The Pakistani guy at my local gas station never really says much. He's always working and polite enough. And today I walked in and he said: “Fucking Fourth of July, eh?” I just said, “yeh”. I mean, I'm not doing anything this year. I don’t feel much like it. In years previous I've done things. I've gone to cookouts, I've been to the beach, one year a man I'd just met put me on the handlebars of his bicycle and bombed along Santa Monica pier, and I thought my ass was never going to recover. Anyway, today I was in the gas station, and the Pakistani guy continued, “One minute it's communism here, then it's fascism, pick one already, but there's not much America left to celebrate.” Bold, I thought. But I also understood what he was trying to say. America is an extreme place these days. “Those are Ray-Bans?” he said, pointing at the Wayfarers on my face. “Yes,” I replied, “One of the last remaining great things about America.” And we laughed, and the ring of the door went as I closed it behind me.
I've been traveling a lot on business in the post pandemic world. When I'm in Chicago, Vegas or Philly, I prefer to use taxis as Uber/Lyft are so extractive in the local communities) and nine times out of ten get a driver from Africa, Mexico, Central America or Eastern Europe. I've always enjoyed conversations with taxi drivers as they give an entirely different. apolitical opinion of America.
Almost always they'll tell you how hard they worked to jump all of the hurdles to come here. Sometimes they are the first to come to the US, and immediately start sending money back to bring other family, and sometimes another family member served as the 'beachhead' that helped bring them here. They can be effusive in their praise for what America is, compared to where they came from, and I've always found it refreshing to hear that, since our second (and older) generations, media, Hollywood, Left have forgotten. The people who want to come here, come, not for entitlements, but for opportunities.
Seemingly, our citizens, those without accents, and 3+ generations here, have forgotten what this country is, and how amazing it is. We have decided that positions in this country are without nuance (I was going to say Black and White, but I'm guessing that's a racist phrase now) and that it's more important to ensure that victims never get their feelings hurt, criminals are victims, gender isn't a thing and our country is bad and owes it's citizens, and the rest of the world, reparations.
None of these drivers can understand any of this. They are so grateful to be here, and most of these values arguments are inconsistent with their beliefs, hence the Hispanic/Asian movement to the Republican party. From my conversations, all other immigrants are moving as well.
We truly are in a bad place, and I think it's largely due to a process of indoctrination that's begun at K1-12 and university. It's then supported by Media/Entertainment/Elites. I believe that the 2022 midterms might being transitioning back to people appreciating what this country is, but it's hard to fight an entrenched permanent liberal federal employee system, the media, Entertainment and academia.
Fuck yeah, of course. Thanks for the great memories, but a reminder of another moron in Chicago was a real downer. Might as well have been Copenhagen, Berlin, Jerusalem, all of Eastern Ukraine or any of many other God forsaken places.
There are many things in American left to celebrate. Like saying Fuck Joe Biden and not worry the FBI will be at your door tonight.
Let’s be honest . As flawed as we may be, if the far left woke mob wins, what will happen to the world? Who will stand for liberty ? Europe ? Canada? No way .
We can survive many things but the marriage of wokeness with the msm is a clear and present threat to democracy everywhere
I don’t know how to attach a link here, but please look at Darren Walker’s NY Times op-ed today (pres of the Ford Foundation. Beautiful, and spot on re: where we are right now and where we are heading. Also, keep up your great work, Eve!
Wasn't feeling the 4th at all this year considering a lot of women's & (soon everyone's) rights are being eradicated right in front of our faces & I felt it ahead of time shit like that was going to happen. Time for a big-ass march before that's taken away as well!🥺
On a serious note America is “stuck “ because we have “allowed” the political process to be taken over by extremes in both parties . I say allowed because we have ourselves to blame. Our two party system only works if we the people vote - and I am not talking about the general elections . I am talking the primaries and local elections - from the school board , to local judges and the sherif , change starts at the bottom .
When 80 percent of our districts are either
“Red or blue” , the real action is in the primary . Win the primary and you win the general . Who votes in primaries ? Not a true representation of America - primaries are dominated by those grass root organizers who tend to be more extreme than the general public . The House of Representatives used in no longer the people’s house , it is far more radical /divisive /ideological than America . Why? Because they represent the people who vote in primaries . And remember , extremist do not compromise .
I write this because when I read a story that begins with a immigrant that has lost faith , it makes me sad and concerned for our future. We are here in America (either thru birth or immigration) because someone in our family saw America as a land of opportunity . They viewed life with the idea that the glass is half filled , not half empty. I believe it is still the case . But is we want to survive as a nation, we need to find a common cause , a sense of civic pride or good old fashioned civic (liberal) nationalism . And it starts with local elections , primaries etc . So instead of feeling sorry for ourselves , go out and get involved on the local level
So many feelings today. But to say that to celebrate this country means I don’t need protecting is the way to alienate advocates. I’m a Jewish woman in Los Angeles. My grandparents survived the Holocaust. I am grateful every day. I say the modeh ani everyday. My grandfathers only had education up until 7th and 8th grade. They loved this country. There is much work to do but to say there is nothing to celebrate is quite entitled.
First thank you for bucking the crowd on Depp Vs Heard. It is not the the simple narrative presented, and I did not like the dogpiling that she endured. Once again, you showed a willingness to go to bat for a friend against popular opinion, and I appreciate that.
Second, when you mentioned the bands that blocked you last post, I remembered that in the 80s bands such as The Smiths, The Fixx, etc., were obsessed with The Bomb. Now that Russia, Iran and North Korea may actually use them, they have longed moved on to something else.
I just mean to console by pointing out that for many musicians aspects of their activism - excluding bona fide time, effort and money many put in poverty stricken and war torn areas - is a socially acceptable shallow pose, particularly for easy identifiable villains such as Israel, global warming, etc. My favorite line on the subject has always been a conservative critic's review of the Sheen-Estevez brothers' movie Men At Work. Reviewing the film he wrote the two lines: "They take a stand on nuclear waste. (They're against it.)"
Now on to the new:
America's rebelliousness you cite has proven to have a transparent dark side. Newcomers always appreciate it but many who have grown up here who don't have the skills to make it are in a very painful place.
Some "woke" use the facade of politics to pick on low hanging fruit. Or destroy hard-working people's property. Others on both left andright turn violent.
And hundreds of thousands are numbing the pain and boredom through self-medication.
Every person and culture's blessing is also their curse.
Rock n' roll has long made me an Anglophile; the politics of the 80's bands I got into - known here as the second British Invasion - may have been shallow but the music was not. In my twenties I fell in love with ironic Britpop ditties: Blur, Pulp, Joe Jackson, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Human League, Stone Roses etc. (I can also get into an Allman Brothers album as much as the next person and of course saw them live.)
And British acting comes from a theater background that makes it easier for me to suspend disbelief than watching some American star take on the establishment for the billionth time. It strikes me as formulaic and juvenile.
Let's also remember that Johnny Depp's defamation suit did not succeed in the UK.
Finally:
In 1999, Ray-Bans were bought by Luxottica, an Italian company that owns 75% of popular eyewear. If you want the real thing, I suggest you peruse on eBay.
The July 4th shooting, like most of the the irrational violence being experienced by Americans today, is the consequential blowback of the pathological malignant narcissism of the rich kid commissariat and the financial totalitarians they serve. The looting and economic destruction of a nation creates social/cultural disintegration and collapse. Manufacturing a psyop to divert attention from, and pretend that extreme poverty and cultural disintegration doesn't damage and derange the human psyche, doesn't change the fact that it does. Extreme poverty, repression and cultural disintegration is the exact scenario that made the German people susceptible to Hitler and fascism. I appreciate the fact that many American Jew's working in media are taking note. LOUDER PLEASE!!
Fascism- (communism as well)- believes in cheap throw away labor and the exploitation of resources for the benefit of those controlling the "state". SCHINDLER'S LIST affirms the reality. American reality: Elected political leaders sent to Washington too moderate and grow the economy took a payoff from the Wall Street/WEF trillionaire elite and allowed them to gut American Industry and destroy the American economy. Having nothing left to loot they've abandoned the pretense of "capitalism" and settled on the idea of a debt driven CCP style feudalism. Hence, the surveillance state, big tech, bureaucratic psyop called"WOKE". It's propagandist P.C. manipulation and obfuscation of the American national dialogue and it's in-your-face willingness to destroy worthy lives, assault the young and butcher the human body is only the surface of the EVIL it represents. The empowered healthy human adult fully engaged in exercising agency and intelligence in daily life, The American Constitutional Republic and the Constitution must be destroyed for the psyop to succeed.
Jimi Hendrix was an honorably discharged member of the 101st Airborne "screaming eagles" His anthem recapture of the STAR SPANGLED BANNER on the stage at Woodstock as a response to the impact of Viet Nam on our lives is a testament to freedom transcending lies and chaos. Rock and roll has always been revolutionary. It emanates from the Soul as a natural antidote to repression and confusion. The men of the post Civil War Mississippi Delta, the post WWII poor boy's of Liverpool, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the drumming pulse of human hearts everywhere SING. The Milli Vanilli style industrial scale castration and subversion of rock and roll and the ascent of its sexless puer aeterus non threatening child forever hero is antithesis and capitulation.
"..like a bird on a wire...like a drunk in a midnight choir..I have tried in my way to be free..." L.Cohen
"...my friends from the prison they ask unto me..how good..how good is life to be free...and I answer them most mysteriously...how free are the birds from the chains of the skyway.." B.Dylan
Best line in this essay: It told me that there were places in America where people lived very hard just so they could get that wild.
I liked that you took the perspective for this essay from your experience with music, but am very sad that it had to end with a mass shooting. You experienced some great music, but you are young and missed the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Imagine if you could have spent some time hanging out in Laurel Canyon interviewing the bands of that era. Or gone on a road trip with The Grateful Dead for the summer. The ‘70’s was, in my opinion, the best decade for rock and roll. It’s true, there were a lot of British bands along with American bands back then, but bands like Led Zeppelin thrived not because they were British, but because America embraced their music style and raw power. America put Zeppelin on the map.
But all is not lost, you can still see Dead & Co as they are touring this summer. The scene is the same as in 1970, but now the children of those Dead Head parents (those who should have stopped breathing long ago) have joined in the tradition to keep it very much alive. Bob Weir is 73 and is doing some incredible work with his lead guitarist, John Mayer, who is crushing it.
Music is indeed very important to the fabric of America and we haven’t even touched the surface on Country & Western and it’s influence.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane when America was free as a bird.
I've been traveling a lot on business in the post pandemic world. When I'm in Chicago, Vegas or Philly, I prefer to use taxis as Uber/Lyft are so extractive in the local communities) and nine times out of ten get a driver from Africa, Mexico, Central America or Eastern Europe. I've always enjoyed conversations with taxi drivers as they give an entirely different. apolitical opinion of America.
Almost always they'll tell you how hard they worked to jump all of the hurdles to come here. Sometimes they are the first to come to the US, and immediately start sending money back to bring other family, and sometimes another family member served as the 'beachhead' that helped bring them here. They can be effusive in their praise for what America is, compared to where they came from, and I've always found it refreshing to hear that, since our second (and older) generations, media, Hollywood, Left have forgotten. The people who want to come here, come, not for entitlements, but for opportunities.
Seemingly, our citizens, those without accents, and 3+ generations here, have forgotten what this country is, and how amazing it is. We have decided that positions in this country are without nuance (I was going to say Black and White, but I'm guessing that's a racist phrase now) and that it's more important to ensure that victims never get their feelings hurt, criminals are victims, gender isn't a thing and our country is bad and owes it's citizens, and the rest of the world, reparations.
None of these drivers can understand any of this. They are so grateful to be here, and most of these values arguments are inconsistent with their beliefs, hence the Hispanic/Asian movement to the Republican party. From my conversations, all other immigrants are moving as well.
We truly are in a bad place, and I think it's largely due to a process of indoctrination that's begun at K1-12 and university. It's then supported by Media/Entertainment/Elites. I believe that the 2022 midterms might being transitioning back to people appreciating what this country is, but it's hard to fight an entrenched permanent liberal federal employee system, the media, Entertainment and academia.
For some reason, your lovely post made me think of this Joni Mitchell lyric:
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day
Fuck yeah, of course. Thanks for the great memories, but a reminder of another moron in Chicago was a real downer. Might as well have been Copenhagen, Berlin, Jerusalem, all of Eastern Ukraine or any of many other God forsaken places.
There are many things in American left to celebrate. Like saying Fuck Joe Biden and not worry the FBI will be at your door tonight.
Let’s be honest . As flawed as we may be, if the far left woke mob wins, what will happen to the world? Who will stand for liberty ? Europe ? Canada? No way .
We can survive many things but the marriage of wokeness with the msm is a clear and present threat to democracy everywhere
god, i love this substack
Thank you for putting into words what I am feeling. I have not felt at all like celebrating today.
I don’t know how to attach a link here, but please look at Darren Walker’s NY Times op-ed today (pres of the Ford Foundation. Beautiful, and spot on re: where we are right now and where we are heading. Also, keep up your great work, Eve!
Wasn't feeling the 4th at all this year considering a lot of women's & (soon everyone's) rights are being eradicated right in front of our faces & I felt it ahead of time shit like that was going to happen. Time for a big-ass march before that's taken away as well!🥺
On a serious note America is “stuck “ because we have “allowed” the political process to be taken over by extremes in both parties . I say allowed because we have ourselves to blame. Our two party system only works if we the people vote - and I am not talking about the general elections . I am talking the primaries and local elections - from the school board , to local judges and the sherif , change starts at the bottom .
When 80 percent of our districts are either
“Red or blue” , the real action is in the primary . Win the primary and you win the general . Who votes in primaries ? Not a true representation of America - primaries are dominated by those grass root organizers who tend to be more extreme than the general public . The House of Representatives used in no longer the people’s house , it is far more radical /divisive /ideological than America . Why? Because they represent the people who vote in primaries . And remember , extremist do not compromise .
I write this because when I read a story that begins with a immigrant that has lost faith , it makes me sad and concerned for our future. We are here in America (either thru birth or immigration) because someone in our family saw America as a land of opportunity . They viewed life with the idea that the glass is half filled , not half empty. I believe it is still the case . But is we want to survive as a nation, we need to find a common cause , a sense of civic pride or good old fashioned civic (liberal) nationalism . And it starts with local elections , primaries etc . So instead of feeling sorry for ourselves , go out and get involved on the local level
So many feelings today. But to say that to celebrate this country means I don’t need protecting is the way to alienate advocates. I’m a Jewish woman in Los Angeles. My grandparents survived the Holocaust. I am grateful every day. I say the modeh ani everyday. My grandfathers only had education up until 7th and 8th grade. They loved this country. There is much work to do but to say there is nothing to celebrate is quite entitled.
Something old:
First thank you for bucking the crowd on Depp Vs Heard. It is not the the simple narrative presented, and I did not like the dogpiling that she endured. Once again, you showed a willingness to go to bat for a friend against popular opinion, and I appreciate that.
Second, when you mentioned the bands that blocked you last post, I remembered that in the 80s bands such as The Smiths, The Fixx, etc., were obsessed with The Bomb. Now that Russia, Iran and North Korea may actually use them, they have longed moved on to something else.
I just mean to console by pointing out that for many musicians aspects of their activism - excluding bona fide time, effort and money many put in poverty stricken and war torn areas - is a socially acceptable shallow pose, particularly for easy identifiable villains such as Israel, global warming, etc. My favorite line on the subject has always been a conservative critic's review of the Sheen-Estevez brothers' movie Men At Work. Reviewing the film he wrote the two lines: "They take a stand on nuclear waste. (They're against it.)"
Now on to the new:
America's rebelliousness you cite has proven to have a transparent dark side. Newcomers always appreciate it but many who have grown up here who don't have the skills to make it are in a very painful place.
Some "woke" use the facade of politics to pick on low hanging fruit. Or destroy hard-working people's property. Others on both left andright turn violent.
And hundreds of thousands are numbing the pain and boredom through self-medication.
Every person and culture's blessing is also their curse.
Rock n' roll has long made me an Anglophile; the politics of the 80's bands I got into - known here as the second British Invasion - may have been shallow but the music was not. In my twenties I fell in love with ironic Britpop ditties: Blur, Pulp, Joe Jackson, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Human League, Stone Roses etc. (I can also get into an Allman Brothers album as much as the next person and of course saw them live.)
And British acting comes from a theater background that makes it easier for me to suspend disbelief than watching some American star take on the establishment for the billionth time. It strikes me as formulaic and juvenile.
Let's also remember that Johnny Depp's defamation suit did not succeed in the UK.
Finally:
In 1999, Ray-Bans were bought by Luxottica, an Italian company that owns 75% of popular eyewear. If you want the real thing, I suggest you peruse on eBay.
The July 4th shooting, like most of the the irrational violence being experienced by Americans today, is the consequential blowback of the pathological malignant narcissism of the rich kid commissariat and the financial totalitarians they serve. The looting and economic destruction of a nation creates social/cultural disintegration and collapse. Manufacturing a psyop to divert attention from, and pretend that extreme poverty and cultural disintegration doesn't damage and derange the human psyche, doesn't change the fact that it does. Extreme poverty, repression and cultural disintegration is the exact scenario that made the German people susceptible to Hitler and fascism. I appreciate the fact that many American Jew's working in media are taking note. LOUDER PLEASE!!
Fascism- (communism as well)- believes in cheap throw away labor and the exploitation of resources for the benefit of those controlling the "state". SCHINDLER'S LIST affirms the reality. American reality: Elected political leaders sent to Washington too moderate and grow the economy took a payoff from the Wall Street/WEF trillionaire elite and allowed them to gut American Industry and destroy the American economy. Having nothing left to loot they've abandoned the pretense of "capitalism" and settled on the idea of a debt driven CCP style feudalism. Hence, the surveillance state, big tech, bureaucratic psyop called"WOKE". It's propagandist P.C. manipulation and obfuscation of the American national dialogue and it's in-your-face willingness to destroy worthy lives, assault the young and butcher the human body is only the surface of the EVIL it represents. The empowered healthy human adult fully engaged in exercising agency and intelligence in daily life, The American Constitutional Republic and the Constitution must be destroyed for the psyop to succeed.
Jimi Hendrix was an honorably discharged member of the 101st Airborne "screaming eagles" His anthem recapture of the STAR SPANGLED BANNER on the stage at Woodstock as a response to the impact of Viet Nam on our lives is a testament to freedom transcending lies and chaos. Rock and roll has always been revolutionary. It emanates from the Soul as a natural antidote to repression and confusion. The men of the post Civil War Mississippi Delta, the post WWII poor boy's of Liverpool, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the drumming pulse of human hearts everywhere SING. The Milli Vanilli style industrial scale castration and subversion of rock and roll and the ascent of its sexless puer aeterus non threatening child forever hero is antithesis and capitulation.
"..like a bird on a wire...like a drunk in a midnight choir..I have tried in my way to be free..." L.Cohen
"...my friends from the prison they ask unto me..how good..how good is life to be free...and I answer them most mysteriously...how free are the birds from the chains of the skyway.." B.Dylan
Best line in this essay: It told me that there were places in America where people lived very hard just so they could get that wild.
I liked that you took the perspective for this essay from your experience with music, but am very sad that it had to end with a mass shooting. You experienced some great music, but you are young and missed the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Imagine if you could have spent some time hanging out in Laurel Canyon interviewing the bands of that era. Or gone on a road trip with The Grateful Dead for the summer. The ‘70’s was, in my opinion, the best decade for rock and roll. It’s true, there were a lot of British bands along with American bands back then, but bands like Led Zeppelin thrived not because they were British, but because America embraced their music style and raw power. America put Zeppelin on the map.
But all is not lost, you can still see Dead & Co as they are touring this summer. The scene is the same as in 1970, but now the children of those Dead Head parents (those who should have stopped breathing long ago) have joined in the tradition to keep it very much alive. Bob Weir is 73 and is doing some incredible work with his lead guitarist, John Mayer, who is crushing it.
Music is indeed very important to the fabric of America and we haven’t even touched the surface on Country & Western and it’s influence.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane when America was free as a bird.