So I rarely pay attention to what doesn't directly apply to my interests or curiosity. No news is pushed upon me, except for the vague outlines of what I interpret by reading on Facebook reactions of my friends to some event. I like my bubble. It doesn't stress me out.
One of the wonders of having a certain kind of success is that you're not particularly inquisitive about everything. Or maybe that's just being older. Same difference. I am not yearning for experience. It's an interesting kind of feeling when you understand young people's energy and ambition and it leaves you attentive yet unmoved, like watching the action at a singles bar five years into your wildly successful marriage. You just hope people get what they want while realizing that perhaps they are looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places.
I wonder how accurate it is to say, from the perspective of say a Frenchman, that Americans have no culture. Not that we don't have one at all, but that we have one that doesn't satisfy us. It's too new and immature; it lacks refinement. That is not to say that none can be found, but that we have a kind of itchy dissatisfaction with what we know and what we learn, forever seeking something new or alternative, trying to escape something or change something. We are restless and we long to remain restless. We can't leave well enough alone, so perhaps that's evidence that nothing is well enough. Americans are not pacified.
Thinking about the 70s this morning reminded me of how our ugly 70s, aka the 'Me Decade' was all about people running away from the conflict of the 60s. When we couldn't get our tribes to do anything but clash until the point of burning down cities, we all abandoned our tribes and went to climb mountains alone and eat wild hickory nuts like Grizzly Adams, or perform wild stunts like Evel Kneivel. The commons went to rot. Times Square in NYC was a metaphor for what remained. A trashy pleasure dome that must needs serve our own kooky selves, to hell with common anything, including common decency. History doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. I feel the tribes lining up to burn cities, and the coming destruction of the commons.
Why? Because Americans are itching for a new consensus. Well enough cannot be left alone. Everybody is dissatisfied with their alignments but more angry at their enemies. RINOs are not R enough, but anybody but Hillary. People are desperate to grab onto whatever power they feel they must. Crackdown and go operational. Association with power is what I see Americans desperate for. Then when there are more than a few lone nuts, then cities will burn. When enough cities burn, then we'll become fearfully pacified. We'll remember that we used war metaphors a little bit too often, and now we've been burned, literally. We'll remember the old folk songs and disperse to the woods, seeking solitude instead of consensus powers. And the commons will rot.
I think about Edmund G Brown Jr, and I wonder if after all these years that he's got the California he wanted. No. That would be impossible. He still wants to preside over yet more change. Liberals are not L enough, but anybody but Trump. Until ever activist is active, and every radical is revolutionary enough to burn down the old and make way for the... The well runs dry and now we miss it. Why did we want to fight so badly? Nobody remembers. We'll stare into graves, then stare at our shoes. Chastened. But now we're staring each other down.
I've been thinking about being a clown for Halloween, but I'm not sure I want to shave my face and head to make a point. I've stopped staring people down, but I haven't headed for the hills. There are commons to care after. I don't say goodbye, I say 'take care'. I'll try to be a caretaker. I hope my bubble of news and feeds makes me more competent at that. It's certainly more than I could ever possibly know. But what I do know makes me feel responsible. Me. Not us. Not our side. Not our tribe. Our team. Our movement. I feel responsible without being so cranky at the freeloaders and scofflaws. It's not all about me, but me is what I control.
My friend says there's something social about us that respects legitimate power. He exemplifies, "Why don't you run a red light at 3 in the morning?" I don't think it's because the law is so legitimate. It's something more simple. I think the basis of order is the hope of self-discipline. I'd exemplify it: "Why do you tell the truth when it's just as easy to lie." It's not because of the Commandments or even because of the Constitution. I think that people just want to be their better selves, if they can manage it. We're looking to be appreciated as our better selves. It's why Neo's hair looks good in the Matrix, because that's how he wills himself to be perceived.
The important part about the Golden Rule is that first you need to know how to love yourself. Too many Americans have subjected themselves to tribal warfare in search of the final defining power. It's making themselves miserable and they are beginning to hate themselves. They're not so sure what they are, but anybody but Hillary or Trump or the Kneeler or the Shooter or the Defiler or the Infidel. The Enemy. The Evil Personified. We're all pretty sure who that is, and we Americans have our legendary bias for action. Lead, follow or get out of the way. Don't just stand there, do something. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Aye aye, Captain America. Batman. Superman. Wonder Woman. Yes it's that shallow. It truly is.
They say that the best revenge is living well. Maybe living well is its own reward. Let's say we forget about revenge either with a tribe or against all tribes. There is still common sense and decency, and I think there are plenty enough common and decent people. That's all we need. Not alternatives to the hipster alternatives. Not neo this or retro that. Not anti- not pro-. In the end, have we no commonality? In the end, have we no decency? I think we have both. So I say take care of it. Simply take care.
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