The one thing that all Americans have in common, certainly their leaders and icons, is that nothing is more offensive to any of them than to not have their fantasies indulged. But the thing about these fantasies, the political fantasies, the religious fantasies, the Capitalist fantasies, the interpersonal fantasies, they’re all just variations of power fantasies, all generous with excuses for why some subset of ego-centrism should have its fun at the expense of anybody and everybody else. Nobody is forced to be self-placating though. It’s a choice.
You don’t have to engage in celebrity worship, or be party to any personality cult or embrace marketing in support of any person, place or thing. You could have dignity instead.
The visionary’s dreams go unmet without your time, your attentions and your monies, so that their dreams are dependent upon your sacrifices rather than their own, a matter which no artist can soberly address. But the visionary’s dreams are special and important, because they say so, so that you must divert your time, your attentions and your monies away from achieving your dreams, toward theirs. Or you are a hater. And uncool. And apparently a threat to their life. Because of all the many peoples of the world, the only ones who deserve to live out their dreams are evidently those incapable of a vocation which resolves any measurable problem. Though were their works truly so vital to anything greater than their own esteem, surely they would share freely, with reward and credit both inconsequential distractions before the special important gravity of the work itself. The great unwashed however, themselves having long since welcomed into their lives a complete and total dependence on thoughts and feelings of others, are obsessive-compulsive in their compliance. Together, the artist and his audience live and breathe for escapism from the world which provides everything but a place for their privilege and entitlement, for the world and the self-determination of all its inhabitants simply does not exist to serve any of us, or to oblige our fantasies.
But I insist that sacrificing for power fantasies, even just power over the attentions and energies of others, is evil while there are so many things we could otherwise be sacrificing for that do not destroy lives. People could argue against that, but I’d bet they’d be offended if firefighters stopped to ask them their political and religious affiliations and pop culture faves before deciding whether to save their house. If the problems faced by others are never your concern, why then should problems faced by you ever be a concern for others?
I know these are not the textbook definitions, but it’s what I’ve experienced in my 45 years. Actual leftism theoretically prioritizes the needs of others, not mandating whichever private bias, desires, fetishes, quirks, whims and wishes be replicated by others. What is the aim of Capitalism, but to have one’s demands be met. Pelosi herself said of everyone in DC, “We’re all just Capitalists”. Across the political landscape of modern America, Libertarians are quite obviously just Conservatives ashamed of revealing themselves as such. For the same reasons, so called Liberals are actually right-wingers. Where rightwing ideology prioritizes wish-fulfillment, pushing burdens elsewhere the way Democrats and Republicans do, leftism affords nothing to esteem, because all merit and mettle are gone to those suffering actual tribulations more troubling than a slighted ego. Were they to exist in this country, a real lefty would be too busy manning a soup kitchen to fund-raise for their political ambitions. Like so, Democrats want to raise minimum wage, which’d do nothing to stop costs of living from being inflated again and again and again by the most gluttonous, assuring that those extra monies still trickle upwards along with everything else not bolted to the floor. Leftists would rather cap maximum earnings, so that a dozen eggs never costs anyone more than cents. Unfortunately, if there were in fact leftists to be found in the USA, promoting themselves by flex or by interview, singing their own praises or relying on others to sing their praises for them, would be lapses in doing what’s good for all those in need And so its leadership, its political spectrum are nothing but rightwing, nothing but competing self-interests with fully interchangeable means and methods.
And if my redefinitions bother anyone, consider swapping out leftism for good, and rightwing for evil. Where are the artists spending more time in production than shape-shifting for rewards and credits online or off, or the religious folk spending more time in service to their lord than with their own entertainments? Where is the politician insisting on a federal minimum wage for themselves to authentically represent the bulk of their constituency? Or the industrialists realizing that no public demand existing for AI amounts to explorations of business ventures before the technology even gets accomplished is…fantasy? Maybe, evil is the claiming of luxury where good is the claiming of burden.
After all, the choice everyone makes for themselves to be self-serving is concerning, as self-interest is what villains have in common: “Others must pay the piper for my pride and comfort and enrichment beyond mere well-being; as I deserve more than others, from their love to the sun and moon and stars above.” Assholes never see themselves as assholes. On the other hand, self-sacrifice is what heroism is about: “I make sacrifices and forego enrichment for the well-being of others, as nobody deserves less than me, not lesser rights or lesser resources or lesser opportunities.” Anyone exhibiting such Christlike pathology in today’s world is deemed the asshole by all those who think God’s creation is incomplete without their artificiality. Any sunrise is cheaper than a loan, and only hurts the vampires.