Born Out Of Time

There is a global battle against far Right Nationalism/Fascism/Populism. I think Putin is behind quite a bit of it, but there is also the reaction to a global refugee crisis, which will probably get worse as global warming continues. Then there is also a cyclical side to it as the pendulum, which has been mentioned, swings right.

But as far as it has swung to the Right, we must be wary and heed the alarms. Western man has been here before. A bungling Left, a fervent fascist right. You may think I am referring to the rise of Hitler. and that was one period. We think mainly of the fascism of Germany, Italy, and Japan, but Stalin also led a very fascist government, (though on the Left), Austria had its own Fascist government, which Hitler took over when he grabbed that country, there was the Vichy Government of France. And if you look at American News Reels from the 1930's and early 40's, you should be struck by how Nationalistic they were. Even though most Americans were reluctant to go to war, the Nation was gearing up for it. In fact there was a pro-Hitler Right wing group here in the US that almost accomplished a coup and takeover of our government. Rachel Maddow has recently done a podcast on this.

But there was another period before it---the Fin de Siecle of the 1880's - 90's. This was the end of the bourgeoisie era, the fall of European dominance and colonialism. The actual collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which saw the final nail of the coffin with the assassination that began World War I. The conditions before the Fin de Siecle were the mythical conditions of Make Germany Great Again for Hitler and his cult. The Junkers, or Formerly wealthy and aristocratic German families, saw a return to greatness for them through Hitler, for example. And it was probably the same all through Europe. The Fin de Siecle was the Nihilism that Nietzsche saw and wrote about. There was a definite shift to the Right that brought the collapse of this period. It was aided by a bungling left that, in typical fashion, was rendered helpless by its ideals of inclusion and acceptance, and its kind heart that allowed the other side to play dirty and take advantage of it. In many ways we see a fin de siecle happening here in America today. (These qualities are what make liberalism a force of good in the world, but it also enables the Right to cheat and play dirty and bring everything to a halt.)

I fear that a fin de siecle today would be far more catastrophic than it was at the end of the 19th Century. America has achieved the first actual global empire, not militarily, but culturally. Modern culture is defined today by American culture, but it is a global phenomena. I have seen it myself. I have been deep in a South East Asian jungle, for example, and saw people who did not speak any English other than a few words that missionaries spread---but they knew Michael Jackson music, drank Coca Cola and wore t-shirts with American (or Western) logos and phrases. I have observed a very traditional Japanese culture deeply entrenched in a group-ethic and confucian objectivism, transform into elements reflecting the American mythos of the individual and the more self-centered drives of Western culture. In short, a fin de siecle today would mean the collapse of a global culture and the economic repercussions could be devastating due to the fact that technology has robbed us of any independent survival and self-sufficiency. Imagine the number of deaths that would result just from the break down of supply chains that provide insulin and asthma inhalers... I could go on and on...

I can tell you, as a former securities analyst (stock market analyst) that the economic policies laid out by Trump, and in Project 2025, and Agenda 47, will be disastrous for this country if they are fully implemented. And that is even before we consider what an incompetent and chaotic mess his first presidency was. One of the most disastrous things that Trump did when he came into power was to close Obama's Directorate for Global Health Security & Biodefense, an action, which, is easy to say, directly led to the Covid Pandemic. When Biden took office, he recreated it as his White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness. In Trump's interview with Time Magazine, he promised to close this office. And yet, this is the man that Project 2025 will turn complete control of our government, which at all levels would be filled with yes-men blindly loyal to Trump, to his authoritarian control, without any throttles or breaks or men of reason to keep us from rolling off the tracks as did every other business he has taken over. (It takes a special man to bankrupt a casino, for example.)

In each of these situations, today, in Hitler's Germany, and in the Fin de Siecle, there was a reactionary response on the part of conservatives and the Right to the liberalism and freedoms and liberties that had developed, particularly in the cities. However the Fin de Siecle occurred before modern industrialization had achieved the levels of the 20th century, so fascism and State slavery of a nation's citizens did not really come of age until the 20th Century. The horrors that happened in Hitler's Germany and in Italy, no one believed could be possible. Especially when the movements represented such a noble return to conservative Christian values. People today are convinced that such things could not ever happen in America. And yet here we are with Roe v Wade overturned, and a SCOTUS ruling that a president can do whatever he wants without repercussion as long as it is an official act.

There is only one option. Even if it does not seem good. A third party candidate will never win in this election. Votes for a third party candidate basically gave the election to Trump in 2016. So we have to vote Blue no matter who. Biden has done a terrible thing with Israel, but at least he is seeking a two state solution, and despite his support for Israel, he is a far better choice than Trump for the future of the Palestinians. At least, we will still be able to vote and fight for the Palestinians. Under a Trump presidency, that may no longer be an option. And yes, Biden is old, but the really stupid thing about this is that Trump is also very old, and far far less competent. And then we just have to look at the things that Biden has accomplished over the past 3 years and is still doing today.

 

Well, the election has happened, and now we are all like Slim Pickens, Playing Major Kong, as he rides the atom bomb down...

 

So in post #15 (quoted above) I talked about Repressive Sublimation.

Today, my grandson, who lives with us and I have talked about in this section I believe, said, "The election is over, why do you keep complaining about Trump?! There's nothing you can do about it!" And then walked off into his room. He had overheard me telling people we need to call our representatives to vote 'no' on HR9495, for it will be a strong tool for Trump to get rid of any nonprofit, like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, or the NAACP, that criticize or go against his policies, agendas, actions or even himself.

Now to be fair, my grandson did vote for Harris, and the day after the election, he expressed that he is afraid of what this means for the next 4 years. But he is 23 years old, and he has expressed many times over the past 5 or 6 years, that he doesn't really care about politics or social issues because there is nothing he can do about it. I have tried to disagree with him, but this has always been his unwavering opinion.

So today I got to thinking-----is his generation the result of years of Repressive Sublimation?

In the 60's and 70's we didn't give in to that idea. Individuals felt empowered to make a difference. And so many of us got out and took action and made a difference. Underground newspapers were printed in someone's basement. Individuals burned their bras, burned their draft cards, put flowers in rifles pointed at them and their friends! Each member of the Weatherman Underground only knew a few individuals who were also in the Weatherman, so that if one person got caught, they could not bring down too many members.

I have a book on the history of Haight Ashbury, which sparked a global hippie revolution. It is amazing at how so much was done, and created, and inspired, by just plain old people, completely at a grass roots level. Kind of like, 'Hey, lets put on a concert. Cool, I know a guy that could do a poster for us. Let's do it!" And suddenly history was made. It wasn't like these people were skilled professionals. Like one of the Guitarists for Big Brother & the Holding Company---he basically self-taught himself guitar and didn't really know how to properly play it when the band signed on Janis Joplin and they started putting on concerts. But he had his own style and it worked!

We baby boomers have grown old, and can't be out there protesting and mobilizing and doing things like young kids. I have complained about this before, but I thought with BLM and Standing Rock, things were changing. But I am afraid that the country is filled with idiots that could care less about politics and if anyone suggested they take action, they would just tune out, like my grandson.

We have seen huge protests in France, and Israel, for example, when the government started to infringe upon the people's rights. People knew the consequences of what their governments were trying to do, and they took to the streets and stopped it. But here in America, the Supreme Court gave unlimited power to the President, and no one batted an eye...

Seriously, WTF?!




There are two times when a dictatorship is the most vulnerable----at the beginning and at the end. We can't sit around and let the radical Right destroy our freedoms and liberties!

 

Sublimation as a correcting social mechanism has seemingly been jettisoned in favor of the id----who knows how far the breaking of the written and the unwritten norms that we have held so dearly until---one man has been able to begin to unleash formerly unacceptable behavior.
I was in Santa Cruz in '66--67 and went to the Haight and the concerts frequently. Many stories and good times!

 

And away we go!!

 

Well, prople migrated from X to bluesky, that is probably the protest movement this days

 

...

 

To answer the question yes, for some reason i do feel that sometimes........Big interest in history, but i also wanna see/know what s in the future for humanity/planet..............just to see what happens(see if im right,)



Reality is games and dogpoo

Mzzls

Ps. i used to have a lot of deja vu s,not so much anymore.

 

So far all I'm seeing is a rise in conformity

 

I was born in '90 and I feel I was born in the wrong generation, often... I guess it's a common feeling but I'm wondering ...what causes this?

 

In the 1960's the audience started doing it in the cinema. Certain girls always sat in the back row. LOL

 

Oh yeah-----the very repressed Father-Knows-Best daughters were liberated by Rock & Roll. The Beatles especially were responsible for a new concert phenomena-----girls leaving wet spots in theatre seats, and as AC/DC sang, 'It ain't Coca Cola.' LMAO!

All joking aside, I have been watching the HBO Series, Boardwalk Empire. And it is a good reminder of how sexually liberated the 1920's was, and that in the face of the strict repression of women. Among other things, this series, which tells the early days of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and other gangsters (centered on a plot around the corruption of Atlantic City), shows the growing assertion of women over their own sexuality in a man's world. My own grandmother, who as a child I saw as a conservative older maternal lady, as I got older I understood to have an extramarital lover across town. Rock had not yet appeared, and the blues was considered a style of jazz, But the word, 'jazz' was a euphanism for sex, just as the word, 'rock,' later became. (e.g. 'Rock me baby, till my bag's got no bones.')

That's the problem with today's music. There's no sex in it. Like that song about WAP. I asked my grandkids what that meant and they said it's wonderful-ass pizza, which means it tastes really good. So now my wife and I are always inviting people over for WAP. But seriously, what a boring song!

(Ok, I'M JOKING! I know what WAP is!)

 

That's a good question. I don't think it is a social phenomena. Because I don't think my generation wanted to be part of the generation before us, we rebelled against it--the conformity and the strong ego-ideals that pervaded the culture. We glorified it, but I don't think many of us felt that we really wanted to be a part of it. The teenage angst of the 50's was the start of who we were, which came to full fruition in the 60's and 70's. It was about embracing that angst, and freedom, love, peace. But it was the values of the generation before us that was threatening to destroy us through unchecked militarism, and xenophibic conservatism that created McCarthyism and so forth. Im sure we all had respect for the heroes of World War II that stood up to the evils of Naziism and so forth, and we loved watching movies about their exploits. But I don't think any one of us wanted to take their place; at least in anything more than fantasy or games.

Maybe some might disagree.

I would think one might feel as if they belonged in the 60's because they recognize the freedom that it represented. And that they align with the values we tried to put above all else, and fight for---Peace, Love, Freedom, Happiness. And how that was expressed in music, culture, and so forth. There was also an attempt to be truly authentic to our own nature.

Plus it was a cool time.

 

Stay positive. There has been backlash, and it's growing.

 

Well I certainly don't, I have never come across it in any operas.

 

Firstly, I'd like to say I think your username is cool and it matches the vibe your profile pic [in my opinion].

~ Thank you for that insightful post...It made me rethink my initial assumption... Perhaps I feel the way I do because I was a teen by the 2000s, at the peak of social media, (with Myspace, early days of YouTube, etc) that I envy the authenticity and human connection your generation had. (?).. if I had to take a guess.

You're right as well about the freedom — true human freedom. It feels like everything is inauthentic, done for greed, 15 seconds of fame all the while with little wiggling room....