Yeah, it's probably this bad…
This is what happens when you stop looking at people for what you want them to be – when you stop freely giving the benefit of the doubt – crush those rose-colored glasses – and start looking at all people for what they more or less are. Some – more than a few, happy to report, actually – acquit themselves pretty well. It's important to give people almost every chance – but there is a line – and when it is crossed – there's no coming back.
Others fail miserably – they tend to be the resentful, hurt and confused ones – they can't overcome themselves so they lash out or undermine. Among that crowd – it's a big crowd – some of 'em will get through it if they recognize their plight early enough – once you get into the 30s – the lights begin to dim on this tiresome reality show.
So, that was the perspective which informs the following guesses about American social psychology.
$ American society is as Religious – i.e. fake – as it is because there is next to nothing else of alleged substance to latch onto in this society. We got all the Christian zealots from around the world – back in the day – and they raise their kids to be carbon copies – because they're cowards – the parents, then the kids. Spirituality is on the wane in America – religion is booming. Spirituality is personal, humble, quiet, gentle and kind; religion is public, arrogant, loud, resentful and cruel. That's why we're in trouble because, as Voltaire said: u2018when we believe in absurdities, we will commit atrocities.'
$ Gore Vidal calls it the u2018United States of Amnesia.' Radiohead did a record called u2018Amnesiac.' They get it – they strive to help us remember – not that many people are actually listening. The resentment hustlers don't know about the beauty in American history – they don't learn about it in school. The negations negotiate life blind – they say things like u2018there is nothing good in this world.' Have you ever heard anything so spoiled? Sometimes, everyone feels that way – but that's just surface emotion, often linked to trauma. The deep truth is that there is much good to look at in American history – it's one of many ways of grounding oneself without religion – without the sometimes noble lie. But to get there – you have to let go, you have to lose control for a while to attain it ultimately – and then and only then can you live free.
$ It's a Young country – a hodgepodge of people from all over – the elite knew very keenly from at least the 1900s that Myths would have to be mobilized to keep people in line while they were being exploited, working in factories alongside their exhausted children. Not much has changed. The kids are toiling at 16 now: for their dumb car – rather than at 12: so that their loved ones had scraps on the table. So, the elite had to recycle or confect u2018the shining city on the hill,' u2018God's country,' u2018the free market system,' u2018the greatest democracy in the history of the world.' Propaganda Lies like those… Once we actually were the greatest democracy on earth – we helped save the earth from fascism – now we’re the one’s exporting it. It hurts to know this: just as the tide rolls in, so too does it recede – one day, perhaps it’s today – revealing nothing, nothing but finely ground dirt.
$ Consumerism, which supplanted Christianity at the dawn of the affluent society in the 1950s, has now been enlisted by the religionists – the lumpen Judeo-Christer Supremacists. They'd nail Christ up again – in a heartbeat – if he dared to show his beautiful, long-haired, prostitute consorting, peace 'n love-preaching visage. Ken Lay would supply the nails, baby Bush would hammer 'em in – Grand Inquisitor Karl Rove would explain why it was necessary – to keep the American people safe from moral rot. And the crowd? They'd cheer, especially down Houston way. Jesus wept. Those nihilists hate what Christ really stood for – that's why they can't stop preaching at us how much they really luv him. The fundis fund the people who are putting us on our knees – the archetypal Christ killers – the serial thrillah militarists, the lying reactionary politicians, the crony capitalists. The Janus face of American society is there for all to see – the whole world knows it and is terrified – what happened to us that September morn? It's just us, stuck in the belly of the beast – who can't, or rather, won't look in the mirror.
$ The elites of all societies attempt to convince the masses that their country (they really mean state apparatus, but the masses often can't make the distinction) is somehow special, somehow Superior. The Chinese do it; the Japanese do it; the Germans used to do it. Americans? They ‘just do it’ the worst. Nowhere, in what passes for the West, is this retarded jingoism done more crassly, continuously and bipartisanly than in the U.S. The Democrats – as my father is wont to say – are marching into their own ovens – isn't that funny? Oh look, we can be Judeo-Christian supremacists too! Big ups Joe u2018no one wants to blow me' Liebermann & your randier DLC fellow travelers. We too can push corporate capitalism down your throats – export all your union jobs – and then they’ll wonder if it would be smart to ‘frame’ a fetus at you – to keep you mollified. It’s a domestic pacification program – no murders, not yet. The right wing of the Democratic Party almost hates Americans as much as almost the entirety of the Republican Party – Ron Paul and Chris Shays are the last of a dying breed – in a dying democracy. What the minute maid patriots out there don't get: when someone better than you is kissing your ass – watch your wallet – and keep your sons and daughters safe and sound. Keep them out of the imperial army – love and cherish them – don't let them kill innocents around the world – don't let them die a meaningless death. You’ll never forgive yourself.
$ In the socio-psychological sphere, all these lies transformed a once good people into the most Frightened, Insecure and Bewildered people on the planet. Sure, they think they u2018have it all' – all the stupid shit that they can't afford – but they sleep through their lives – cynically. Oscar Wilde said that a Cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. That's why Las Vegas is as popular as it is – it's the most grossly cynical place on earth – it's also now u2018family friendly' – go ahead, poison your children with it. You might as well; you're already poisoning them with the television you put in their room, the meds, your lack of love and attention – your default destruction of the life you brought onto this lachrymose planet.
$ In the individual psychological sphere – the most amusing sphere – they lash out at each other. They commit casual cruelty without even knowing it most of the time. They add to the u2018sado-masochism of every day life' – they subtract from our common humanity – they resent and dress it up as u2018help' – they'll stick a hatpin into your ear before you know what's trying to kill you – it tingles a little bit. They hate themselves – it's endemic. They hate their bodies, they hate their character, they think they have no soul, they can't help but hate those around them – it's just that they disguise themselves from themselves and hence, from us. They hide: behind book smart ‘intellect,’ behind smart smart ‘hedonism,’ behind escapist ‘free spiritedness,’ behind their empty ‘ideals.’ Ideals are lived, they are not chatted about at a bar. They can get you down – they can smash you – but, if you know what you're looking for – if you can see what some people are – you can protect yourself. You can be safe from harm – you can laugh at their foibles – you can try to help them even – if you can be bothered anymore. I could care less, but that would take too much effort.
April 18, 2005
Stephen Bender [send him mail] is a writer based in San Francisco. You can find more of his work at his website.
