Mother Night

I’ve been thinking about my gig at the Redneck Country Club which I mentioned in a previous post called A Late Encounter With the Idiot.  Basically if you haven’t read that, or don’t have time to read it, I played a gig at a club owned by conservative talk show host Michael Berry.  It got me thinking the long ways around about Kurt Vonnegut’s extremely powerful Mother Night.  Both the novel and the movie version, unlike most movies of Vonnegut’s work, are worth checking out.  

Mother Night is the story of an American, Howard Campbell Jr., and his role as a Nazi propagandist.  Campbell meets a member of the U.S. War Department before the beginning of World War II and is asked to work as a double agent.  Campbell agrees and as his cover he becomes a radio host that tries to persuade Americans over to the Nazi’s cause.  Campbell’s decision to take on this role slowly cause his life to crumble around him.  

I first found out about Mother Night by catching the movie version, starring Nick Nolte, on TV one night.  I didn’t know what it was, but it was like watching a car crash in slow motion as things descend further and further into despair.  Unlike most Vonnegut works this one has very little humor, aside from some things like the character of The Black Fuhrer. (pictured above)  However, this is a compelling story because it asks many relevant moral questions for our times.  

As one thinks about Glen Beck, Michael Berry, Rush Limbaugh, one cannot help but ask if these people are true believers or if they are at least partially playing a role for whatever reason.  There are many things that make one think that at least Rush is partly playing a role.  However, it matters not.  The moral of Mother Night, which is actually given to the reader in the introduction to the book is:  “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

To Conservatives

 

Pardon my French, but I’ve been going batshit on Republicans lately.  I want to explain.  I think it’s important, if we ever want to get anywhere in this country, to try to understand people that have different beliefs and not exclude them as a matter of fact, just because they feel differently then us.  Some of my nearest and dearest friends are Republicans. 

While I have tremendous political differences with conservatives, I do understand some of their ways of thinking and think that they are not always wrong.  There is a need at times to reduce the size of government, although I would disagree on how and where.  There are issues of personal freedom, like guns for one instance, where I would probably be somewhere between the far left and the far right.  I am not a religious person, but I know there are churches that do much good for the poor and downtrodden. The world is full of mystery and wonder.  As long as people temper their belief with doubt, I think that religion should be a matter of personal choice.  Who is to say that I am right and they are wrong and vice versa?  If you look at conservatism from a historical perspective, although again I might not agree with the how and the why, I could probably find many outcomes of agreement. 

However, what I will rail against completely is what I see as the new conservative.  This is the kind of conservative that is represented by Fox News and the current members of the House.  This is the combination of the Christian fundamentalists with the corporatists.  The new conservative, which I differentiate from the older kind, the kind that my own grandfather was, is one that ignores science and reason whenever it does not fit their rigid worldview.  This is the kind that wants to destroy government, not to reduce it.  On the religious front this is the kind of person that believes that they have the one and only truth and have no patience for those of different beliefs.  Economically these are people that only care about their own personal gain, and care nothing for their fellow man.  People like Rush Limbaugh and Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin are full of nothing but the most insane ignorance.  If they are not ignorant then they are completely cynical.  Neither thing bodes well. 

If you follow the money, and in politics you should always follow the money, what I believe you are seeing is the extreme rich using tribal allegiances and fear of a changing world to their advantage.  People are being fleeced.  I feel for those that have seen their jobs go overseas, that have seen their schools decline, and have seen their traditions become less sacred as meaningless entertainment invades every aspect of American culture.  People have a right to be angry.  I just think that their anger is being misdirected.  The gap between rich and poor is growing in this country. 

Look I believe that hard work should be rewarded.  There should be incentives for people to tow the line, to try hard in school, and to contribute to society.  However, no one does anything on their own.  Just by being American we have won the lotto compared to someone that lives in a place like Somalia.  If you were born in a good family, or had a good teacher, or were at the right place at the right time, then you should thank your lucky stars.  This is not to discount any hard work that you might have done.  I’m just saying be humble.  Realize that if we are going to reward hard work, then there are going to be losers as well as winners.  People only have one life.  While everyone might not get to live in that mansion on a hill, they should at least have access to a doctor if they get sick and have some kind of food on their table.  If we disagree on how to get there that is Ok, but we can at least have a debate and a conversation about it. 

The new conservatives that have emerged are extremists.  They are religious fundamentalists or shameless self promoters that are backed by big money.  They pedal the exact kind of culture destroying nonsense that they pretend to abhor.  I’m a liberal and I don’t believe that Obama has done everything right.  If you say that everything that he has done is wrong, then somewhere along the line you have lost the thread. 

Sometimes I paint with a large brush to make a point sail home.  I know that there are different kinds of Republicans out there.  They just don’t seem to be the ones that are on TV and in the government. 

I hope this explains where I am coming from.  If I have offended you then read something else.  If you think you have a better way for less people to suffer than currently are, then have a go at it.  I’m telling you straight up that I intend to volunteer, give money, write, speak my mind, and do anything I can to see that these extremists don’t wreck this country.  Despite many things that drive me crazy about modern American life, I tend to like it here.