Culture of the Absurd

Sentenced to nine years,
he says he looks forward
to a period of self-reflection.

I think there is no longer any doubt about it. The United States has become a culture of the absurd. It is absurd that an oil company was allowed to drill in the Gulf a mile below the surface with no real idea of what they were doing or how to correct it if something went wrong. It was absurd they did it and equally absurd they were allowed to do it. It will be even more absurd when they will probably manage to escape accountability and, most likely, even the full cost of cleaning it up (if it even can be cleaned up in the marshes in the area). I read today about a hedge fund manager who made 780 million dollars last year. I don’t care who he is or what he’s done or how successful he was or even if he found a way to turn dirt into gold, it is absolutely absurd that any one individual should be allowed to make 780 million dollars for sitting on his ass in some office. What is even more absurd is that he believes he deserved it.

Even more absurd than that is the fact that Bush/Cheney, admitted war criminals, are allowed not only to go unpunished but also to make money and garner publicity by criticizing the present administration. It is also absurd that Rumsfeld and Rove have not been held accountable for their scurrilous deeds. The fact that we now have some 40 million people on food stamps is absurd. We spend billions on dog and cat food while children go hungry. That is absurd. In supposedly the richest country on earth we have thousands upon thousands of homeless people, many of them veterans…absurd. Our defense budget is absurd. The price of our drugs is absurd. That a woman so ignorant she thought Africa was a country is commanding six figure fees for speaking about things she knows little about is absurd. The fact that her daughter who has accomplished nothing except getting pregnant out of wedlock is going to get $30,000 for speeches is quite obviously even more absurd.

There are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of Americans who do not believe in evolution in the 21st century. That is absurd. There are many who believe dinosaurs and people were contemporaneous, even more absurd. Michelle Backmann is absurd, as are Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, Hannity, and others who purvey hate and propaganda for the Republican Party on a daily basis and claim it is “fair and balanced.” That so many species are going extinct is absurd. Corporate farming is absurd. Banks too-large-to-fail are absurd. Our lack of decent public transportation is absurd. Our treatment of Cuba is utterly absurd, as is our treatment of Iran. Our slavish commitment to Israel, no matter how outrageous their crimes, is absurd, indeed, our Foreign Policy itself is absurd, as is our “empire.”

Our economy, predicated on waste and obsolescence, is absurd, as is the fact that hundreds of new storage units are springing up everywhere to store all our “stuff” we apparently don’t have room for and don’t even need. “Shop ‘til you drop,” is absurd, as is “he who has the most toys wins.” All you can eat restaurants are absurd. Our obsession with erections and sex is absurd, as is our epidemic of obesity and constant dieting. Our educational system, from kindergarten through University is little more than a parody of what education should be about, and our shameful anti-intellectualism and neglect of education is absurdly suicidal. Our rivers and lakes are everywhere polluted with mercury and other poisonous substances, the air we breathe is often foul, and the food we eat is often unhealthy, just one absurdity after another.

I could easily go on. Some of you may think I am just a cranky old man dreaming of the “good ol’ days.” Perhaps I am, but I don’t think so. The whole purpose of government, even culture itself, is supposed to exist to serve the needs of the citizens that comprise and live it. If it does not do this it is unfortunately dysfunctional and will ultimately fail. Does anyone truly believe that in this huge and complex corporate-dominated culture we currently live in the needs of ordinary citizens come first, or have any particular salience at all? The only “persons” that count are “corporate persons,” because they have all the money and all the power. Ordinary persons are expendable, merely living on the scraps we are thrown from time to time and pretending we have something to say about government and politics. The idea that “government (read culture) is the enemy,” however much it might have temporarily served Reagan and the Republicans, is an idea absolutely contrary to the basic nature of culture and human existence. Without rules and customs and laws (government/culture) human life would be intolerable and even impossible. Privatization and unregulated capitalism have, I believe, made our lives more intolerable, leading us to where we are, living in a culture of the absurd that no longer has much connection to human needs and requirements, and everything to do with “profit.” Marx said, “The last capitalist we hang will be the one who sold us the rope.” Will it have to come to that?

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

From Thomas Gray, Elegy in a Country Church-yard.