SUPER-CHARGED Rant About NOLA and the American Dream

[buzzsaw_23]

Levees Made of Lies
Rage, Grief, and the Chimera of the American Dream
by Phil Rockstroh

An entire American city has become an uninhabitable mire of fetid water, sodden ruins, and toxic sludge. Moreover, the destruction will not end there: the financial, political, and psychological spill-off, incurred by the deluge, will cause our nation to sink further into a morass of debt, denial, and despair.

<snip>

Moreover, the high cost and banality of (not to mention brain-damage incurred by) those activities left the nation susceptible to the platitudinous, confidence man assurances of power and prosperity, without sacrifice, promised by Ronald Reagan. As, all the while, through the 1980s, George W. Bush hid himself among mountains of the afore-mentioned disco marching powder and Arnold Schwarzenegger brandished fists full of anabolic steroids, creating for himself a body that is a precise metaphor for his adopted land -- a nation that worships the appearance of strength, but whose interior life is as stunted as that of a narcissistic bodybuilder, a preening twit for whom the larger world serves no greater purpose than for the adoration of his over-sized, oil-lacquered muscles.

<snip>

And thus far, we Americas have risen to meet the challenge of these perilous times -- by dozing off before our televisions. With crumbs of Doritos stippled in the folds of our double chins and upon our sagging chest, the garish glow of our sets flickers over our sleep-slackened faces, while the programming fare proclaims that "reality" is now comprised of the stuff of contrived competitions between corporately-neutered, would-be pop stars and of Weather Channel remotes, in which legions of blow-dried, sub-cretinous blathering heads are dispatched to hurricane-battered coastal regions to be blown about on camera for the amusement of viewers afflicted with a voyeuristic fetish for "live" disaster footage. And it was big fun, until the appearance of floating corpses put a damper on everyone's festive mood.

More at:http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Rockstroh0912.htm

[lvx35]

1. "contrived competitions between corporately-neutered, would-be pop stars"

Damn that's good. Thanks! :)

[OneBlueSky]

2. "Now, through our rage and sadness, we must attempt to love, . . .

with the same ardor, the intricate manner that our lives and fates are interconnected, by way of mutual interdependence, with intimate strangers -- which is the essential thing that we Americans seemed to have forgotten -- and it is the reason our beloved city of New Orleans has been lost to us."

bravo . . . this gentleman has hit the proverbial bullseye . . .

on edit: please join me in recommending this thread . . . everyone should read this . . .

[mopaul]

3. great reading! bookmarked the site, thanks for sharing it

[buzzsaw_23]

4. this must be kicked

[buzzsaw_23]

5. this deserves more readage