The Spoils of War

   ” Dreamers of sleepers and white treason
We dream of rain and the history of the gun
There’s a lighthouse in the middle of prussia
A white house in a red square….”   

                                                                    Dominon, Sisters of Mercy (Floodland 1987)
          I noticed today, (well now yesterday) that no one seemed to be zapped into …wherever- though I had gotten the flyer about the End of the World or something that was supposed to happen . Then I heard it was supposed to be at 6 pm, but still didn’t notice that anyone had disappeared.  Remnant zombie sinners, looting the leftovers of the holier-than-me- were not roaming the streets.  I would not be getting the no longer useful (to the raptured) Prii, or Kindles, or much of anything. There wasn’t even anything dumpster dive-able. Yet another moment of  existential angst, punctuated by New Order (Substance) and Sisters of Mercy (Floodland)  soundtrack.  I pulled over on the coast highway as the heresy in my head began to play…

      I started thinking about how we as a nation seem to  fail, flash  and flail an awful lot, but we have one thing going for us….consistency in our effuppery. I started thinking….what if… you know how there are countries that are pretty much all about one thing but are super-awesome at that one thing? Like say, oil. Or food. Or Fashion. Or drug-running and beheading.  Or people running through the streets carrying coffins and burning sh*t ( Warning, dangerous levels of sarcasm  ahead that may be construed as defeatism).

   Well….. we could be the Entertainment Nation.  And that’s all.  We wouldn’t have to worrry about having to be ‘best’ at anything. No one would have to take tests, or even make an effort academically. You could if you wanted, but it wouldn’t matter, because we’d all be actors. It would be all about the twitter feed, the you tube videos, reality TV, Jerry, Maury, Oprah, Geraldo and even the nighttime ‘respectable’ talking heads- we could all get on board,  be part of the squicky feeding frenzy. No one would worry about selling out anyone else, because we’d all be selling out. Our neighbors could bid on possible reality contracts with each other, satisfying  voyeristic desires whilst noshing on some crappy food  product ‘like buttoned’ by yet someone else,  watched as they do so, while watching and maybe earning some kind of mileage per bite or channel review.  If you think there are far too many channels and reality shows now, just wait until entertainment nation, where TV is your new reality and commercial breaks  your actual life.

     Why would  we be surprised we would be headed anywhere else when our masters are so good at everything Hollywood, everything mind-eff manipulation, everything pro-them-at-any-cost, everything-bad-for-us,- in-our-face-crap 24-7? Why should we keep pretending to be about anything else when it is clear we are a no-attention-span, non-critical-thinking UNculture hell bent on destroying whatever remains from Before.  We can just be the shallow nation, the d-bag nation, the wigger nation.  “You have in your basket a natural disaster, some hazelnuts, a teen singer, a body builder, an axolotl,

 a serial killer and a papaya, now go chefs!”.  Like I was telling someone the other day, like Jesus, we have found our niche market behind the sharp end of  a nail.