Sunday Sermon: Outlaw US Empire Imbecility
US Senator Scott, a Florida Republican, recently declared garlic grown and imported from China a threat to national security because it was supposedly fertilized with natural manures instead of chemical ones thus making it unfit for human consumption. This was the latest in naming almost anything made in China, or its makers, a national security threat. Many recall the weather balloon incident that epitomizes that way of thinking within the rarified confines of the Washington DC area. Imbecility is “the quality or state of being very stupid or foolish : utter foolishness,” or as the Urban Dictionary states: “The act of undertaking the most bullheaded and, for lack of a better term, stupid and/or childish/reckless action without the benefit [of] chemical enhancement (i.e. drunkenness, intoxication by any means, or taking part in a Triple Dog Dare). Synonymous with: Public stupidity, blatant idiocy, conscious neglect of personal integrity.” But Senator Scott certainly isn’t the first nor will he be the last Western politico to display that trait; after all, we’ve recently had presidents and vice-presidents vividly display that trait on numerous occasions over the past 40+ years. And US History is filled with other characters who somehow reached higher office displaying similar wit.
I was prompted by the good Senator’s display to revisit Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life to find some additional insight but it’s more an examination of the state of America’s lack of open-mindedness that began shortly after WW2 and vastly escalated with the onset of the Anti-Communist Crusade that’s epitomized by McCarthyism and that period’s gross propaganda that spawned what was clearly a Culture War in the 1960s, not just in rebellion against the Genocide in Southeast Asia, but a critical rebuke of the Yes Men Era and wastage of Korea that was rapidly shoved under the rug. It’s too often forgotten that the Hippies began as Beatniks in the 1950s and that what became Rock ‘n’ Roll was a blend of Blues, Jazz, Folk Music, and Rockabilly. All of that was a reaction propelled by technology—radio and record players were relatively inexpensive while television was just beginning its rise. But the biggest issue underlying everything was the Constitutional and human rights issue of African-Americans and other minorities that was being used very skillfully by the USSR in its counter-propaganda, except what it portrayed was straight from US media.
Nascent US TV shows centered on situation comedies and dramas, plus the daytime serials that become known as Soap Operas, with the three main national networks emerging from the Radio Era where several TV formats had already proven to be successful. Hollywood and Broadway performed their usual roles, although the former suffered greatly during McCarthy’s Era with many of the best directors and screenwriters blacklisted leaving Broadway as the only venue capable of criticizing America even when it appeared to be celebrating it as with The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Paint Your Wagon, and Carousel, while critiques could be made and upheld by strong writers and showmen as was the case with South Pacific and Death of a Salesman—all of which the vast majority of today’s youth know nothing about, and I’d wager most of those under 40 are ignorant of as well. For all the hype about First Amendment Freedoms, especially when the Four Freedoms had been the declared goal of WW2, there were many restrictions—taboos—as to the content of movies, radio and “respectable” media. That publishers censored their writers at national newspapers was made known by George Seldes in his series of books and journal publications before and during WW2 and became well known after the war. Censorship is rampant today although the internet allows some freedom, yet it facilitates surveillance on a scale unheard of at anytime in history.
How vast is imbecility within the Outlaw US Empire today is a question that can be partially answered by looking at the behavior of not just politicians but American citizens. Part of what’s seen is indeed a degree of anti-intellectualism, although unlike the 1950-60s, it’s not directed at academics as much as it’s within the public at large and its self-cultivated ignorance—there’s a closer following of sports and trivialities on Social Media than national and global politics being the most glaring aspect that cages citizens and keeps imbecile politicos in office instead of in the unemployment line. The public’s assessment of Gaza is a case in point of not knowing the roots of the problem that resides in the Empire’s previous actions; and the same must be said of Ukraine. Cynics will say such aloofness is historical, that the public’s always been that way. Except that’s incorrect for part of the public has always been aware, just not enough at any one time to overthrow the oligarchy that controls the nation.
And that’s perhaps the most important point of all when we look at the citizens of the Outlaw US Empire as imbecilic—the vast majority are incapable of seeing the ruling structure that controls them and adhere to the falsity that it’s democracy from top to bottom, that Federalism properly functions. Well, it doesn’t as the national government isn’t democratic, although there’re some democratic-republic procedures it allows to occur in its operations—the election of federal officers is governed by money, meaning elections are bought instead of contested for the most part. Take a moment to review the definition of imbecilic at the top of the page. In 1968, George Wallace made the following phrase famous: "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats." Ralph Nader carried that idea further and used the economic term Duopoly in 1996 & 2000 to describe the current political reality. Nader saw the root of the problem as a lack of “civic literacy”—the inability to perform the office of citizen because the importance of that office isn’t taught at any level of schooling within the Empire, with the only people tested on its aspects being those attempting to become Naturalized Citizens, although in most states one must pass Civics or something similar to get a high school diploma, but not a college diploma or GED. Perhaps if those in school beginning when they start to pledge allegiance to the flag are taught the absolutely critical importance of performing the office of citizen, the level of governance might improve. The question thinking readers ought to ask themselves is why that isn’t the case—and never has. As for the nations where other readers reside, that seems to be a fair question too as most are English speakers residing in the other Five Eye nations.
If there was ever a time when the office of citizen needed to be performed, that time is now, and not just within the Outlaw US Empire.