Revelation
Update
New Jockeys, New Horses
by
Brian Wilson
by Brian Wilson
Remember those
"4 Horseman of the Apocalypse" (Rev 6:1–8) we’ve heard
so much about for-ever? Well, they’ve been re-placed.
Why? I dunno. Maybe it was a PR move. "Famine," "Plague,"
"Pestilence," "Death"….what downers! And anyway,
since John’s Technicolor vision thing, we’ve gotten Mickey D’s,
Penicillin, Handi-Wipes and cryogenics. Problem solved. A "Divine
Revelation" reduced to an "Irrelevant Revelation."
Move along…there are no 7 Headed, 10 Horn Beasts to be seen here….
This is not
to say we still aren’t in exceedingly deep fertilizer ("re-placed"
is not synonymous with "eliminated"). But instead of all
that messy "Horse and Plague" stuff, the death of the
Republic is dead ahead. Rather than galloping in on horseback, interrupting
our "American Eye-Dull" re-runs, the Four Bad Dudes are
proceeding apace with the same prophesied inevitability – just a
tad more insidious. Instead of horses snorting smoke and fire, they
arrive "on little cat’s feet." Unlike Sandburg’s "fog,"
they’re not just checking out the neighborhood and then "moving
on"; they have every intention of devastation at epidemic proportions.
To borrow a
phrase from Butch Cassidy, "Who are those guys?"
They are the
21st Century’s version of God’s "Backfield in Motion"
– although your moderately humble Scribbler suggests God had nothing
to do with the creation of these pariahs – but rather the Mad Scientists
back in the Free Will Society lab segregated in their cultural Petri
dish these new plagues now bringing The End inexorably closer.
Care to meet
them? Of course you do!
First, Contagious
Apathy. No doubt you’ve met before – possibly introduced as "Sloth,"
Number 4 on the "Deadly Sins" Least Wanted List. CA works
at a leisurely pace, "below the radar." His hero: Alfred
E. Neuman of "What, Me worry?" fame. Symptoms include
but are not limited to: Concern for vitally important matters and
the actions needed to address them are just not worth the time and
hassle. From stifling bureaucracies to non-responsive elected officials,
from "don’t get involved" to "you can’t fight city
hall"; from the blind eye-witnesses at the knifing of Kitty
Genovese to the national silence at the government slaughter of
the Branch Davidians, the scales of judgment. Lethargy spreads like
The Plague as "Be Prepared" morphs into "Who Cares?"
Who changed "Don’t tread on me" to "Don’t bother
me"? Contagious Apathy
Aggressive
Ignorance is a "CA" enabler. Rarely are the two not seen
occupying one host. Not surprisingly, Government Training Camps
(aka: Public School) have been the breeding grounds for this virus
and remain the central distribution point today. After years of
daily exposure (see also "compulsory attendance laws"),
there is now a near total national epidemic carried by generations
of Functional Illiterates. "Self- Esteem," once thought
to be a potential cure, was administered with such a heavy hand,
it was discovered too late to be an accelerant to a deeper, nearly
incurable infection. When combined with Contagious Apathy, Aggressive
Ignorance produces the toxic attitude of "I don’t know and
I don’t care." Usually, there is a sudden breakout of Baseless
Opinions. There is strong resistance to the only known antidote:
Accurate Knowledge.
Dredged up
from infancy on the coattails of Aggressive Ignorance is the self-centered
addiction to Instant Gratification. Long the province of hungry
babies and fits of impatience (Ex: "I WANT MY MAYPO!"),
the anticipation and satisfaction of Instant Gratification now infects
us all to some degree. For those who remember the 20 minutes it
once took to produce a baked potato, may now successfully command
the 4 Minute Micro-Waved Spud. From Instant-On TV (complete with
Butt-Spreading Remote Control) to the tantalizing satisfaction of
Instant Beemer Ownership Through Carjacking ("Save
for it? This gun sez I can have it now!"), sadly,
IG renders lessons from history helpless, hopeless and mute. Lacking
an appropriate and satisfying "fix" of Instant Gratification
sends the addict into fits of anger, frustration and pouting, resulting
in a serious infection of AG or CA (see above).
The White Coats
in the lab had to invent a word for Number 4: techno-narcissism.
Like Samuel Francis’ brilliant "anarcho-tyranny," it is
born of two mildly unattractive epistemological parents: "technology"
which has a history of taking us out of our comfort zone and the
ugly side of narcissism. Think: YouTube, Facebook and Myspace; see
also Texting and Twitter. The "Me" Generation has been
dumbed down to the All About Me generation but without the pesky
age restrictions. Just about EVERYbody has a Facebook page – don’t
you? Of course you do! The whole WORLD is just hesitating
on its axis to discover "What are you doing right now?"
I have one! It’s so fun – in a black-hole-of-wasted-time sorta way.
Everyone who has a Friend – or can spell Friend – wants to be my
Friend so we can share worthless, pointless nothing-ness with each
other and show off all our Friends, like so many merit badges! E-Mail
is so Last Week! I’m not on "ET" or in "People"
magazine (yet) – but I’m on Facebook and I can be seen and I can
be a Star and everyone will know, hear and see about MEEEE!
Thanks to OD’ing on Self-Esteem, no one is more important than ME,
right over here at the center of the universe!
Unfortunately,
there is a down-side to TN. With a possible connection to AI (above),
it comes with an unhealthy dose of existential nihilism, the philosophy
that dictates "Nothing existed before me and, therefore, only
those events experienced within my own existence have any meaning.
And only I can supply that meaning." This might explain the
actions of the Obama Administration, hell-bent on repeating the
pluperfect economic boners of Keynesian ideas despite their history
of absolute and destructive failure. Then again, current research
suggests it may just be the standard aberration of Political Hubris
brought on by an overwhelming majority in Congress, fawning media
and standing ovations.
More tragically,
our intrepid researchers have learned – like "Love and Marriage"
– "…ya can’t have one without the other." Yes, Aggressive
Ignorance alone may be cured with regular does of Accurate Knowledge
except when Contagious Apathy is present. Similarly, Instant Gratification
is the gateway to Techno-Narcissism.
These new "4
Horseman" are relentlessly spreading their galloping epidemic
across the country, building walls to awareness and understanding
only Pink Floyd could love. As you go through your day, watch out
for the early warning signs of infection in those around you: lethargy,
baseless opinions, boundless ego, eBay, iPods, "text neck,"
ferocious giggling.
Remember, in
both prophecy and plague, the pathogen isn’t as frightening as the
pandemic.
March
16, 2009
Brian
Wilson [send him mail],
nationally ignored talk show host and occasional LRC un-indicted
co-contributor, is currently annoying miniscule audiences in a number
of markets from his technically challenged studios safely outside
the dictatorship of Toledo. Brian may be endured from 3p–6p at www.wspd.com.
Copyright
© 2009 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in
part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
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