This is a good blog. This is the best blog. It is about god and the universe and those horrible screaming monkeys and the time I made a pizza out of an old tire and a can of whip cream. This is the Fafblog.
Uncle Sam as Zombie - a metaphor for the Republic's state of health
Dead? Catatonic? Just resting? Pining for the fjords, like the parrot in the Monty Python sketch?
I suggest the American Republic is zombified, in a metaphorical sense of the literal truth of the horror movie cliche. The superstition about zombies is that they are dead, and returned to a kind of life in death by magic. The truth (and I am relying on the accounts of Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis for this) is that they have been intentionally poisoned in such a way that they appear dead, and after the "corpse" is buried the folk psychopharmacologist (a.k.a. "witch doctor") revives and enslaves them. Their state of mind after zombification no doubt depends not only on the drug regimen they have received, but their pre-existing beliefs about what has happened to them.
"The Republic", of course, is not a biopsychosocial system that can literally be given mind-altering drugs. It is a kind of abstraction for collective social behavior, and the art, science, and business of the manipulation of collective beliefs has many ardent practitioners these days (even, in a sense, those of us who blog).
I ask you to join me in a thought experiment. Let's imagine that there might be some way for Uncle Sam, now lying in his grave, to return to life - not just a half-life of working for his (and our) oppressors, the military-industrial-congressional-financial-corporate media complex.
How could that be done? What would it take for the Republic to become unzombified? What are the "antidotes" for the "brain poison"? If "ideas" and "feelings" are what have poisoned us, are there other "ideas" and "feelings" that can restore us to health? Some say there is hope - structures of oppression built by people can be dismantled by other people. Or maybe Kurt Vonnegut was right in the pessimism he expressed in his last years - there is no way in hell that the U.S. will EVER become a humane and reasonable nation.
May the Creative Forces of the Universe have mercy on our souls, if any.
A dinosaur relic? Hmm, I'm unsure what it exactly is by the looks of it. Truly fascinating how it could be possible for such species to have existed some million years ago or so. I myself haven't seen anything like this relic literally. I just wonder how it would be like if they're still existing!
I was about to wake you up to tell you that Obama sounded like he was prepared to stand up for something, but it turns out that he was afraid of sounding intolerant to bigots so he made a clarifying statement shortly afterward. Kinda like that one time when he gave that other rousing speech about how much he loved Rev. Wright, then fled his church shortly afterward.
False alarm, go back to sleep and enjoy the Mandarin spam.
I have detected that at least 2 comments have gone missing from this thread. They dealt with fabuousness, bodies piling up and the Hampton's. What's one to make of this phenomenon?
Already we've had to endure 98 continuous minutes of September without Fafnirian enlightenment. Good lord, can't you see we're being Boehner-ed to death?
The picture is of a skull that once belonged to a Paraceratherium bugtiense (the largest land mammal ever found in the dirt). This skull now belongs to (I think) the New Jersey State Museum. Paraceratherium bugtiense was an herbivore that probably ate trees, shrubs, and tasted like rhinoceros.
So that's what Fafnir looks like! I'd always imagined something less ... skeletal, somehow.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for Next Wednesday, but September'll do.
ReplyDeleteFair enough -
ReplyDelete- but wipe that grin off your face!
Good-night, sweet prince;
ReplyDeleteAnd flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
ReplyDeleteThis post reminds me of something I wrote myself.
ReplyDeleteUncle Sam as Zombie - a metaphor for the Republic's state of health
Dead? Catatonic? Just resting? Pining for the fjords, like the parrot in the Monty Python sketch?
I suggest the American Republic is zombified, in a metaphorical sense of the literal truth of the horror movie cliche. The superstition about zombies is that they are dead, and returned to a kind of life in death by magic. The truth (and I am relying on the accounts of Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis for this) is that they have been intentionally poisoned in such a way that they appear dead, and after the "corpse" is buried the folk psychopharmacologist (a.k.a. "witch doctor") revives and enslaves them. Their state of mind after zombification no doubt depends not only on the drug regimen they have received, but their pre-existing beliefs about what has happened to them.
"The Republic", of course, is not a biopsychosocial system that can literally be given mind-altering drugs. It is a kind of abstraction for collective social behavior, and the art, science, and business of the manipulation of collective beliefs has many ardent practitioners these days (even, in a sense, those of us who blog).
I ask you to join me in a thought experiment. Let's imagine that there might be some way for Uncle Sam, now lying in his grave, to return to life - not just a half-life of working for his (and our) oppressors, the military-industrial-congressional-financial-corporate media complex.
How could that be done? What would it take for the Republic to become unzombified? What are the "antidotes" for the "brain poison"? If "ideas" and "feelings" are what have poisoned us, are there other "ideas" and "feelings" that can restore us to health? Some say there is hope - structures of oppression built by people can be dismantled by other people. Or maybe Kurt Vonnegut was right in the pessimism he expressed in his last years - there is no way in hell that the U.S. will EVER become a humane and reasonable nation.
May the Creative Forces of the Universe have mercy on our souls, if any.
[first published October 22, 2007 at Salon.com]
A dinosaur relic? Hmm, I'm unsure what it exactly is by the looks of it. Truly fascinating how it could be possible for such species to have existed some million years ago or so. I myself haven't seen anything like this relic literally. I just wonder how it would be like if they're still existing!
ReplyDeleteBy right-clicking on the image, I was able to find out what the animal is. It's not a dinosaur.
ReplyDeleteOr lose you to a summer love...
ReplyDeleteBTW, that thing has quite the overbite. Doesn't look so herbivore-y to me.
PaminBB
While we wait, we can enjoy some pie blogging
ReplyDeleteor will I looooose you
ReplyDeleteto a summer love
Mistah Charlie - Dick Cheney has no pulse.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'.
hope to see you all back in september, with new backpacks and school supplies.
ReplyDeletei miss fafblog when it goes away.
also, that skeleton kind of scares me.
It's okay, kittens, he's vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteI was about to wake you up to tell you that Obama sounded like he was prepared to stand up for something, but it turns out that he was afraid of sounding intolerant to bigots so he made a clarifying statement shortly afterward. Kinda like that one time when he gave that other rousing speech about how much he loved Rev. Wright, then fled his church shortly afterward.
ReplyDeleteFalse alarm, go back to sleep and enjoy the Mandarin spam.
You're missed. Blogging is rough, but please come back (for real).
ReplyDeleteWith regard to "See you in September" - it won't be long now (as the dog doc said to the boxer pup, prior to docking his tail)
ReplyDeleteGuess what tomorrow is!?!
ReplyDeleteI have detected that at least 2 comments have gone missing from this thread. They dealt with fabuousness, bodies piling up and the Hampton's. What's one to make of this phenomenon?
ReplyDeleteAlready we've had to endure 98 continuous minutes of September without Fafnirian enlightenment. Good lord, can't you see we're being Boehner-ed to death?
ReplyDeleteSeptember!
ReplyDeletetick tick tick tick tick tick
ReplyDeleteBrrrrinnnnggg! Ring! Bing!
[ it's September out ]
My calendar died. What year is it?
ReplyDeleteIt's September! Let's go!
ReplyDeleteWow! that's so nice. A huge skull from a dinosaur I think.
ReplyDeleteOh no, has a Summer Love intervened?
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is now a couple of days ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's September! Wake up!
ReplyDeleteIt may be September but it's also 2 in the morning so as far as I'm concerned he can stay asleep.
ReplyDeleteMy thingification word is conspr and don't think I don't know what that means.
The picture is of a skull that once belonged to a Paraceratherium bugtiense (the largest land mammal ever found in the dirt). This skull now belongs to (I think) the New Jersey State Museum.
ReplyDeleteParaceratherium bugtiense was an herbivore that probably ate trees, shrubs, and tasted like rhinoceros.
Beware, O Fafnir. Tomorrow are the Ides of September. There is no safety in mere absence.
ReplyDeleteI just wish somebody would tell me what "dooby dooby doo-wah" really means.
ReplyDeleteIt means pretty much the same as "diddy wah diddy wah diddy doo". Only with more bees.
ReplyDeleteWhatever that skull belonged to, I want it as a pet :D
ReplyDeleteCertainly looks like a dinosaur relic, that should be put in a museum and be considered as a important history artifact.:)
ReplyDelete