Is America Collectively Insane
by Ian R Thorpe
2009-09-20
CREATIVE COMMONS: Attribute, non commercial, no derivs
KEYWORDS: obama, america, freedom, religion, cult, culture, law, constitution, dollar, government, society
Is America Collectively Insane?
The United States Of America was always something of a haven for eccentrics, nutters and fanatics. The nation was heading that way from the outset as misfits, mavericks and religious rebels were drawn to its almost limitless spaces. Clauses built into the Constitution to protect the freedoms of individuals, freedom of speech and religion, the right to bear arms etc. were first interpreted in ways the founders of the nation could never have imagined and from there became mythologised.
It is not surprising then that the USA has spawned so many religious cults, so many sub cultures and so many debilitating social phenomena. Many of the population are still in thrall to the solipsistic ideas of 1960s stoner philosophers while many more flock to fundamentalist churches to take refuge in the unthinking obedience of the cult follower. Not a good mix. You can be what you want to imagine yourself to be and your idiocy will be respected so long as you respect the idiocies of others who believe themselves to be in touch with the spirits of 20,000 year old Sumerian warriors, alien super - races or shape shifting lizards.
Anoher facet of the American obsession with crackpot cults is the burgeoning self help industry. Any book by a self proclaimed expert who boasts a PhD from the University Of Sendusthemoney.com can make a fortune by penning a self help book that promises the secret of success, happiness and good health are contained in a quasi - hinduistic collection of spiritual sounding psychobabble and if it does no work first time just buy the crystals, joss sticks, herbal remedies and sign up for the seminars at £5000 per three days session.
The election of Barack Obama, who campaigned on the promise that he would heal America's deep divisions and unite the nation into a post racial society has accelerated the march into collective madness rather than reversed it.
On one side people flock to the cause of rabid right radio and television hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who recycle the patriotic rhetoric of the Bush administration, conveniently forgetting Obama's attacks on civil liberties are no worse than those of the previous regime. On the other hand, high priests of The Cult Of The Obamessiah will not even allow the most reasonable criticism or questioning of Obama to go by without branding the person responsible as a racist.
So can anybody save America? Not Obama on current evidence, he has divided the nation in half, those who worship his every move and statement, who dubbed him the greatest US President ever on the day after his inauguration, who thing Obamanomics and Obamacare cannot fail to solve the economic and healthcare crises by virtue of their being associated with Obama, who look at their anointed one, see the sun shining out of his arse and smell the waft of lavender emitted when he farts. On the other side there are those for whom the only thing he could do with their support is fuck off and die.
At the same time there seems to be no leaders emerging on the right to launch a credible challenge. The Daily Stirrer reported over the last few days on the true depth of the economic crisis facing America. Perhaps the predicted collapse of the dollar in response to the government of an almost bankrupt nation embarking on the most insane spending spree ever will bring about economic hardship that will unite people so that a grassroots movement can begin to rebuild American society from the ground up.
Read This excellent article from First Post, Why America Has Gone Nuts to learn how far off the rails American society has gone in the ten months since Obama's election.
Who can blame those of us in he outside world for wallowing in scadenfreude as we gloatingly remind our American friends who complain of Obama's egomania, hubis, naivete, economic and foreign policy ineptitude and solipsism that we did tell them so.
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