Myth Understood

Americans like their approximations of reality.

We have Las Vegas, which forsook its original cultural identity for amusement park approximations of Paris, New York and ancient Egypt; gigantic malls which are commercially driven approximations of the town square; Fox News, which purports to be a fair and balanced news organization but which is in reality a virtual turkey baster filled with Roger Ailes' hate spunk.

And Zeus knows Americans love their myths, from skinny Jewish guys who walk on water to B movie actors who become doddering but avuncular presidents. Our nation may not manufacture much in the way of useful, highly demanded goods anymore but it can certainly spin the greed of straw men into myths of fool's gold (I just had a mixed metaphor stroke. Get me my medication. What? You're counting the fact that I failed English as a pre-existing condition? Forget it, then.).

And it's looking more and more like we have an approximation of a hopeful presidency. Of course, it doesn't help anyone with a desire to improve and/or change the rickety status quo to be under 24 hour assault from right wing gremlins. When the Reps lost -- and lost big -- their trauma was such that their moral facade cracked and their bitter hearts burst, revealing the berserkers within. Rage overrode the last vestiges of civility and the vanquished quasi-conservatives went to DefCon 5.

Still, one good thing the Republicans have accomplished, albeit accidentally, is the lifting of the veil from the big, ugly machine of American democracy. The heck with making sausage. This is what you call ugly.

Because even the sainted Obama and his liberal justice league couldn't hide the realization that the government is but another approximation. A facade. A myth spun by corporate PR people. And the sickening truth is: that's how it's been for some time.

The bilious bickering that passes for discourse lately is grand guignol, a theatrical presentation, a flimsy high tech dumb show which doesn't begin to describe the state of our disunion. And to watch our latest creation, the embodiment of renewed hope in the form of our youthful, wise, articulate, able, facile president and his canny team be revealed as only the latest in a revolving cast of characters who approximate public servants, is nothing less than devastating to this hopeful citizen. Or the answer as to why Law and Order has stayed on the air for so long.

If we only approximate Democracy, if we only exist from myth to myth, then the truth of how we need to live as Americans, as well as the fulfillment of our destiny as human beings, will remain a concept as elusive as the betterment of a nation racked by decades of greed and division seems to be.

And that would be a mythtake.

 

 

Comments

[BuckCarson]

It is so depressing to see the disconcerting diversity of the tea baggers, to be so intelligent to see through the myths that these people worship, it just brings out the nauseating truth that breeding of humans is so random.

If only they could see the real truth as well as you.

[Jeep]

Nice. And probably explains why Jesse Ventura currently lives 'off the grid' in Baja, California. He got up close and ran far away.

[JoeSchmuk]

HuffPost's Pick

As always, trippingly on the tongue, pleasing to the palate, grist for the thoughtful mill.

Perhaps ever hopeful, but i'm still waiting for the long game.

I guess that makes me an optemytht.

[kapalabhati]

Bravo.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

Well, I guess then this makes you ...'Mythter' Weber.


Sorry.

[SamKnause]

You nail it time after time Steven. Keep the great blogs coming.

[SantaFeConservative]

I didn't know you had a lithp. From your favorite conservative.

[Konnie]

fabulous wordsmithie - i have been cringing for sooooo long. i actually left a comment that
making sausage actually requires that one know the recipe....­..........­.its been downright painful
watching the process up close and personal.

for the first time in human history ( and this is
the part our leaders have failed to grasp) it's candid camera 24/7. all bloopers all the time.
they don't understand that high definition not only shows the skin pores, it shows the hypocracy
and the ignorance, the willfull dillusion, and party line delivery system on that same in your face
tee vee. in the world of you tube, there is no off the record. todays cell phones might as well
come with a loud beeping signal to warn our legislators they are under the microscope every
where. all the time. you are correct - its ugly.

[HopeGrenade]

Protip: Dry wit does not equal clear political message.

[StevenevetS]

Political message seemed clear to me.

'Sour grapes perhaps?

[Steven Weber - Huffpost Blogger]

But Objectivism equals malignant narcissism.

[JoeSchmuk]

Thour grapes, thurly?

[Smithn]

Dear Pontif Grenade,
Please put that in an encilical for the hopeful, mop wielding, rabble rousers--we know just what to do with it! *J*.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

Speaking of myth, this post reminds me of a book "The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen."

I'll admit that, until I read this book, I'd unconsciously absorbed some of the propaganda about "bad government", but this book makes perfectly clear how and why this is a corporate-created myth designed to weaken their main opponents.

Sadly, it has been working all too well.

[Konnie]

pick up a copy of "Shock Doctorine" by Naomi Klein........you will never look at the world quite the same again.........

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

I believe there is some overlap there. While I have not yet read Ms Klein's book, the ideas I've heard about in it are in "The Myth" as well, in embryonic form.

Cheers.

[TomR]

----
And to watch our latest creation, the embodiment of renewed hope in the form of our youthful, wise, articulate, able, facile president and his canny team be revealed as only the latest in a revolving cast of characters who approximate public servants, is nothing less than devastating to this hopeful citizen.
----

Granted, when sunlight shines, what gets revealed is distasteful. But hey, at least the sun is shining now, isn't it? I think "it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness" is a false choice. We can do both. Darkness has long been a metaphor for ignorance and evil. And in our society, pride in willful ignorance, greed and deception is long overdue for a healthy shaming. And it is starting to happen:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/22/grayson-grills-broun-constitution/
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/21/al-franken-grills-hudson/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZTudlibMfQ

The progressive community has also made an impact on our government by keeping the public option alive. But make no mistake, we cannot let our guard down for one minute. This is a battle. Now's not the time to be devastated Worcester.

- Tom

[itmaybetoolate]

"spin the greed of straw men into myths of fool's gold." Love it!!!! Do I have your permission to repeat this - and repeat it repeatedly?

[mmerose]

Caretaking my mother, I've been immersed in Rush Limbaugh, and it's worse than I ever dreamed. I certainly prefer the myth of the excellent Obama of good intentions to the Limbaugh myth of the America-hating narcissist Obama. Actually, there's some evidence for the good Obama, whereas the Limbaugh tale is pure fantasy based on prejudice.

You make an excellent point that "democracy," in the sense of expectation that the welfare or will of the citizenry has any influence on government, is also mythical.

[BlackJAC]

Correction: DEFCON 5 means peace. DEFCON 1 means all-out war.

[susanlno]

Re failing English as a pre-existing medical condition: Watch it, Steven! The insurance companies are all too likely to take it seriously.

[anachoret]

I'm afraid you're right, and I'm afraid of what would happen if this administration tried to flex the muscles of our Government, after the years of starving the beast. I am afraid that Uncle Sam is still floating face down in Grover's bath tub (the Ninth Ward of New Orleans).

Those Government which can, do. Those which can't, contract, subcontract and subcontract some more.