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2015: The Year Of The American Identity Crisis
Race and sexual identity now make up a good portion of all media distractions. According to political activists, “symbols of oppression” now include Halloween costumes, the Confederate flag, and the color of Starbucks coffee cups. So shallow is our collective identity, that this now defines our most passionate debate. While the global economy deteriorates and our government pursues endless conflict across the planet, this is what Americans are most concerned about.
Identity issues make the perfect media story. For the 24-hour TV and internet rage business, these symbolic, but mostly linguistic fights generate strong emotional responses while being non-threatening to advertisers or to the government.
These relatively innocuous symbols have become lightning rods for attention, while real issues go ignored. We wrote in a previous article back in June: “[R]eal problems like mass incarceration, torture, endless war, the end of privacy, and widespread poverty are ignored. This is more than just a corrupt media distracting us with meaningless trivia. Americans literally cannot tell the difference between symbols and reality.”
I have long maintained that these sham fights are a symptom of a society that collectively no longer has any sense of identity. What makes life worth living? Family? That hardly seems true for many Americans. Family cohesion has been disintegrating for some time. A few of us try to define ourselves by hard work and material gain. Maybe that works for some, but how far does that go in an economy with 46 million people on food stamps and a shrinking middle class?
Of course, many of us do cling to the material aspects of life we hope will fill the void in our lives. Consider Black Friday, now practically a national holiday of consumer excess. Where employees once took off of work to spend time with family, they now schedule time to stand in lines and acquire larger — and “smarter” — television sets.
I remember when I was growing up, the terrible Jingle All The Way movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger parodied toy crazed shoppers willing to step over one another to get a popular toy in time for Christmas. Watching it today, the scenes of barbarity in the toy stores seems more like a subdued documentary than parody.
Still, despite the increasing depravity of Americans who are willing to pummel, stab, shoot and pepper spray fellow shoppers, Black Friday sales still seem to disappoint retailers every year. It seems many of us can no longer afford to define our lives solely by electronic gadgets and other pieces of useless shit. For a while, naked consumerism was our god; now we don’t even have that.
In the past, Americans have had a strong sense of what sociologists call “negative identity” — we define ourselves by what we are not. For example, “We are not Nazis” or “We are not Communists.” The advantage of this kind of thinking is that it fortifies the national psyche against external enemies. Ultimately, it’s an unsatisfying way to live. When those enemies disappear, we seek out new villains to hate and destroy, the only meaning in life being found in death.
Historian and social critic Morris Berman writes that a negative identity “can never tell you who you actually are, in the affirmative sense. It leaves an emptiness at the center, such that you always have to be in opposition to something, or even at war with someone or something, in order to feel real.”
And, if our enemies are not sufficiently threatening, what’s left? As Chuck Palahniuk once wrote, “When we don’t know who to hate, we hate ourselves.”
The terrorist attack in Paris which killed 128 people prompted a tense reaction across the western world. If there is a similar attack in the United States with hundreds dead, we will pounce on whatever new scapegoat is offered. It will be tremendously frightening.
The government will easily rally a bloodthirsty and directionless public into supporting changes to the law that practically eliminate free speech, privacy, trial by jury and the few other protections the Constitution still provides. The security state is salivating at the potential to eliminate the last vestiges of civil liberties and envelope the nation in constant surveillance and eventually total tyranny. The key to their success is not that they promise security from terrorists, but rather they offer struggling Americans a reason to be alive — a fight against the “other.”
Usually, an identity crisis is temporary. Eventually, people discover a healthy identity for themselves and a sense of stability returns to their lives. But, under such constant political mismanagement and widespread criminality, what chance is there for a stable future? Very little it seems.
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Yeah? Well y'all just wait 'till I gets myself dat new Tesla and I'll feel like a million bucks.
Fill that Hole in Your Soul with More Crap
Always Works, So Do More
And Break Some Windows While You're At It... It's Altruistic, Says Paulie Fucknut
We'll just Rachel Dolezal our way out of thsi mess!
"Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism. At least it's an ethos"
'Identity crisis' is America especially is a byproduct of wealth, which as about to change. Ten years down the road, when everyone has to make choice between eating or fucking around on the ipad all day, people will know exactly who they are......if their god Darwin sees fit to carry them forward.........
Personally, my God is smart enough and powerful enough to come up with something like genetics. But hey, that's just me. Don't try to "fix" stupid, it cannot be done. Yes, the world has not changed much as it still is evolve or die motherfucker.
Human technology keeps evolving, human nature, not so much...
Americans have not yet figured it out that they are not citizens - Washington DC regards them as - Labor - only. When the Marginal Utility of that unit of labor is reached, they want you off the air ---quickly.
No support no medical care - Murder by Neglect - please quickly ...die
One could almost call that attitude pervasive among the younger people who get stuck with the tab. I can feel the gusts of ill humor.
The truth is America has been gutted by FRAUD/THEFT.
Only one rule you need to know; when fraud is the status quo, possession is the only law that matters.
My identity went back across the Ohio . Ain't coming back
Whaaa!!! I dont know who I am anymore... NOT!
Grinding hardship has a rather unique way of righting a ship off course. We'll get there.
What is the purpose of this story?
I have never owned a TV and ignore MSM, is that why I never noticed any Identity Crisis?
Anybody see that the P.N.A.C has been, ummm, "unpdated"? Now it is called the John Hay Initiave.
http://www.choosingtolead.net/
Here's the "Cliff Notes" version:
http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/government/new_world_order/news....
Talk about an imposed American Identity Crisis.
Shop till you drop ... Crisis? What Crisis?
A downvote?? What a trip. I dearly hope it was from a bot.
But then again, a human had to program that bot's action.
Spawn of the devil....
Identity crisis my ass. It is Idiocracy 24/7 up in here bitchez. Moar so every day.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o238/Maryterese/idiocracy_money.jpg
As the elitists continue to rain down their shouted judgments.
About once a generation America will elect a president that reflects it's identity as a nation. This selection usually goes a long way toward re-affirming the American Identity.
FDR, Kennedy, Reagan, and then...Obama.
Only Obama turned out to be a sociopath con-man that did not believe in the American values he said he did (Isn't that right Oprah?)
The subsequent void that was created in the American Spirit by this betrayal will have repercussions for generations to come.
Not bad, RaD.
Anyone who belived Obama at his word did not do his homework. No vetting by the voters, can't blame Obama but I sure do blame you or anyone who voted for him. It was all there for everyone to see but nope, no one checked this slick darkie out, blindly pulling that handle. Way to go retards.
<removed by poster>
Dude/Ma'am, guilty as charged. The only reason I voted for Obummer was because of his Health Care Plan.
Anybody except me remember Obummer's proposed Health Care Plan??
EAT RIGHT AND EXERCISE.
Yup. Anybody remember his and Michelle's attempt to plant an organic garden at the white House?
Look what we got instead, a nation run by pharmaceutical and pesticide companies.
I haven't voted since, and will never vote again.
Could not be better said RaD. Well done.
"Eventually, people discover a healthy identity for themselves and a sense of stability returns to their lives."
How about this one? (You may not like it, but get used to it.)
"I am Bernie!"
I love little mousies,
Its what I love to eat,
First I bite their heads off,
then I nibble on their feet.
--A Cat
Epic:
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/14/obituaries/b-kliban-55-a-cartoonist-wh...
They say you can tell how a kid is treated at home by how he treats other children and how they feel about themselves. When your societal power structures attempt to limit peoples empowerment and cage peoples consciousness there are naturally going to be consequences. How many people in this country actually believe that the people who run things are smarter then themselves, genetically superior or come from a background that makes them inherently exceptional? How many sheep out there think that they are inferior and cannot holding their own in the world because their mental abilities, education and upbringing could never hold a candle in the power games of their species.
Social conditioning has been proven to make people feel and perform inferior especially in respect to intelligence. You can lie to someone about an IQ test and tell them they are a genius and they will score way higher the next time you test them. The reality of the situation is that the people in power are the ones that are inferior and they can only win by playing a fixed game.
People are being conditioned, made to feel powerless and deprived of information so it is no wonder that people don't know their head from their ass.
The only reason I gave you a redie was that you made a point that was sensible, but did not encompass 'normal' attitudes.
Please feel free to hit me any time.
I didn't hit you but what I see as normal attitute would be something different than what is expressed on the outside, beliefs of powerlessness, shame at their circumstance, resentment of power, anger, reduced aspirations, belief in inferiority. All of the rest of the Kardashian and entitlement brain rot can link back to any of those attitudes and beliefs.
Why would people feel entitled and needy if they believed that they had abilities to acquire for themselves? I just think that our abilities and intelligence are in general are being nutured by our society and certainly not our schools, it seems the new attitude is that if you want something you better rely on the state. I am not saying everybody should get a gold star everyday but they should believe that they could achieve one if they worked hard enough. Not sure that answers your question but there it is.
Charity (unlike collaboration) reinforces dependence - that's why totalitarians promote it
I think I would add to that perhaps people should be probing their kids for limiting beliefs as early as possible. If they nail your child at school by the age of six they are formatted. If kids want to believe that they can go to Mars and open a lemonade stand that should be convincingly encouraged. If they think that they can move shit with their mind that is okay too, maybe not flying though. If they think they can fly tell them they can in their dreams. Play along with it maybe you will learn something from them. Life will stunt their imagination and knock them down to reality a few notches after age 6 anyway.
There was a really good quote from a movie that said "Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children" That goes for teachers and other adults too, if you tell them something about themselves they will take it to heart as if they were hearing it from God himself, especially before age 6 and the first few years maybe a super danger zone.
I am rereading 'Yeager' in book form, and it is painfull.
..only because I was not better than him.
Stupid is as stupid does...
Don't try to "fix" stupid. You will just waste what precious resources you have left.
Just another asshole shouting down from his pedestal. There is nothing else left to amuse him.
Regards,
The Sheeple
"....made to feel powerless and deprived of information so it is no wonder that people don't know their head from their ass. "
and the elephant in the room is religion - brainwash children early enough and they will believe their invisible 'master' is everything - and they are nothing
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/09/does-jewishwhite-privilege-exist/
Yin nation.
I G Y
The politics of deceit......The deceit of politics......
http://beforeitsnews.com/global-unrest/2015/11/black-friday-madness-this...
Spambot Noplebian spams again. So lame and gives himself upvote.
There are two overlapping countries existing within the borders of the "United States". Americans know who they are and don't have an identity crises. The other group is a creation of The State, and never had an identity to begin with.
There is no "we" when you lump disparate groups together, only tyranny.
Would that be a liberal democrat to which you refer?
Everyone knows the one thing that gives meaning to life...Horsepower.
Jeez, do we really look that adrift that we have forgotten this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzCsDVfPQqk
"He said he'd rather die, than abort."
Fuck all you naysayers...some of us still get it.
American identity crisis in two words : Donald Trump.
... and the alternative to the "Trump crisis"?
The Hilary?
The Bernie?
The Carson?
Shall I continue?
We are all, the "democratic " world over, stuck with whatever crisis they want us to have.
your answer is in your query; Donald is the worst recipe for duck soup the US oligarchy concocts.
America is not the only country facing identity crisis.
Look at zee Germans.
AfD just polled 9% for the first-time ever in this week's ZDF Politbarometer.
And Le Pen? who is surging in French polling....
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-11-24/mr-trump-madame-le...
DONALD TRUMP: Marine? Donald. Lovely to talk to you. How's the weather in Europe? I hear business is huge at my golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland. Do you golf? We should golf sometime.As you probably know, I'm going to make America great again, the other low-energy losers are going down, and people are rallying around my message about taking our country back and bringing our jobs back. I'm told you're pretty good at this immigrant thing, too, so I wanted to see if you had any advice.
MARINE LE PEN: Mr. Trump, do you think you can just jump into this? I've been doing it for years. I learned at the feet of my father.
TRUMP: I learned under my father as well. Fred Trump. Perhaps you heard of him?
LE PEN: Non.
TRUMP: You need to read my books. I'll send you copies. So, any tips on how to keep this thing going?
LE PEN: People want unwavering steadiness on views. As I said, I was literally born into far-right politics. Tell me: How long have you been devoted to the cause?
TRUMP: A really long time, since 2012. People are even starting to call me a fascist.
LE PEN: Just sue them. Maybe you'll have more success than I did. Or ignore it. A fascist is consumed with differences among races and religions. But you and I, we're just concerned with protecting our people.
TRUMP: Exactly. When I tweet random numbers about blacks killing whites, I'm really just interested in the math. I don't see color. And when I say I'd consider a database to keep track of Muslims, I'm only interested in the database, not the Muslims, and anyway who said I'm interested in it?
LE PEN: At the very least, we need to call for more surveillance of mosques.
TRUMP: I'm all over that, Marine. I'm going to surveil these people like they've never been surveilled before. Did you know know the word surveil comes from French?
LE PEN: You also might want to consider making an issue of school menus and the absence of pork. There's no reason for religion to enter the public sphere.
TRUMP: I love pork. Did you see me at the Iowa State Fair? It's like those farmers never saw a helicopter before. They loved me.
LE PEN: I admire your bravery for sticking by your story about seeing thousands of Muslims cheering in New Jersey on 9/11. I for one believe you. You were there?
TRUMP: No, I saw it on TV. Apparently I'm the only one. Can you imagine? Literally not one other person remembers seeing that. I'm the best -- the best -- at watching TV and remembering things. Nobody else comes close. What TV shows do you like? Ever see "Celebrity Apprentice"?
LE PEN: I prefer "Homeland."
TRUMP: You know, the polls show that the attacks in Paris were good for my campaign.
LE PEN: You don't know the half of it. I'm so popular now, I could probably get a pastry named after me.
TRUMP: Here's some free advice for you. Just build a wall along the border. Make Belgium pay for it. Next topic: Vladimir Putin -- maybe it's just me, but I kind of like the guy. He sees land he wants and he takes it, just like I did with Mar-a-Lago. Ever been there? It's a mansion like you wouldn't believe.
LE PEN: We have a few mansions in France, too, you know. Ever heard of Versailles?
TRUMP: Why, is it for sale?
LE PEN: Putin's OK. His checks don't bounce. And Russia, as I've noted, tends to get demonized by the U.S.
TRUMP: Agreed. That's why I want to make America great again, so that we get back to the good old days when we were demonizing Russia.
I realize that I don't really need any advice from anybody, but thanks for the time anyway. Good luck in 2017. Maybe someday we'll talk as two heads of state. Piece of advice: you've got nice blonde hair, but when I see you on TV, I sometimes say, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?"
LE PEN: Monsieur Trump, la conversation is finie.
TRUMP: Don't be offended, Marine. I was talking about your persona.
People can't tell the difference between virtual world and real world values anymore and the Algo Kings are cashing in more and more. Obama and Biden started their nonsense with Selfies and it got worse from there. This is a huge problem and it goes all the way to the top.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/03/virtual-worlds-real-world-we-have.html
I suspect most people who read ZH are of the survivor,carnivore identity.
Many good comments... I feel I can only add... Uhhgg gut punch!
Hobbesian Brutes, eh. Well, this is what you get when you feed them red meat. If you had kept them on gruel this would not have happened.
See Oliver Twist.
Right Brain Atrophy
Right Brain Atrophy