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I think the most startling revelation of all is being left out of this conversation in favor of the old 'liberal media - yes! no!' debate (which in my thinking is more of a 'what makes money' phenomena rather than a 'this is the perspective we want to push' one). Besides, true liberal rags and commentary will never be a major force in this country because one has to actually read and devote energy to all 5 levels of Bloom's taxonomy of learning in order to fully engage in it emotionally. Sorry if that insults anyone, but it's true. When I hear Tea Party-ish people talk I'm not left with the impression that they are trying to appeal to folks who are, for instance, balancing the delightful imagery of cleansing America of our bloodsucking illegal immigrants with the costs and implications of actually paying (yes, taxes!) to have millions of illegal immigrants rounded up, pulled out the labor force and sent back to their country of origin. I'm not saying that there aren't conservative writers and thinkers who do try and balance these kinds of broad, complicated ideas, but nobody is listening to them on the radio, either.
That said, what are we to make of a 2012 republican presidential primary that is being shaped by a 'news' outlet that not only doesn't report the news but doesn't even bother to hide in the least its true calling - which is to be a vital force in the shaping of the 'new American culture'? Frankly, it disgusts me not only because it is happening, but because so many people in this country are ready to roll over and let it happen. Its surreal, what is happening. It's as if we have no idea how dangerous all this is to those old American ideas like, I dunno, liberty, freedom and the quaint old notion of justice.
I think this country has simply run out of vision. It's time is up. And that would be ok with me if it didn't seem that the radical reactionary front weren't steamrolling over what's left of it and calling it 'a new day.' I told my mother this morning that I feel like I am living in a sort of Coen-brothers like parallel world that would be hilarious if I were sitting at home watching it with a bowl of popcorn and it ended with the bad guy being run out of town on a rail. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's going to be the case...at least not for a while.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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