This is a tangent (of course it is) but the fallacy of "we" can be very painful. Thinking "we all" in a particular subset have the same code is a tragically flawed assumption. And I personally fall for it over and over in personal settings (whereas I am very cynical in professional settings).
The desire for a collective in which the group shares beliefs and codes is powerful. We are all both more alike and varied than we can quite countenance.
First, I have been trying unsuccessfully to articulate the ideas in this paragraph. “We've grown fluent in euphemism.” Phrases, like the ones you note and others, are empty chalkboards and we all fill in what we want them to mean (for the insincere), or think they should mean (for the sincere).
Second, since I was a kid I have been arguing that borders … national, state, county, city, town, province, etc. … are merely useful for the organization of economic matters and societal services. The stories, Paul Revere and Custer and others, are just tools to hold things together, almost valueless on their own.
Third, for all the checks and balances talk, our form of government is entirely voluntary. There are no hard and fast rules. Trump is a soulless genius in that he has figured out there are no real mechanisms to exert control and he has convinced just enough people to let him have his way.
Nicely written essay Owen. Footnote #2 is incredibly disturbing. I live in LA and did read that 2000 out of 4000 national guard troops were pulled last week. That is still 2000 troops too many here.
Progress, I suppose. Still too many; we're not supposed to garrison troops in our cities. I do sometimes wonder when we slide into 3rd Amendment territory.
It’s all an illusion. Not just in the “everything is an illusion, nothing is real” sort of way. But “America” is an illusion. Is not a republic. It is not a democracy. The white picket fences, the baseball and apple pie — all of it is put in place to distract us. It’s one big magic trick, and we are the audience focusing on the rabbit being pulled out of the hat while being oblivious to the person behind the curtain.
Some people are starting to notice the movement behind the curtain. They are questioning whether the woman who was sawed in half was ever in the box. They are calling out the magician as being a charlatan. Others, however, are drawn deeper into the illusion. They are no longer just sitting in their seats but are coming up on stage to be part of the show. They want to believe their card was pulled from thin air; that the Statute of Liberty really disappeared. They don’t realize that their life is all just part of the show.
I'm always on that dark road, Brad. (In fact, one of the novels I hope to write down the line has a tentative title of "The Night Road.")
America is the one nation on earth that is both an idea and a place. That’s what Vance gets wrong. The thing, as you point out here, is that the idea was always contested—always aspirational, always unevenly applied. But it was an idea nonetheless, and it held power precisely because it made demands that the reality couldn’t yet meet.
What you call the illusion—the picket fences, the apple pie, the “republic”—yes, all of that was staged. But it wasn’t only staged to distract. It was also staged as a claim. A promise. And what scares me now isn’t just that people are waking up to the lie, it’s that they’re deciding the lie was better, that the performance was preferable to the work of making something real.
The magician doesn’t need to fool us anymore. He just needs us to want the trick more than the truth.
This is a tangent (of course it is) but the fallacy of "we" can be very painful. Thinking "we all" in a particular subset have the same code is a tragically flawed assumption. And I personally fall for it over and over in personal settings (whereas I am very cynical in professional settings).
The desire for a collective in which the group shares beliefs and codes is powerful. We are all both more alike and varied than we can quite countenance.
Excellent essay, Owen. A few quick thoughts.
First, I have been trying unsuccessfully to articulate the ideas in this paragraph. “We've grown fluent in euphemism.” Phrases, like the ones you note and others, are empty chalkboards and we all fill in what we want them to mean (for the insincere), or think they should mean (for the sincere).
Second, since I was a kid I have been arguing that borders … national, state, county, city, town, province, etc. … are merely useful for the organization of economic matters and societal services. The stories, Paul Revere and Custer and others, are just tools to hold things together, almost valueless on their own.
Third, for all the checks and balances talk, our form of government is entirely voluntary. There are no hard and fast rules. Trump is a soulless genius in that he has figured out there are no real mechanisms to exert control and he has convinced just enough people to let him have his way.
I will stop here before I run out of the cyber.
Nicely written essay Owen. Footnote #2 is incredibly disturbing. I live in LA and did read that 2000 out of 4000 national guard troops were pulled last week. That is still 2000 troops too many here.
Progress, I suppose. Still too many; we're not supposed to garrison troops in our cities. I do sometimes wonder when we slide into 3rd Amendment territory.
Since you’ve headed down that dark road…
It’s all an illusion. Not just in the “everything is an illusion, nothing is real” sort of way. But “America” is an illusion. Is not a republic. It is not a democracy. The white picket fences, the baseball and apple pie — all of it is put in place to distract us. It’s one big magic trick, and we are the audience focusing on the rabbit being pulled out of the hat while being oblivious to the person behind the curtain.
Some people are starting to notice the movement behind the curtain. They are questioning whether the woman who was sawed in half was ever in the box. They are calling out the magician as being a charlatan. Others, however, are drawn deeper into the illusion. They are no longer just sitting in their seats but are coming up on stage to be part of the show. They want to believe their card was pulled from thin air; that the Statute of Liberty really disappeared. They don’t realize that their life is all just part of the show.
I'm always on that dark road, Brad. (In fact, one of the novels I hope to write down the line has a tentative title of "The Night Road.")
America is the one nation on earth that is both an idea and a place. That’s what Vance gets wrong. The thing, as you point out here, is that the idea was always contested—always aspirational, always unevenly applied. But it was an idea nonetheless, and it held power precisely because it made demands that the reality couldn’t yet meet.
What you call the illusion—the picket fences, the apple pie, the “republic”—yes, all of that was staged. But it wasn’t only staged to distract. It was also staged as a claim. A promise. And what scares me now isn’t just that people are waking up to the lie, it’s that they’re deciding the lie was better, that the performance was preferable to the work of making something real.
The magician doesn’t need to fool us anymore. He just needs us to want the trick more than the truth.
That steak tastes so good in the Matrix, though.