Postmortem for a dying nation

The dominant thinking on the left, I suppose, is some variety of a “false consciousness” argument, that the elite have pulled the wool over the eyes of the vast majority of the population, and once the latter realizes that they’ve been had, they’ll rebel, they’ll move the country in a populist or democratic socialist direction. The problem I have with this is the evident fact that most Americans want the American Dream, not a different way of life—a Mercedes-Benz, as Janis Joplin once put it. Endless material wealth based on individual striving is the American ideal, and the desire to change that paradigm is practically nonexistent. Even the poor buy into this, which is why John Steinbeck once remarked that they regard themselves as “temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” Hence I would argue that nations get the governments they deserve; that the wool is the eyes.

The mess that lies beneath

Disgust represents a fear of contamination. And a great many traditional social boundaries and taboos exist as a way of protecting against contamination. The anthropologist Mary Douglas famously argued that the desire for purity and cleanliness is all about organising offensive things into acceptable social spaces – a place for everything and everything in its place. But the problem with a moral instinct that's all about policing the social boundaries created by disgust is that the sources of disgust are often the very same things that make us human. Cardinal O'Brien, for instance, is filled with disgust at the thought of gay sex. Which is why he is so intent on maintaining the boundaries of traditional marriage. But what a great many of us see in the Catholic church's response to homosexuality is simply a refusal of love itself – more specifically, love in all its sticky, squelchy reality.

Suck on this

Reviews

I really enjoy reviewing for MRR, but if there's one thing I hate/fear, its the monthly dude rock CD. Last month was DOWNLOW NYHC. Here's February's shit-sandwich:

GUTRENCH - "Ironside Anthems" CD

Here's another 90s NYHC-revival act for all the karate moshers out there. The songs are pretty straightforward, the vocals are throat-y and oi-inspired, and (luckily for me) they don't go too heavy on the breakdowns. If I were directing a dumb movie, this is the music that would be playing when the jock-bros arrive to ruin the party. (JH)

A Public Service Announcement

All Things Eno

Doin it up in feather boas and platforms