4 ms·

I'm distanced from American culture (to the extent that you can actually be in the West, which is not much) and what they said rings true to me, although there'

by Bakary 6y ago

I'm distanced from American culture (to the extent that you can actually be in the West, which is not much) and what they said rings true to me, although there's no real point in focusing on specific politicians. For instance, most articles in the New York Times often seem like a parody of themselves. I am under the impression that American culture is flanderizing at a faster relative speed, but I am not sure what the nature of my bias is at this point.

runawaybottle 6y ago
It’s in a cathartic state, which basically means a concentration of undirected energy. We’re riling ourselves up over unarticulated core feelings. We have a sense of a slipping middle class (sustainability of quality of life, or inequality or social injustice (on both the right and left), and the demagogues like AOC and Trump are the closest thing to a conduit, or worse, a gutter, for the underlying emotion. None of the topics I just mentioned are partisan, they are real for everyone in America, some demagogues monopolize the championing of certain things over others (trump with sustainability, AOC with injustice and inequality). Are we going to build the wall or rethink immigration policy (trump)? Are we going to defund the police or codify citizen rights and codify accountability in police departments (AOC). Every or is not what these conduits are sincere about, and since they are accurate but non-action based avatars of our subconscious expression (in the purest sense, a literal cinematic actor), they are pure performance. Nonetheless, the underlying need to yell at the political attrition the US has been in is real. We all feel that. Is there value in the performance? Certainly. But life’s not a movie, and this is where we’re stuck. By turning to demagogues we basically say ‘find me a Joaquin pheonix or a Daniel Day Lewis and have them portray this emotion’. That’s fine, for the movie, but the actors are not gonna do it for next part of this. All humans will exhaust their catharsis, the yelling into the void, and finally seek a path forward. It’s a waiting game at this point.

by Bakary 6y ago

runawaybottle 6y ago

It’s in a cathartic state, which basically means a concentration of undirected energy. We’re riling ourselves up over unarticulated core feelings. We have a sense of a slipping middle class (sustainability of quality of life, or inequality or social injustice (on both the right and left), and the demagogues like AOC and Trump are the closest thing to a conduit, or worse, a gutter, for the underlying emotion. None of the topics I just mentioned are partisan, they are real for everyone in America, some demagogues monopolize the championing of certain things over others (trump with sustainability, AOC with injustice and inequality). Are we going to build the wall or rethink immigration policy (trump)? Are we going to defund the police or codify citizen rights and codify accountability in police departments (AOC). Every or is not what these conduits are sincere about, and since they are accurate but non-action based avatars of our subconscious expression (in the purest sense, a literal cinematic actor), they are pure performance. Nonetheless, the underlying need to yell at the political attrition the US has been in is real. We all feel that. Is there value in the performance? Certainly. But life’s not a movie, and this is where we’re stuck. By turning to demagogues we basically say ‘find me a Joaquin pheonix or a Daniel Day Lewis and have them portray this emotion’. That’s fine, for the movie, but the actors are not gonna do it for next part of this. All humans will exhaust their catharsis, the yelling into the void, and finally seek a path forward. It’s a waiting game at this point.