Nearly everything of import going on in America today is a function of an idiotic asshole with no morals whatsoever. We are now living in a dystopia that no one could ever have conjured on the page or screen prior to this era.
Each of us has to work hard every morning when we get up not to let ourself smell the stench of Trump’s first shit of the day wafting across this great nation along with his ludicrous tweets. The past three and a half years has been the worst non-stop non-acid trip this country has ever been on. But here’s the really interesting thing in all of this: we’ve done this to ourselves.
Whether you drank the dude’s kool-aid and have been a supporter of his asinine behavior or you are a relatively moral and decent person who believes in reality, justice, and the progressive American Way, no one saw this coming. No one! You’re a liar if you say you did. The dude was a joke, and is still a joke. How could something so profoundly powerful and important like the Constitution of the United States of America allow something like a Trump Presidency to manifest itself?
We let this happen. Every single one of us. There are a few thousand explanations for how it all went down, but I haven’t heard much that makes sense by way of why Trump (and his minions) happened. Note that I said “makes sense.” To my mind most of what ails us right now is because we have lost touch with what is sometimes called the unconscious or the subconscious. For years, since studying Jung and Freud and doing a bit of personal entheogenic spelunking, I’ve decided that the deeper levels of mind (that everyone has) are basically the soul that each of us has. Combine what is deep inside an individual with how it is manifested in the present light of so-called Reality, and you have the essence of each human being.
Quaint? Cute? Weirdly esoteric? No. I don’t know what the unconscious mind is and how deep it goes. No one does. Most people are clueless regardless. However, I do know it exists (and is most evident when people sleep and dream). I know as well that a huge component of what we call the Real World is actually a function of people’s unconscious needs and motivations. And I am convinced that all that stuff underneath, what is deep-frying in each and every one of us, is why we are where we are right now in history. I’m convinced as well that we’re not getting beyond this current level of lunacy (and it’s not just tight sphinctered judgmental conservatives) until we try to understand what we’re doing such a good job of ignoring here in 2020. That’s why we’re starting this commentary space and why we’re calling this “Deep-Fried America.” Our country’s collective intelligence runs about as deep as any culture’s has ever run. But we’re getting collectively stupider and less humble by the week. People have lost touch with who they really are. People have forgotten that we’re all in this together and that no one is more or less responsible for all these fuck ups than anyone else.
Every time I encounter seemingly irrational and overly emotional behavior anywhere in America, I know that the freaky magic of the Unconscious American Mind is at play — from kids killing kids with automatic weapons to nearly every fucking one of us citizens too dang lazy and self-centered to do anything meaningful about climate change — and everything in between — there is a Deep-Fried America running wild on the other side of each person’s stupidly complicated life.
We’ve always been deep-fried here in the New World. What happens on the surface, in the so-called Real World, is only a small, bubbling portion of our collective, hot oil existance in this giant frying pan. Add to this Real World the new virtual-screen reality everyone is so fascinated with and you get a non-stop amusement ride of sound and color literally connected to everything. Your phone? My laptop? We’re all connected to a deep-fried infinity!
Artists of all stripes are aware of the deep-fried nature of the American Experience. It’s their job to turn things over and over and over so that everything browns on every side. True, sometimes artists let things burn to a crisp. Sometimes they leave stuff raw, too — chunky, bloody, green.
What makes you cry or laugh? Where’s the switch that turns you on or off? What gets you to raise your fist in public? What makes you ashamed of yourself or people you know?
Where does your desirousness come from? How about your perversions and kinks? And what about those tender feelings? Where have they been and where are they going? Are you holding them back or saving them for people who are worthy?
What about the questions you want to ask others that you are afraid to ask? What about the things that need to be said? No one ever says them. Someone should. Shouldn’t they?
And how about that burst of energy and excitement when you hear the right beat, and feel that strange groove that touches way down inside? How can a simple painting make you wonder about the beauty of life? What is death? Where did that happy love you felt when you were ten come from? How far down in the mind does love go? What is this feeling of loss?
Why is death something to fear? Why is it so hard to feel happy for more than a few minutes? Is it possible that anyone can feel love without feeling vulnerable at the same time? Is this really all there is? What more could you want?
Maybe most important these days, why does everyone think it’s their job to judge each other, and condemn each other, to shun, to hate, and even to create fear?
I have no idea what’s going on with the huge chunk of this country that thinks Donald Trump is a worthy president for us all. It is completely beyond me (and every thinking person I know) to understand what in Sam Hell is actually happening in the hearts and souls of conservative Americans and Republican voters in general. Accepting Trump and the litany of his immoral, anti-American impulses, along with his incompetence and damaging policy choices must create such a horrible level of internal conflict for those who say they support him. Such a burden!
My intent here, though, is not to kvetch and moan about how bad Trump is and what his dystopic vision is doing to so many people in this once great nation. I’m more concerned about what’s going on underneath the surface for all of us.
Years ago I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to change the world as a writer. Few artists in any field get to be that lucky. The best most of us can hope for is to provide small bits of insight. Insight helps with the problem of understanding. Insight also helps with finding meaning in things. Understanding this life and knowing there is still meaning to things is, hopefully, worth your time. We may all be frying together, but at least there’s still a chance to understand each other and to find meaning in what we are becoming.