Not Dealing With Reality . . . by Rob Sheffield . . . Rolling Stone #1037 (10/18) , , ,

[OneBlueSky]

this issue centers around the "what's hot in 2007," and among the entries is the above cited essay under the category "Zeitgeist" . . . it's not online as far as I know, so I thought I'd share a few of the more pithy paragraphs . . .

Not Dealing With Reality

Ignoring reality has become our national psychic self-preservation strategy – not challenging reality, denying it or bothering to change it. We’re tuning out everything that threatens to invade our willfully oblivious bubble. It’s never been a better time for sentient beings to get as post-sentient as possible. Get the fuck outta here, reality! . . . We keep hearing that newspapers are dying, and we keep hearing it’s because of all this shiny new aweso-media, but it’s probably just because ignoring any kind of news is now a fundamental routine for not losing what’s left of our shit. The Protect America Act of 2007 gives the government unlimited powers to tap out phones. The dollar’s sagging, the economy is crashing, the polar ice caps are melting six times faster than before. Cheer us up, Britney! Oh, wait.

(snip)

Political debates have shut down. The 2008 candidates are hackity-hack-hacks desperately appealing to a middle ground that doesn’t exist anymore. “If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument,” as Emerson used to say. It’s so easy to tune out the idiots we don’t agree with, we can’t even make each other mad. But the war drags on, and the candidates hope that if they keep ignoring it, it’ll just – poof! – hey, where did all that war go? Gosh, I had the strangest dream, Scarecrow!

Everybody knows no president has ever lost an election in wartime, so everybody knows the Republicans will keep the war going through 2008 and win the election. The Democrats have offered zero opposition to the program of phone-tapping and Bill of Rights butchering. And since nobody doesn’t mind taking their shoes off at the airport, and since nobody doesn’t know for a fact it’s absolute bullshit, nobody believes a word either side has to say. It would only take one candidate to make a shoes-on pledge, like “You can have my shoes when you pry them off my cold, dead feet, and the those Red Lobster-hostess blazers look fucking stupid on your police-academy-dropout ass” and tap into the seething rage in the hearts and minds of the people. But that would be too much trouble. And maybe a little too much reality. And where does it get you? Nowhere.

the author ends the essay with . . .

In the Clinton years, there was a bumper sticker that said I LOVE MY COUNTRY BUT I FEAR MY GOVERNMENT, which was so popular because you could feel that way from the left, the right or even in the middle. But you don't see that sticker on the road anymore, do you? Because what moron doesn't fear the country? Whether you hope the country will protect you from the government or vice versa, you're screwed: America has gotten invaded by America. Reality? Gimme less!

[OneBlueSky]

1. kick . . . for the day crew . . . n/t

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