The Curmudgeon

Oh, no- hell no- the Curmudgeon is not about to bullshit you into thinking he's saying anything that hasn't been said previously, that he's breaking some deep hot juicy story of intrigue. I am just saying that for all the bunched bloomers and the hand-wringing that's going on- what with the New Yorker cover and the tanking economy- we're just coming on to the cutting edge of a blade that will likely run us through several times.

In fact, the pain really hasn't even started to register yet. Sure, the little shit is getting more and more expensive, while the big stuff seems to be worth less and less. Besides Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (let's not forget that combined, we're talking about half the mortgage market in the nation) teetering on insolvency, there's a list of banks in danger of failing. And just because a bank isn't necessarily on that list doesn't mean it won't go tits up.

The talking head newsreaders, and their corporate masters are quick to point out that the events in this last week are nowhere wear as dire as the Savings&Loan crisis of George Herbert Walker Bush's reign. (The Curmudgeon advises against any harboring any illusion that it is a coincidence that when the Bush Crime Family gets the reins of power that the finances of the country suffer.) While technically true, just keep in mind that things are just getting things warmed up with this episode.

In the end, it will be the taxpayers, you and me, who will bail out the big rich fucks who've fucked themselves up buggering us. That's a given, and with that comes a tacit and silent acknowledgment that there is a class conflict ongoing, and the idle rich are gonna keep marching.

Ah, but there I went and said it. Oh well, fortunately, there's some nice hot distraction available.

The Obama-as-Warlord cover cartoon on The New Yorker was a master stroke of promotional marketing-cum-propaganda, cleverly (oh, yes, preciously clever, we're talking The New Yorker, after all) disguised as what could be called 'satire' (yeah yeah yeah, The Curmudgeon knows the cover doesn't actually meet the definition). If it were otherwise, the cover would have addressed some esoteric topic with a similar level of wit. The New Yorker patronage would have perused the cover, chuckled that clucking elitist chuckle of getting the funny, and the summer would have rolled on.

No, this was a conscious decision to lead with this, and that decision had to have considered that the cover cartoon would reach a far greater audience, an audience which does not do clucking elitist chuckles. In so doing, this move also handed a truckful of coal to the right wing noise machine to stoke the furnace of racism that has kept the nation simmering along.

To deny, as The New Yorker has attempted, that the cover decision was about nothing more than satire really falls flat, primarily because to accept their protestations would imply necessarily that The New Yorker is not smart enough to consider consequences for actions. Nope- "preciously clever", "witty", and "elitist" form the triune bulwark upon which the image of The New Yorker rests.

Perhaps, because it could be considered preciously clever, the subterranean intent was to spark, via the outrage, another urgently-needed national discussion, about, obviously race. The efficacy of that possible intent may be questionable, though, since it is just as likely that the right wing noise machine will start a duplicitous chorus of "Oh, Is it Okay to be Racist in America Again?", like they ever took even one pause.

Race is another one of those topics which this country will take great lengths to avoid, but it grows much more difficult when the most viable candidate for President is *gasp* black. This conversation will be long, and it will speak some very hard truths, and it won't get better quickly, or easily, or painlessly. The really scary bit here is that once we really engage the topic of race in this country, it will be impossible to avoid discussing class.

Ah, but I said it again. As needed as it is to address race, addressing the class warfare waged by the rich upon everyone else is just as urgent. However, we can entertain a discussion about race, even if it is largely just a thought experiment; such a discussion about class isn't even viable to that degree.

There's a certain and devastating immaturity in the country that resides in deep denial as regards such immediately evident truths. At least here at the cutting edge, that is. The United States needs to find a greater level of maturity, and quickly.