Stepping Back from Trump's Election: Critique of underlying US Culture in a List - 25 Limitations |
by Jan Lundberg | |
21 November 2016 | |
I have been reflecting upon the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the top spot of the U.S. power structure. It has been disturbing to about half the country, and this demographic is further frustrated that not even half of the voters voted for Trump. Many people in other countries are appalled, and some pleased because Trump adds to the humorous or wild aspect of the increasingly rogue former colony.
At Culture Change (est. 2001) we have focused on root problems that give rise to the full range of dangers of racism, bigotry, misogyny, war, and ecocide. With the patience of a historian we have to watch the usual complete inaction. Yet every so often a movement or campaign comes along, such as Standing Rock or Occupy to fascinate millions of us. Culture Change (formerly Auto-Free Times magazine) refers to the changing big picture in our shared background. We address the interrelated crises that threaten our existence. We have tried almost every method of communication and agitating. Why not present a simple list of interesting omissions and questionable values that the dominant culture has racked up? This may somehow deepen understandings of Trumpism as well as put into perspective some misplaced faith in the pro-war, pro-surveillance, pro-growth Democrats. When values are unquestioned, in favor of fighting about policies and who gets to head the corporate state, the pattern of re-electing the basic status quo remains in force. The following list items can seem innocuous for each considered by itself, but when considered with even two or three others, is easy to glimpse the cultural backdrop of today’s discontent and dysfunction in the nation. Meaningfully, these realities listed are mostly limited to the U.S. Let us try to distinguish between disasters of policy and instances of cultural values coming up short. Here is food for thought, toward encouraging fundamental change rather than the usual anaemic reforms: • Too few U.S. Americans see very often or are attached to their grandparents.Instead of taking action, being more active in their community, engaging in mass demonstrations and civil disobedience, the mass of Americans sit back and feel they can always use the power of their vote. How well has this worked, when election candidates are installed every time with little positive change to show for it? The labor movement is barely strong enough to pull off strikes, let alone a general strike. The U.S. worker is not well protected and is averse to direct action, as workers are in many other countries. The lack of full involvement in one’s own community and society reflects a lack of sense of mature responsibility. When we consider these failings and the many untried, reasonable actions for reforms, the average state of mind that resists logical solutions seems to reveal a childishness or dependency, lacking a mature response to the world around. If Americans did not pay so much in taxes, benefiting the likes of Big Pharma, road building boondoggles, and the Military, that wouldn’t be so bad — but the planet is being rapidly destroyed by fossil fuels, nukes, and overpopulation. So the role of the citizen is increasingly likely to be part of a complete breakdown in civic life. A large segment still believes politics should be left to the experts and opportunists who have been failing us for many decades. The Mechanical Man that violates the spirit of life can be counted on to conform to stifling conventions, and to believe that the best society is this one — despite all the negative evidence and the waning positive features. Scientific, technological society has been adding to its problems faster than solving them, while these pillars of American civilization are ably defended at all costs by a form of priesthood on its high ivory tower. The election results in the U.S. from Nov. 8, 2016 show that the Left is very weak, or was not strong enough to install the more deserving, popular Bernie Sanders as president. But is the answer a Right-Left confrontation? Culture change is what is needed. The defective, dominant culture brought about all the problems and the strife, including the conflict between Right and Left. I didn’t vote for Trump, and this is not an article supporting him. I am delighted to the extent that Trump as president raised the possibility of his resisting the Military Industrial Complex and the Deep State: he says he wants to stop the phoney civil war in Syria and normalize relations with Russia. That being said, he is not “the issue,” nor the subject of this essay. Trump is a symptom, as was his anointed and disappointed and disappointing general-election opponent. The sources of the above 25 information-bullets include the daily news channel of your choice, and any conversation with U.S. residents not obsessed with sports, guns, porno, or working out at the gym as one’s major “outside” activity. As one who researched and wrote hundreds of Culture Change columns since 2001, I have constantly noted cultural trends and interesting statistics. This goes back further, since 1988, when I broke with the oil industry to oppose fossil fuels by founding Fossil Fuels Policy Action. As much as one learns about any topic or skill in any kind of job, I have done so in developing a radical critique of society. The mission was not to perfect knowledge of academic issues or point a finger at the bad guy du jour, or the latest outrageous policy, but rather to arrive at strategies to deal with war, environmental destruction, and the lost solidarity among groups of people formerly in tight communities enjoying nature’s healthy bounty. Why were the bullet points all negative? The positive points of the USA would be an even longer list, to include priceless phenomena such as the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. Beauty and art don’t escape us, but they are made more real and permanent by lifting up the curtain, raising discussion, and taking action in response to a crisis. Further readings:
Rejecting Dangerous Saviors: Can "The People" Save the US? Trump’s Team Will Start New Wars in the Middle East - Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch "The US army and air force is today heavily engaged in Iraq and Syria and that is not going to end with Obama’s departure."
Is there anything more important than the fact that The Year 2016 Set To Be Hottest On Record? - AFP.
S. Brian Willson wrote Blood on the Tracks about his peace-activist career, and placed this on his Facebook page on November 23, 2016: “For the record - pattern of US savage behavior, with Intention, a bi-partisan policy: • Seventy-five percent of South Viet Nam was considered a free-fire zone (i.e., genocidal zones)Winona La Duke: Indigenous Perspectives on the DAPL. She speaks eloquently and passionately about the Rights of Nature and of Indigenous values relevant to the ongoing struggle of the Water Protectors…
No Thanks for Thanksgiving - Robert Jensen / AlterNet, Culture Section, November 21, 2012
Native Blood: The Myth of Thanksgiving - Revolutionary Worker #883, November 24, 1996
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