As it turns out, many people no longer need to be fooled by magic tonics that promise to ease what ails them. Nor do they need to be teased by the anticipated shock value of overly hyped freak shows under a circus tent. Instead, many groups are increasingly allowing themselves to be fooled, in the hope that suspending reality will help bring back an America that, unfortunately for them, is not coming back.
This is the theme of Chris Hedges book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. In the book Hedges starts off describing the wildly popular spectacles crafted by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Often referred to as soap opera for men, according to Hedges people attend these shows to "draw a curtain of fantasy" over a life that is both drab and in a continuous state of uncertainty.
Incapable of understanding the changes going on around them, and fearful of being left behind by history, the real goal is to find certainty - a world where villains are vanquished and heroes get justice. It matters little that WWE characters are exaggerated caricatures of Muslims, Russians, and U.S. heroes (often wrapped in the U.S. flag). In the world of entertainment giving life to bad stereotypes is part of the show, and very profitable.
Unfortunately, the spectacle we find in the WWE ring has reached our political arena. Today it involves fantasies about "getting our country back" from that "Black Muslim" president and his evil woman side-kick from San Franciso.
Forget the achievement of having the first Black President in the White House, and how it rejuvenated the American idea the world over. Forget what it means to have the first Madame Speaker leading the House of Representatives. Forget that both were democratically elected, giving spirit to the lives of Thomas Jefferson and Susan B. Anthony.
Because it fits the simplistic caricatures that shapes their world, what the political Right sees are Boris & Natasha.
But it gets worse. The world view from the right also involves WWE crowd-like antics that inspire people to yell and scream at the players in the game. Only it's gone to another level.
Today Republican-inspired Tea Party crowds feel it's OK to carry racially charged signs, spit on African-American members of Congress, hurl homophobic slurs at Rep. Barney Frank (which started long ago, when Rep. Dick Armey referred to him as "Barney Fag"), throw bricks through windows, and make physical threats to elected members of Congress.
Things have gotten to a point that, as NY Times' columnist Frank Rich pointed out, there's no one in the Republican Party willing to stand up to the thugs, the enablers, and the more extremist elements in the party. It took Republican Party leaders days to come out and say they do not condone violence. But then they immediately started pointing (false) fingers at others.
In all cases, these people live in an anxious place. They want to return to the past. As Frank Rich suggests, balance can only be restored for them by returning to a world where the usurpers of power relearn their place in society. There is no introspection.
Indeed, in spite of the epic failures of the Bush administration, the Republican Party is convinced that the U.S. can afford to do what it wants around the world, and continues to believe in a free market fairytopia that stretches the imagination. Worse, the Republican Party wants the country to believe that things will be better if we ignore their immediate past failures, and just follow their policy prescriptions ... you know, because their ideas are so great they have nothing to learn from failure.
Ignored is that we owe China and other governments so much money that we are living on borrowed financial time ... Ignored is that we're bogged down militarily in a Third World nightmare because of the bluster and bravado of false patriotism and cheerleading Chickenhawks ... Ignored is that corporate America's dependence on financial bailouts and favorable legislation is draining our national treasury ... Ignored by the people on the far right is how almost thirty years of deregulation and tax cuts for the rich have delivered little beyond false profits, a crippled economy, and $11 trillion in more debt (Reagan almost tripled our national debt; Bush II doubled it).
In spite of all this, the extremists on the right have convinced themselves that President Obama is to blame for the wars and debts he inherited. Oh, and he's also to blame for not fixing everything in one and a half years.
Where does this mind-set come from? According to Chris Hedges it comes from an increasing dependence on illusions (think Fox News), pseudo-events (think Tea Party rallies), and the stereotypes (think Muslim-Socialist-Homos) that give delusion it's wings. Rather than acknowledge that "trickle-down" theory doesn't work, and that tax cuts and favorable legislation for corporate America isn't capitalism, the extremists have convinced themselves that their ideas aren't too blame. Their political enemies are the problem.
Making matters worse, according to Hedges, is that as the reality of the Right deteriorates the more they will seek refuge and comfort in illusions. Rather than confront how their illusions don't allow them to see the real world, the political Right is prepared to hang their failures around President Obama's neck, and then pursue their failed policies all over again. More tax cuts for the rich. More deregulation of Wall Street. More reckless and mismanaged wars in the name of false patriotism.
While I'd like to think that the far Right extremists that capture the media's attention can learn something from the failures of President Bush and his Republican-controlled Congress I'm not sure about this. Just like the suckers in P.T. Barnum's world, their attitude today suggests that they've willfully forgotten what happened when President Bush clinged too tightly to failed ideologies.
Worse, they seem all too happy to ignore the lessons etched in President Bush's inarticulate commentary about being fooled more than once by the same snake oil.
P.T. Barnum would be proud, whether he spoke about suckers being born every minute or not.
- Mark
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