Besides, if our way of life is so sacred, so ideal, so worthy of being defended by any means necessary, why do we need so many homeless shelters, alcohol and drug rehab centers, rape crisis hotlines, battered women's shelters, and suicide hotlines?
Why does a sexual assault occur every 2 1/2 minutes?
If America is the world's shining light, why are its citizens left with no choice but to organize in a desperate attempt to protect human, environmental, civil, and animal rights?
If America is the zenith of human social order, why does our vaunted way of life provoke terror as a tactic and an emotion?
I know what some of you are thinking: Surely, Mickey Z., humans aren’t as bad as you make them sound. They can’t possibly be the most dangerous species of all time. Humans aren’t more lethal than a T. Rex, right? To you, I ask: In all the millions of years dinosaurs roamed this planet, did a single stegosaurus ever feel the need to invent nuclear weapons?
Even today’s “monsters” are far less harmful than we “intelligent” humans. No great white shark created DDT, napalm, or the internal combustion engine; you can’t blame cigarettes, greenhouse gases, hydroelectric dams, or mercury-laced vaccinations on a pit bull; and rest assured no non-human conjured up zoos, animal experimentation, or the circus.
With the point of no return fading in the rearview mirror (or at least obscured by a Hummer), the time is long overdue for all of us to recognize the real enemy is that which inspires terror. The real enemy just might be what we see as normal.
And what can be more normal than the American Dream? You all know the American Dream myth, the fable of individualized success. If we’re tough enough and willing to fight our way past the competition, this is the land of opportunity: anything is possible. If you succeed, it’s because you worked harder and better and deserved it more. If you fail, the blame is all on you.
William Burroughs sez: “Thanks for the American Dream, to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through.”
Vulgarization. Falsification. Compromise. Conformity. Assimilation. Submission. Ignorance. Hypocrisy. Brutality. The elite. All of which, as Rage Against the Machine reminds us, are American dreams.
All of which are American dreams…
So, how about cultivating some new American Dreams?
Dreams not for sale
Dreams not based on celebrity
Dreams not based on material consumption
Dreams not based on physical beauty
Dreams not based on military conquest
Dreams that promote unity and collective action while maintaining individuality and independence
Dreams that challenge us to think for ourselves and about others
Dreams that help us pick out the hayseeds amidst the horseshit
Postscript: In his 1941 classic, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Henry Miller contemplated what it might be like to bring an American Indian back to life and show him the steel mills of Pennsylvania. Miller imagined the Indian thinking: “So it was for this that you deprived us of our birthright?”
Miller pondered, “Do you think it would be easy to get him to change places with one of our steady workers? What sort of persuasion would you use? What now could you promise him that would be truly seductive?”
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