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roachboy · 09-05-2008, 03:16 AM

country first
america first is an obvious echo. i'm a bit surprised that the republicans would go rummaging about in the bag of old-school jingoism because typically they've been pretty adept at repackaging jingoism so it appears to be identity.

it's also obvious a wedge-political meme: link it to the recurrent persecution motif in the context of which the rightwing Everyperson is endlessly put upon by an Evil Coastal or Urban elite. this plays to evangelicals' sense--which is staged discursively in bible and other novels---that they are a small set-upon community of the Righteous chosen by god to carry out important missions in babylon (a term they do not use--i like to this that follows from the fact that it echoes rastafarian political language and so is a contaminant).

oddly (or not) this imagery of Victimization which overrides Context is the center of mc-cain's autobiography as reprocessed into a campaign narrative. so if you want to play the allegory game, mc-cain the prisoner is the republican base under george w bush...no wait, that doesn't work does it? mc-cain the hero who endures Torture is the ultimate victim, and his situation as presidential candidate the triumph of the Victim, and so is itself an echo of the Redemption Narrative behind the far-right-faithful-as-victim-of-babylon narrative.

what is surreal, not only in this instance, but in the republican campaign more generally, is the extent to which this meme-structure positions the faithful--you'd think the past 8 years have not been republican-controlled. you'd think the bush administration from another dimension.

in a context of endless repetition, what is repeated comes to shape the past in the image of itself. in a context of endless repetition, the far right was never in power, remains a minority, is not an organized political machine--the biggest and most powerfully organized political machine to emerge over the past 30 years. instead, they are staged as a small, isolated band of the righteous out there in ruralia. only what is repeated is real.

09-05-2008, 03:16 AM	#23 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	country first america first is an obvious echo. i'm a bit surprised that the republicans would go rummaging about in the bag of old-school jingoism because typically they've been pretty adept at repackaging jingoism so it appears to be identity. it's also obvious a wedge-political meme: link it to the recurrent persecution motif in the context of which the rightwing Everyperson is endlessly put upon by an Evil Coastal or Urban elite. this plays to evangelicals' sense--which is staged discursively in bible and other novels---that they are a small set-upon community of the Righteous chosen by god to carry out important missions in babylon (a term they do not use--i like to this that follows from the fact that it echoes rastafarian political language and so is a contaminant). oddly (or not) this imagery of Victimization which overrides Context is the center of mc-cain's autobiography as reprocessed into a campaign narrative. so if you want to play the allegory game, mc-cain the prisoner is the republican base under george w bush...no wait, that doesn't work does it? mc-cain the hero who endures Torture is the ultimate victim, and his situation as presidential candidate the triumph of the Victim, and so is itself an echo of the Redemption Narrative behind the far-right-faithful-as-victim-of-babylon narrative. what is surreal, not only in this instance, but in the republican campaign more generally, is the extent to which this meme-structure positions the faithful--you'd think the past 8 years have not been republican-controlled. you'd think the bush administration from another dimension. in a context of endless repetition, what is repeated comes to shape the past in the image of itself. in a context of endless repetition, the far right was never in power, remains a minority, is not an organized political machine--the biggest and most powerfully organized political machine to emerge over the past 30 years. instead, they are staged as a small, isolated band of the righteous out there in ruralia. only what is repeated is real. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 09-05-2008 at 03:31 AM..