The American Spectator : Rebels Without a Clue

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Rebels Without a Clue

By James Bowman from the June 2010 issue

The youth culture has become very old, in more ways than one.

Say what you like about the New York Times, its Arts section can save you a lot on theater tickets, particularly if, like me, you have to come from out of town to see anything that's new on Broadway. Not that any ordinary person would want to see much of anything that's new on Broadway. The audiences there are becoming as specialized as the performers, and neither appears to have anything to say to Conservative Tastes. But the indefatigable Times critics, by keeping us current with all the crazy stuff that the creatives are getting up to, are often good for a laugh even as they spare us the necessity of wasting our time on it.

According to Ben Brantley, for instance, a new rock musical called Bloody Bloody [sic] Andrew Jackson portrays our seventh president as a rock star -- and not a metaphorical rock star like our 42nd and 44th presidents either. This is a literal, if fictional rock star, "poured into a pair of tight black jeans and fiercely embodied by a microphone-riding Benjamin Walker." Et pourquoi? To demonstrate, says Mr. Brantley, that "this country's relationship with its president is always deeply and irrationally personal." I don't know whether or not that's true but, insofar as it is a statement about history, the musical's blatant attempt to dress up the past as if it were the present can hardly be the best way of persuading us.

What I think he must mean is that the authors (Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman) of Bloody Bloody have created history of a kind that is now often called "counterfactual" -- imagine what you'd get if you put together history's violent and passionate populist Andrew Jackson with today's celebrity culture -- but which I prefer to call by its right name, which is fantasy. Andrew Jackson could not have existed at the same time as the celebrity culture. The precondition of the celebrity culture's existence is the non-existence of Andrew Jackson, or anyone remotely like him. That impossibility is precisely the provocation the celebrity culture requires to fantasize about such a fabulous monster as a rock-star Old Hickory offering, as Mr. Brantley puts it, "the ultimate promise, the one you truly want to hear from anyone who aspires to lead your nation: He solemnly swears to give you the best sex you've ever had."

It is not possible that the author of those words actually believes this is "truly" what you, me, or anyone else wants to hear from an aspiring national leader, so we must suppose that this is just an answering rhetorical flourish to that of the show itself. Once you have taken down the barriers against fantasy, then everything becomes fantasy, including the New York Times review of it. Mr. Brantley adds that, "though the deft and daft cast members would all seem to be past college age, their performances have the sensibility of a precocious, conflicted 14-year-old who can say what he really wants to only by pretending that he doesn't mean it." I'm pretty sure he means this as praise.

Two weeks later, his Times reviewing colleague Charles Isherwood wrote of another much-praised musical, American Idiot, based on the musical album of that name by the punk band Green Day, that "the emotion charge that the show generates is as memorable as the music. American Idiot jolts you right back to the dizzying roller coaster of young adulthood, that turbulent time when ecstasy and misery almost seem interchangeable states, flip sides of the coin of exaltation. It captures with a piercing intensity that moment in life when everything seems possible, and nothing seems worth doing, or maybe it's the other way around."

You've got to wonder what's going on with these twin musical celebrations of adolescent angst. Has New York theater-land suddenly been transported back into the late 1960s when such stuff was all the rage? Not really. Youth culture today, now that there is no culture but youth culture, has become a largely reflective phenomenon. The middle-aged and old who remember the youth culture of the 1950s and 1960s demand that their children and grandchildren imitate their aboriginal act of cultural rebellion, and at least some of the young are answering the call -- even as there are fewer and fewer things to rebel against. That's why the rebellion so often ends in self-destruction and celebration of mere victimhood. The principal hero of American Idiot, for instance, becomes a heroin addict.

The youth culture is actually quite old -- more than a century. We missed the 100th anniversary last year of the Futurist Manifesto of the Italian poet Filippo Marinetti which, along with the worship of youth, could be said to have spawned a considerable portion of the modernist movement, the First World War, Communism, Dada, Fascism, and the Jazz Age, not to mention the heirs of all these things in the 1960s who thought they had invented the "generation gap." Their soi-disant "revolution," however, was turned inward, in the direction of self-liberation. Rebellion was now only the rebellion of self and appetite against society and society's traditional expectations of us.

PARADOXICALLY, SOCIETY'S TRADITIONAL expectations now include the expectation of rebelliousness in the young. And just as America's youth once answered the call of honor in the defense of their country, now they answer the call of self-realization with the same mixed feelings of trying to live up to their elders' expectations of them while rather resenting them for having such expectations in the first place. This is what we are seeing, I think, as we watch the unofficial culture continue its takeover of the official, begun back in the '60s. Now Broadway musicals, those one-time affirmations of bourgeois virtues, have become celebrations of youthful attitudinizing. What are already or promise to become such contemporary theatrical perennials as Grease, Hair, Rent, Urinetown, Movin' Out, and Spring Awakening (which has the same director, Michael Mayer, and the same star, John Gallagher Jr., as American Idiot) re-enact the primal myth of our time, the same one that many if not most rock groups also portray, that of more or less anarchic and undirected youthful rebellion -- the point of which is to be politically "hip" without being politically coherent.

Such mythmaking is generally content to reduce what little dramatic conflict there is to a symbolic level. Thus, the "idiot" of American Idiot is supposed to be George W. Bush, since the former president's idiocy can be taken for granted in the rarefied world of the American theater today. An icon of Mr. Bush also appears in Lucy Prebble's Enron, just transferred from the West End of London and also reviewed by Mr. Brantley, who is not offended by having his political prejudices reinforced -- along with the moralization of political culture that was such a feature of the Bush years. Ms. Prebble's simple-minded morality play brings people in dinosaur costumes onto the stage in order to illustrate her point that the leaders of the doomed company were "raptors," and the idea inspires Mr. Brantley to enthuse about Stephen Kunken's portrayal of Andy Fastow:

The vision of Fastow -- a necktie wrapped around his head -- and his raptors in his inner sanctum, just before Enron goes boom, brings to mind a war-warped, jungle-fevered character out of Apocalypse Now or The Deer Hunter. It's a hilarious, scary image and one of the few in Enron that suggests the real heart of darkness meant to be beating at its center.

A company which sought to make money by new and innovative accounting practices that broke the rules and finally broke itself is now to be seen as the "heart of darkness" -- a place of murder and unfathomable savagery? Only in New York, kids. Only in New York. Or at least only in the media and artistic culture headquartered there.

The "raptors" are as much painted devils in this pantomime as George W. Bush, and both are symptomatic of the larger incoherence of the institutionalization of rebellion. Another example is Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary film said to be by the otherwise anonymous graffiti artist known as "Banksy." Banksy made his name by such acts of "guerrilla art" as chaining an inflatable dummy of a Guantánamo Bay prisoner to a fence at Disneyland, but he is now a bona fide star of the art world. His "street art" originals now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars and are regularly given gallery shows.

One such took place in his hometown of Bristol, England, last year and was titled "Banksy Versus Bristol Museum." Naturally it was held at Bristol Museum. Two weeks after it opened and a few hundred yards up the road, his latest elaborate graffito -- which, according to the Daily Telegraph, "shows a naked man hanging from a window ledge with a husband and his scantily-clad wife peering from within" -- was vandalized. The city council promised to restore it. Freedom, hey-day! Heyday, Freedom!

About the Author

James Bowman, our movie and culture critic, is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is the author of Honor: A History and Media Madness: The Corruption of Our Political Culture, both published by Encounter Books.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (40) | Leave a comment

Appleby| 6.15.10 @ 6:49AM

This is the last convulsive writhing of The Sixties, which are falling rapidly into the memory hole and good riddance to it. While the original Sixties Scum are gathering at the Sign of the Drooping Wee-Wee (is there a pandemic loose in the world! Yes! Viagra will cure All!), their grandchildren have buried their heads in their two inch screens and are busy making *movies* and *art* on their telephones and sending each other naked photos. Very soon that generation will forget what personal presence was like, but will never again have to worry about anybody finding out that their wee-wee is droopy; photoshop will take care of it all.

The current state of Art shows what happens when a whole generation believes The Bachelorette and Survivor really ARE reality.

Melvin| 6.15.10 @ 7:21AM

Hmm, a drooping wee-wee displayed on a 2" screen. "Hey! Dear what's your cell phone number?" Damn, forgot to use photoshop.
Good post. You've outdone yourself today Appleby.

Doctor_X| 6.15.10 @ 7:26AM

Damn Beatnik's!

Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 6.15.10 @ 7:53AM

Please don't hold Broadway or Manhattan against the rest of the Great State of New York, it's just a tiny little island, it's not a representation of the entire State!! You see, the water that feeds the City (all five Boroughs), comes down from way up-State, in these very old, and very rusted pipes, that are full of chemicals that make everybody in NYC go crazy!! Or at least, that's my theory!! New Yorkers, like myself, are completely embarrassed by Broadway, dating all the way back to CATS. Don't hold Broadway against the "rest" of New York, they're just crazy people on an island, who've been poisoned by our decrepit infrastructure, that's all!!

Grzmlyk| 6.15.10 @ 9:31AM

Andrew Lloyd Webber: The bottom feeder of Broadway. He did to theater what McDonald's did to fine cuisine (not to sleight McDonald's, but Le Cirque it is not).

I had a free ticket to Starlight Express back in the 80s and went. I'm not a snob, but my god! Everybody in the audience was a tourist already half in the bag.

I truly mourn the death of theater in America. In some ways, I'm surprised it hung on as long as it did. Such a great art form. But now, well. . .
I just bought my ticket to see Jenna Jameson in Long Day's Journey into Jenna.

Yawn.

By the way, the title of this article refers back to the iconic James Dean movie. The guy made three movies, which by my count was three too many.

Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 6.15.10 @ 11:50AM

Grzmlyk: Good day Sir!! I don't know jack blank about acting, or Broadway in general, but I did see one play, back in the day that I thought was great, and that was A View From The Bridge (?-hope I got that right). It didn't have all that, how can I say Gay singing, without saying Gay singing? Well I don't know how to, but it didn't have all that Gay singing in it, like CATS, or the other Gay singing shows that are on Broadway!! As an example of how much I can't stand it, I'm a big fan of Billy Joel, so big a fan, that I even know more than the song Piano Man, off the album Piano Man. But you couldn't pay me to go see that musical based on his music, I think it's called Movin' Out, I'd rather go to the Dentist, or watch a James Dean movie instead!! If I want to hear Billy Joel, I'll put on Songs In The Attic, or wait for him to come around on tour again. I just don't get Broadway!!

Grzmlyk| 6.15.10 @ 12:27PM

Hi Lullabyes!

I love your post. Yes, it's A View From the Bridge, which just completed a revival on Broadway, as it happens - with Scarlett Johanson, a movie actress/sexpot.

I like the play a lot (Arthur Miller in his prime) - I hope Scarlett has acting chops and can fill out the role as well as she fills out dresses. I don't watch the Tony's (I never have), but I think she was nominated; maybe she won.

Actually, I confess that there are several musicals I actually like. I was in a production of Chicago years ago, and that's a lot of fun. Ditto Grease (I played the lascivious disc jockey Vince Fontaine). I'm not much of a singer, however, so the roles I've done are light on warbling duties.

And there are several dozen movie musicals I must confess I like.

I guess as I get older, I'm less inclined to reject musicals out of hand - they used to give me the heebie jeebies. But if they aren't filled with Gay singing - the term I use is "Fagatose" - and they're clever, I confess I appreciate the talent.

If you haven't seen Meet Me in St. Louis, treat yourself - it is as heartwarming an affirmation of American and family values as you will ever see (it's where "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" originated). Oklahoma is also excellent, as are Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire in Funny Face.

As a matter of fact, I'm a big Fred Astaire fan - he was an excellent dancer, of course, but also a highly respected singer and a hell of an actor, which was proven after he quit dancing and went on to have a very respectable non-musical career (On the Beach comes to mind). And I think Gene Kelley is also rather amazing, though I tire of the fantasy dance sequences he inserted into every movie he did.

But I'm with you on fagatosity. The musicals I don't want to see still outnumber those that I do - and I will NEVER see a garish Andrew Lloyd Webber travesty again. That's Gay Singing on steroids!

David Jack Smith| 6.15.10 @ 1:30PM

"with Scarlett Johanson, a movie actress/sexpot. "

Ha. The funniest line of the day. It's about time 'sexpot' was rehabilitated.

Grzmlyk| 6.15.10 @ 1:40PM

I love the term too.

I confess, I wouldn't mind rehabilitating Scarlett Johanson.

I'm a giver.

:-)

BroadwayJane| 6.15.10 @ 5:46PM

Are your initials JC?

David Jack Smith| 6.16.10 @ 8:46AM

She should be given a right rehabitating -- over a couple of bottles of wine back at my place.

I can tell you, from impeccable inside sources, that back in 2006, she was President Bush supporter.

the permanent newbie| 6.15.10 @ 7:49PM

The lovely Miss Scarlett did indeed win the Tony for best actress in a play. My 16-year-old, stagestruck daughter and I watched the awards show (dull and disappointing, as expected but certainly not hoped for). When the nominee and her co-star, the very male Liev Schreiber, were together onstage for a minute or so, the chemistry was so palpable that my girl was instantly convinced they had to be having an affair. Maybe this is one show you should see again...

WRTolkas| 6.15.10 @ 8:37AM

Dear Readers and Friends,

If I need to watch a story about President Andrew Jackson, I watch the 1953 movie from Irving Stone's book: "The President's Lady" staring Charlton Heston and Susan Hayward. None better.

Regards,
WRTolkas

crookedwren| 6.15.10 @ 9:16AM

That was a fairly good book, too, as I recall!

WRTolkas| 6.15.10 @ 11:44AM

Dear crookedwren,

An excellent book. I stumbled upon a first edition printed in 1951 for one-dollar at a used book store in Gaylord, Michigan. I then gave the book to a friend that does an Andrew Jackson first person at historical re-enactments and for the History Channel. If you watch anything on the History Channel on Andrew Jackson you have most probably seen David. My van broke-down on the way to the Mackinaw City. Bob's Service Center in Gaylord is a great place for car repair.

Regards,
WRTolkas

Grzmlyk| 6.15.10 @ 9:00AM

As a sometime actor, I lament the transformation of Broadway from its promise of an evening of grown-up, often thought-provoking works of art to today's incarnation as "MTV Live!"

Yeah, I know: It's about economics. And so next year we will no doubt see an ad blaring, "Kim Kardashian IS Lady MacBeth in MacBeth Between the Sheets! See her in - and out of - an 11th century skirt to DIE FOR!"

Today's youth culture rejects adulthood entirely and, as that is the demographic with all of the disposable income, that's where pop culture's center of gravity resides.

And so our midddle-aged denizens - pampered boomers themselves who never were comfortable with adulthood in the first place - now embarrass themselves by chasing the distasteful dragon of self-absorbed, sullen teenaged insularity, happily appropriating its totems along the way.

But it is all moot; in 20 years Muslim bulldozers - invited by Mayor Bloomberg as part of his 20th term Diversity Celebration - will be busily erasing any trace of our self-indulgence.

On the upside, most of us won't even lift our gaze from our phone screens until the scimitar has already delivered us from our next phone bill.

Doctor Right| 6.15.10 @ 9:49AM

Liberals, aging Boomers, beatnik-wanna be's, granola-heads, hipsters, posers, and 60's re-treads have failed to realize one critical thing about today's American culture:

They ARE the establishment!

If you want REAL rebellion in 2010 America, join the Conservative movement.

And if you think that's NOT "rebellion"...All you have to do is witness the inevitable establishment backlash at any political or cultural gain by Conservatives.

TUNE IN. JOIN UP.

...And don't trust anyone under 30.

Doug| 6.15.10 @ 10:44AM

Well said, Doc, though I rather think that the under-30 crowd is moving to the forefront of the fight against the stifling authoritarianism of the Left. Witness James O'Keefe and the young citizen journalists who were assaulted last week by leftist Democrat Bob Etheridge.

JF| 6.16.10 @ 5:16PM

Remember when the hippies used to wear t-shirts that said "Question Authority"? It seems that today if you do that, you get punched and put into a headlock - by an aging version of one of those hippies. Funny how things change.

Melvin| 6.15.10 @ 10:29AM

One day in a conversation at the White Hosue. Obama, "Hey Rahm guess what I want to do with BP money?" Rahm, "What's that." Obama, "Show me da money!!" Yea, buddy John Murtha, never told me that it would be this good. Suitcases, hundreds of suitcases filled with cash. Tony Rezco eat your heart out." Rahm, Do we expect the usual 20% off the top?" Obama, "Nah, 20% is much too Conservative, we got to think big."

Jenny| 6.15.10 @ 10:48AM

Do people really pay money to see this kind of crap? You can find more entertainment on YouTube.

Seek| 6.15.10 @ 11:39AM

Earth to Doug:

James O'Keefe and his three compatriots just pleaded guilty to charges related to a phone-bugging scheme in New Orleans. This sort of black bag operation got the Nixon bunch thrown out of office in 1974. It seems anti-Leftist Merry Pranksters can be a pretty stifling lot themselves without any help from the Left.

Brian| 6.15.10 @ 1:31PM

"...pleaded guilty to charges related to a phone-bugging scheme in New Orleans. This sort of black bag operation..."
LOL! Don't let the facts get in the way of what you think happened.

societyis2blame| 6.21.10 @ 3:53AM

"Bugging ?"

SEEK the government's statement along with that made by the defendants. And ye shall find that not even an accusation of bugging was involved.

Of course that's probably because Obama's Justice Department is involved in keeping the Trooth from you - they're in bed with the Conservatives at Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC.

The Trooth is Out There, Seek. Keep digging, little buddy.

Gary| 6.15.10 @ 11:41AM

As a child of a blue collar family in the fifites I never did "get" the whole rebellion thing. Sure I like rock 'n roll, played guitar, danced but never had parents problems, nor did my brother or any of my friends. I loved by parents and extended family and this whole angst thing is alien to me. Maybe because I live in the south is the reason. I never resented adults, James Dean I wasn't. As far as all the "hip" plays out there I can't afford them and live too far away for the broadway gigs except for traditional traveling shows. To me the whole scene of these counter culture plays are the product of inflated, narcissic egos full of themselves. Humility is a rarely practiced virture.

cnc| 6.15.10 @ 1:03PM

If you don't like the art/movies/theatre/music make some that you do like or patronizean artist you approve of.
The old saying, "He who pays the piper calls the tunes" is very appropriate. Enough with the whining, if you think artists are too liberal go pay a different piper.

Grzmlyk| 6.15.10 @ 1:16PM

Earth to ahole:

People have a right to their opinions. I'm guessing you have some of your own (and no, I'm not interested).

No doubt your disapproval of this or that isn't whining, of course; it's enlightened thinking, right?

The larger theme here, since you missed it, is the general tenor of pop culture. By definition that's a group creation.

But sure, let's put on a Broadway Show that's not inane and doesn't rely on TV actors to pull the patrons in.

Can I count on you to bankroll, say, $3,000,000 that you might be willing to lose?

Thanks. No you can go back to your inconsequential self regard.

Bilwick| 6.15.10 @ 2:53PM

"whining" = criticizing "liberal" BS.

(From the LIBERAL BS TO ENGLISH DICTIONARY, "Hope and Change" edition.)

Libsby F. Bodysnatchers| 6.16.10 @ 6:04PM

I don't believe I'm going too far out on a limb, here, you demented little scuzz ball, when I say that you are probably in your mid 20s, are covered with tats and piercings and live in your single mom's cellar.

You have what's called, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, among others...Cluster B, for example.

Ewe, like your new Messiah, are what's known as a "Cerebral Narcissist." EVERYBODY WHO DOESN'T FEEL JUST AS EWE DO, IS STOOOOPPPPIIIIIDDDDD!

http://www.globalpolitician.co.....-elections

I. Upbringing and Childhood

Obama's early life was decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and mentally bruising dislocations. Mixed-race marriages were even less common then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant (two years old). Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in a car accident. Then, his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate to Indonesia: a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to be raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to live with his maternal (white) grandparents. He saw his mother only intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished from his life in 1979. She died of cancer in 1995.

Pathological narcissism is a reaction to prolonged abuse and trauma in early childhood or early adolescence. The source of the abuse or trauma is immaterial: the perpetrators could be dysfunctional or absent parents, teachers, other adults, or peers.

* Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion;

* Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions);

* Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation – or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (Narcissistic Supply);

Now, go play, GRAND THEFT AUTO, and do something constructive, nitwit!

Libsby F. Bodysnatchers| 6.16.10 @ 7:06PM

Hey Dick Breath,

This toothless, semi literate touch hole, FEELS that calling for the death of the president and his family is HIS OPINION! (There 4 their on his hand scrawled sign)

http://i257.photobucket.com/al.....JPG-vi.jpg

Maybe you can hook up with him and go into guillotines and crucifixes...You SNAKE!

Yosemeti Sam| 6.16.10 @ 12:46AM

What if - all of a sudden - illegal drugs were inaccessible.

Where would the 'creative' juices come from in the
world of the bizarre arts?

Libsby F. Bodysnatchers| 6.16.10 @ 5:49PM

On my blog/website, I have over 500 entries. Some are really great, others are just, journaling.

Everything I look up that is EVIL, has a rock group attached to it.

Elizabeth Bathory was a princess in Transylvania in the old days. She was bi-sexual(my how some things never change) and loved to bathe in young women's blood. Often touted as the female Dracula. Responsible for over 400 deaths.

In over 500 entries on my blog, which there are NO MODERATORS, for you to comment, I have ONE comment from a little guy named Butt Surfer. Mr. Surfer, apprised me of the fact that there is a "Black Metal Group," named CRADLE OF FILTH, who dedicated much of one CD, to Liz Bathory, after I did a blog entry on her.

In my experience, which is vast, all EVIL is, is an adult/child stuck right at the point, where she was overcome by evil, when she was a real child.

A Vegan is a Cowardly Suicidal Peace Activist, is a Green, is a Femarxist, is a Warmist, is a Jihadist, is an Atheist/Neo Marxist/Maoist/Stalinist, Flower Child Of The Damned.

So, I've just spent about 15 minutes putting this comment together and when I submit it, I most likely have to JOIN the blog company, or my coment will go to MODERATION, and it MAY see the light of day, but probably won't.

If this is a Word Press, blog, it will tell me immediately, that I am not allowed to comment, where I've been such a big nooney over on, AlterNet 4 Kids. Here goes...

http://www.dadi.org/hysteria.htm
A Culture Dissolving In A Bog Of Feminist Hysteria
Gerald L. Rowles, Ph.D.
14 days before Father's Day, 2001

An intriguing analogue to the feminist hysteric is the homosexual activist. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), within the hysterical context, has also said that "in both sexes overt behavior is often a caricature of femininity."

It was the feminist movement that beat the drum of masculine aggression and that all men/boys are potential rapists, batterers, and pedophiles; while girls were alleged to be suffering vast injuries to their self-esteem in schoolrooms (8). Female sexuality and "choice" have been placed upon a Feminist pedestal that has superseded the valuation of the gift of life (9). The incessant Feminist mantra of violence against women (a bald-faced lie) has made every woman a victim; whose most reprehensible acts are attributable to some forgivable deep-seated response to historical patriarchal repression (11). It should be a constant embarrassment to the Feminist establishment that their "liberated" cohort has displaced fundamental needs from family and husband to quality-child-care, Uncle Sugar, and the child-support Gestapo/Stasi - but it is not (12).

This latter unabashedness is the fundamental core of the hysteric. "I must not see, I must not hear, I must not feel" the anxiety of reality testing. As with most personality disorders, the diagnostic hallmarks of the histrionic are the evolved childish protections against the knock, knock (or Tick, Tock) of anxiety and maturation. They are the protection against the universal impulse for union and procreation. The monster under the bed has been displaced by anything which smacks of the "masculine". The anxiety of becoming a responsible parent has been displaced by the eraser of abortion - the power to kill responsibility. The need for security has been replaced with the demand for government entitlement (another person's money) without having to struggle with human reciprocity. I am woman, just hear me roar!

The ridiculousness of the Feminist poseur would be laughable if the culture were not allowing itself to be intimidated into submission. If there is anything the Feminist cannot tolerate, it is humor (except male bashing) or truth, especially if it challenges their incantations.

PSYCHO ALERT| 6.16.10 @ 8:38PM

woop! woop! woop! woop!

Libs B. Weaselweenies| 6.16.10 @ 11:16PM

Widad, change that burqa...I can smell ewe over here...DEMONIC CUCKOO CLOCK!

Ewe, didn't have to ALERT us that ewe CAME. You effing suicidal maniac!

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ISLAM - IN 1899!

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.

roy| 6.16.10 @ 7:36PM

A case could be made that Bowman's portrayal of a narcissistic youth culture that is infantile is cogent. But he misses the crucial point, there is no entertainment industry, i.e., Hollywood, Broadway, rock music, etc, are a collective political organization feigning entertainment. All
movies, all music, all Saturday night Live programs
are created to state a political point, form an anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-traditional values perspective. Any other interpretation is
mistaking the symptom for the cause.

Libsby Satanic Clowns| 6.16.10 @ 11:40PM

Roy,
Half of WWII, was to save the USA, from Japanese imperialism. And, Give em Hell Harry ended that part of the war, quite handily.

The other half was, Comrade FDR's giving aid to his Uncle Jo, to make the world safe for Communism. It's the first war that the US fought to a stalemate, which spawned the much hated Cold War, by the Flower Children Of the Damned.

We had a Neo Marxist/Stalinist/Maoist Coup, in 1968, when the Zombiehippies, turned on their own, at the Demon-O-Crat's pep rally in the Windy Schitty.

Satanic Leftists FEEL that Kent State was worse than 911.

When the BEST GENERATION came home, they fixed their children up a treat, and turned us into the WORST GENERATION. About 95% malignant narcissists.

From my linque...Is it evil to belittle, denigrate, scapegoat, and make fun of someone until they are demoralized, subjugated, and traumatized? Is the verbal and emotional abuser who keeps his victim in suspense and fear an evil person? Is the person with the need to control others evil?

According to Peck, most of us view a situation in light of how we are affected by it and only as an afterthought do we stop to consider how it might affect others involved; we do eventually consider the viewpoint of the other.

Not so those who are evil. Theirs is a brand of narcissism so total that they seem to lack this capacity for empathy.... We can see then, that their narcissism makes the evil dangerous not only because it Evil leaves its mark at the cellular level. There is a physiology to evil. Cells are imprinted at the moment terror engulfs us. Brain cells are destroyed by stress and facing evil is neverending stress. The body never leaves flight or fight mode. Children silently suffer the slings and arrows of the narcissistic parent who is unable to care. What happens to the child is of no concern to the narcissist, he must prevail no matter the cost. The child as collateral damage is unimportant. Winning is everything.

Evil leaves its mark at the cellular level. There is a physiology to evil. Cells are imprinted at the moment terror engulfs us. Brain cells are destroyed by stress and facing evil is neverending stress. The body never leaves flight or fight mode. Children silently suffer the slings and arrows of the narcissistic parent who is unable to care. What happens to the child is of no concern to the narcissist, he must prevail no matter the cost. The child as collateral damage is unimportant. Winning is everything.

My thoughts...These simpering, bedwetting, booger eating, twits, who are always howling about compassion and TOLERANCE, TOLERATE NOTHING! AND THEY HAVE COMPASSION FOR THE MONSTERS WHO SLAUGHTERED 3000 INNOCENT PEOPLE ON 911. Peck calls Narcissism, EVIL.

Peck died a few years ago. I suspect he had been an alkie, as am I (recovered). He spoke the AA lingo.

I tried to find him online, to disagree with him, about where he mentioned in one of his books that VIETNAM WAS A MISTAKE!...No, it wasn't. Killing Communists, is NEVER a mistake.

That's when I found out he was dead. Compare this great voice of our generation to Mankey Jackson, the serial pedophile, drug addicted FREAK! To put it in purely clinical terms We R
S-K-A-R-E-W-E-D, IN SPADES

Libsby Satanic Clowns| 6.17.10 @ 2:52AM

Whittaker Chambers said of Communists...The Women Were Always The Worst.

Vlad Lenin said...Kill The Family, Kill The Country. If you kill Dad and God, I've got some bad news for you.

Narcissist Flower Children Of The Damned are ALL, phobic little girls in big bodies. Amerika worships these freaks...Howie Mandel, can't shake hands with anybody. He has to do the little fist to fist thing. HE HATES REPUBLICANS.

Comrade, Mr. CommUNism Tedboy Turner, is BIPOLAR and HE hates Republicans. Howeird Dean...I HATE REPUBLICANS AND ALL THEY STAND FOR. I'm not quite sure what his diagnosis is...FITH.

Josef Stalin quotes:
America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.

Dr. Ruth Wisse of Harvard said...Neo Marxist Feminism has done to the American family, what Communism did to the Russian economy, and most of the damage is irreparable.

All Leftism is, is Darkness without Light. Yin without Yang. Lies without Truth. From my link:

Communism is the polar opposite of the Sangha (community of the Spirit). It is a counterfeit, taking on the name of 'the brotherhood of man.,' but without God in the equation, the system will eventually breakdown. Much damage and evil works are done before this happens though. Millions of lives are lost and culture and religion destroyed. It is a battle of Light vs. Dark with reincarnated leaders at the helm who have no allegiance to God, the Buddha, the Sangha and the Tao...

The current Dalai Lama admits he is not the thirteenth Dalai Lama. I think this is born out by the fact that 'the thirteenth' saw the need for military solutions.

I do know that the U.S. should have come to the defense of Tibet. They did so but it was limited. There are forces within the U.S. government that have always supported communism. Whenever the U.S. tries to help, these strategically placed individuals subvert the plan at the highest levels and at the scene. Right in the midst of a U.S. trained and sponsored counterattack by Tibetan nationals, the U.S. ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith, refused to send U.S. aerial support, dooming the mission.

Leftists do not resist evil, because they are incapable of it. A Leftist FEELS that Chairman Mao and Che F. Guevera, were god like figures.

It's nothing new...I guess this makes me a Buy-Bull Thumper. Sorry... “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)

Libs Moo Von| 6.17.10 @ 1:40PM

People,

Ayn Rand got it HALF right. PRIVACY and believe in the Supernatural, is what makes a healthy society. She was an atheist. You just have to BELIEVE in Good Verses Evil. Darkness v. Light.

Atheist/Communism and Islam are Satan Incarnate.

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The Savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. Ayn Rand

According to psychology literature, the hysterical (histrionic) personality is diagnostically grouped in what is known as "Cluster B" where it shares billing with a rather sinister group of antisocial, borderline,and narcissistic personality disorders(1.).

A nation that will not fight back in the face of evil seals its fate. Those who twist logic to find excuses for terrorists or their supporters have lost a survival instinct. Liberalism, as it's mutated since the end of World War II, is a cult that preaches national suicide. Don Feder

“Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.” Proverbs 25:26

“Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” Nehemiah 4:14

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)

From Thomas Sowell, an UNCLE TOM OREO HOUSE NIXXXR.(LINK)
Repercussions extend far beyond issues of the day. It is bad enough that we have a glib and sophomoric narcissist in the White House. What is worse is that whole nations that rely on the United States for their security see how easily our president welshes on his commitments. So do other nations, including those with murderous intentions toward us, our children and grandchildren.

Emmanual Goldstein(Trotsky)| 6.19.10 @ 4:06PM

Mr. Bowman,

Seeing that virtually ALL Leftists are Pernicious Narcissists, with OCD, you could write a story...SATANIC MOON BATS WITHOUT A CLUE.

EVERYTHING FROM THE LEFT, BRINGS DEATH!

Forced FAIRNESS, Class Envy, Phobias of everything, to the right of Ho Chi Minh.

The mere thought of eating a Big Mac, causes a Vegan, Green, Warmist, Abortionist, PETA, to run out in the middle of I 95 at 5pm, heading south to the Virginia border.

Dangers of Soy (link)
Thankfully, more and more independent research has been done regarding the dangers of soy, and what it’s revealed should scare you.

Phytoestrogens

Soy is higher in phytoestrogens than just about any other food source. Phytoestrogens are plant-based estrogens that mimic estrogen in our bodies. In recent years, you may have read about studies which indicate phytoestrogens are good for you. But ask yourself, who funded those studies? The soy industry, that’s who. Independent research has clearly shown that consuming phytoestrogens is downright dangerous for the human body.

It’s only common sense. No one argues, for example, that a leading cause of breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, and low libido is unopposed estrogen, or estrogen dominance. Why, then, would anyone argue that we should consume more of a food high in estrogen?

An infant taking the recommended amount of soy formula is consuming a hormone load equivalent of 4 birth control pills a day! Is it any wonder we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in precocious puberty with young girls starting their periods at 6 and 7?

Goitrogenic

Soy will destroy your thyroid. Many foods are goitrogenic (thyroid suppressing), but soy is king of them all. Goitrogens work by preventing your thyroid from getting the necessary amount of iodine. Friends, I believe this is what happened to Oprah’s thyroid. She pushed soy for years, featured it in everyone one of her “healthy” diets, and it destroyed her thyroid. If your thyroid fails, what happens? You gain weight. You have a harder time regulating your moods. You get colder more easily. You’re more easily fatigued. You demonstrate an inability to concentrate and remember details. The list goes on. You simply don’t want to mess with your thyroid.

Oh yeah...All your little pink ribbons and bike a thons, walks and radio.thons...

STOP HAVING A MILLION ABORTIONS PER YEAR AND THE PANDEMIC OF TITTA CANCER, WILL ALL BUT BE WIPED OUT.

Send me a check for $1.00, to Libsby F.....
Oh yeah, abortion is the leading cause of suicide in women...PAS. Post Choice Syndrome.

Emmanual Goldstein(Trotsky)| 6.19.10 @ 5:04PM

After 7 years as a mobile Xray tech...a new career, I had a complete emotional collapse, from being exsanguinated in the Satanic Abbatoir of Divorce Court, in Gayfemarxachewshits.

When I was a kid on Cape Cod, everything was, QUEER, Queeah...or a PERSON was, Queeah Bait.

Before I was able to get Socialist Security Disability, for having PTSD, I had to work in a blue collar capacity, in 10 or more venues in 12 years. The Gayva in Verygayvermont, REFUSED TO DIAGNOSE ME WITH THE CONDITION, WHICH THEY FEEL COMES ONLY FROM, REPUGLICANS AND THEIR WAR MACHINE.

One of my jobs was at a fast lube place, and I loved the young guys. Queeah, has been replaced by GAY, or in this part of the country....GEH.

People referred to me as BUD, or DUDE. So I asked them to call me Mr. Buddude.

I now call EVERYTHING from the Left of Center as GEH.

If Jeffrey Dahmer, Andrew Cunanan and John Wayne Gacy can get sympathy for their being gay, EVERY OTHER EVIL FROM THE LEFT, DOES TOO...ABORTION ON DEMAND TO THE 180TH TRIMESTER IS GEH! (HUSBANDS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS.)

THIS DOTH NOT A HOMOPHOBE, ME MAKE! I LOATHE EVIL! I AM NOT FEARFUL OF IT! When it attacks and bite me, I BITE BACK!