggers who all want to be playboys and the skill of mastering the shovel is all that’s left. For the new shovel, dear worst-reader, is the same as wearing a corporate badge or a flag on your lapel. Which means that you have to have an advance degree in shoveling, earn your spot of shovel opportunity first, and then go about your bidness of making a living while laughing (or choking) at those who never found their way to the shovel. Indeed, American morality plus intellect equals a melting pot of spectacle, triumph and… illiteracy.

Being a land defined by commerce and über-fun can be confusing. I mean, there is more to life than that, right? Plus, America is a big country. And we were all raised to believe that there is more to America than the deeds of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison or Joe Blow supporting the local little league team and everybody getting a paycheque. America was once a land of makers, of doers, it had a backbone, and it wasn’t afraid of its or anyone else’s shadow. But then something happened,  something drastically changed. That change was a realisation where, not unlike a cartoon where the chaser suddenly finds himself without a floor to stand on, we see a vast and empty chasm below. Like a baby just born we wiggle and wriggle, our limbs cold and dank, we are waiting to fall to the bottom where the difference between the 99% and the 1% might finally be clear. The only problem is, unlike that cartoon where the coyote returns to chase his speeding bird, we can’t return because we are all obsessed with the politics of playboyism and in God We Trust. Illusions be damned.

The book is titled “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.” Chris Hedges starts out by describing how WWE has changed from the day of portraying villainous Soviets or Iranians (cold war and hostage crisis) wrastling truth & justice to today where corporate CEOs “fight” down-on-their-luck wrastlers who have been beaten by the economy. Even though I haven’t seen a wrastling match in over thirty years that’s quite a shift in themes and characters. So dunce audiences still lap up this krapp unaware they are paying to stare into a mirror? What am I asking? Of course they don’t know. Further analysing the spectacle of what blinds America to reality, Hedges adds some great insight into Jerry Springer and Oprah, which to worst-writer are two shows that should, by law, be shown back-to-back 24×7 on their own channel. The channel, btw, should be called “You’re A Fucking Idiot Channel”. But Hedges doesn’t stop there with providing examples of our illusions and the spectacle that is: In God We Trust.

Let’s move on, dear worst-reader, to the darker side of American intellect and morality. It is the part of America that is hidden in plane sight. Chris Hedges focuses on gonzo pornographyand the detail he writes about it is at times disturbing. Keep in mind that Mr. Hedges, according to his bio, graduated from Harvard Divinity School. (The conflict of intellect and morality starting to become real yet?) Hedges details gang-bangs, facials and anal penetration and then connects it all to a young girl who is not very fond of having those things done to her. Surprised? I wonder if she reads In God We Trust on the dollars she’s paid. I mean, is there anyone out there who doesn’t know the obvious: porn objectifies women and frequent porn consumption probably indicates a deeper psychosis than just a lonely guy who can’t get what he wants from his wife. There were a few moments where I thought about skipping this chapter because I kept getting the feeling that Hedges wasn’t the right person to be detailing this stuff. He is, obviously, a man of great intellect and morality. You would think that with such capacities he would know better than to dwell in this subject. It just doesn’t seem necessary to be part of this book. But I pushed on through the chapter and when I was finished it helped me realise the books only fault. Hedges thinks that there is a connection between intellect and morality.

Titillation aside, there is one other thesis in this book that grabbed me. According to Chris Hedges, America’s demise started before Reagan. This comes as a surprise to worst-writer because Hedges says that the real problem started at the end of the Vietnam war, around 1973, and coincided with the first oil crisis. And even though I never considered it this way, right off the bat, I have to agree with Mr. Hedges. It makes a lot of sense to claim that our demise began even before Reagan’s rampant shop-till-you-drop mindset of the 80s set in. It was the the oil crisis that made America turn to credit in order to afford not only gas but everything else. Reagan simply took the next step in our consume-to-survive world and facilitated it all with government policy. Of course, the only way to make Reaganomics really work is to have a populace the lusts after not only porn but Oprah, Jerry and wrastling. But I still don’t make the connection Hedges’ makes between intellect and morality. Nomatter.

In worst-closing, this book is a great read–even though worst-writer thinks America’s problems are not about illusion but more about delusion. Hedges’ connection between intellect and morality also doesn’t work for me. And. If people want to watch WWE and porn, so what. Does Hedges’ morality also want to take away Mickey Mouse? Beyond that, I’ll go as far as to say that porn could provide a service to mankind that no bird-and-the-bees talk ever could. At the least, in an overpopulated world, the control exercised in the so-called money-shot or facial is a great way to add yet another layer of protection to coincide with contraception. The only bad side I can find of pornography and WWE is how one facilitates disease, the other means there has to be a faux newz network. But then again, could girls really get used to facials which would surely darken their princess illusion that there really is such a thing as romantic love or love-ever-after?

Rant on.

-tgs-