I was listening to the Guess Who singing “No Sugar Tonight”, and thinking about how long ago that era was, when this “classic rock” was made, and about “Hippyism” generally. What happened to them? What happened to the rebellion, the experimentation, the curiosity?
And then I got to thinking about consumer culture generally. Did that vibe not in effect become a commodity? Rather than a spirit, you have specific bands. Rather than trying things out and seeing what works you got tie-dies and drugs used for kicks.
The dominant ethos in this country is that you can buy happiness. That everything and everyone has a price. That if you just work harder and then get what you want, you will finally get a bite of that carrot.
Hippy versus Conservative is almost like Coke versus Pepsi. You pick a brand and stick with it. And you will be given everything you need. You will be handed self importance and a sense of your own rectitude, a mass of people who think like you, and you will be given the ideas to think and the words to say.
Is it perhaps more true than false to say that the Left generally is basically a bunch of intellectual fat fucks who resent being asked to get off the couch and change the channel?
The same is certainly true with most conservatives, but in general we just want to be left alone. In general we are not telling people how to live their lives. We are not virtue signaling in the same way, and our goal is more, not less, freedom, within broad limits of actual common sense.
This is just an intellectual doodle. Ponder it however you like.
This cloud of Consumerism is really something which warrants discussion. If you look at, say, violence in media, which is clearly pernicious in many ways, as is pornography, it amounts to an effort to buy experiences cheap.
And if you visit any left wing town–take virtually any college town anywhere, from Kent to Berkeley–they have a lot of nice stuff. Fancy restaurants. Olive oil stores. Art museums.
All of this is pleasant. I like it. I like those sorts of places, even if those sorts of people would not like me if they knew my politics.
But is it something idealistic? Pure? Is it not just another way to consume, to find in objects what meaning is possible, like most Americans have been taught to do by Madison Avenue?
Consumerism and a sense of the sacred are actively antithetical, in my view. As I have said often, culture has to deliver four primary “goods” (understand it this way and not that way): a means for the creation and transmission of meaning, of truth, of power, and of wealth.
The cultism of the Left is perhaps an unconscious attempt by the post-religious to create a sort of sacred you can BUY, cheaply. You can get an absolute, unshakeable sense of belonging and righteousness for the tiny cost of not asking questions, or thinking too much. It’s a great deal, if the pleasures of life–of easy self-righteousness, and emotional and intellectual indolence combined with the sensual pleasures of food, drink, sex and thrills–are all you are concerned with.
It is really no wonder hedonists of all feathers flock to the Left. It has room for them. It ENABLES them, in many important respects. In another era, they would be hypocrites. They would be frauds and liars. But with this “church” you get all the good stuff, with none of the bad stuff, as seen from an emotionally superficial perspective. Within broad limits you cannot be judged for anything you WANT to do–weird sex, drugs, horrific irresponsibility–and on the contrary will be commended for no more arduous task than reading scripts written by others. What could be better for lazy narcissists?
And with regards to narcissists, it occurs to me it would be worthwhile for any honest intellectuals reading this to revisit Christopher Lasch.
Narcissism is not having a large ego. It is not loving attention and a high level of self confidence. Narcissism, at root, is an INCAPACITY for empathetic relating, to understanding others, and actually CARING about others.
I have been accused more times than I can count of being a narcissist and sociopath, BY patent narcissists and sociopaths. These are just words to them. Their incapacity is so severe they can’t see it. They literally have NO IDEA–no felt sense–of what genuine caring looks like. So they act it out. And they assume that since possess those traits–caring and compassion–anyone disagreeing with them must not. Simple logic: not me, ergo BAD.
The madness is everywhere. This is the only thing I know to do to combat it, which is try and describe it as accurately as I can, and to try and do a bit better every day.