When John Belushi Died, It Was The End

[mnaz]

The anti war, anti-uptight people
had a good thing going for awhile,
coming out of the sixties, but when
John Belushi died of an overdose
it was over, and a Corporate Ghost
took over, and all those centuries of
brutal misunderstood wars were once
again set to wipe out their dissenters.

[mnaz]

Yes, just call me Mr. Sunshine.

[stilltrucking]

brutal misunderstood wars

Wars?
What wars?
"As for experience, who has time enough for that?"
Present experience has, I am afraid, always found us “absent-minded”: we cannot give our hearts to it—not even our ears! Rather, as one divinely preoccupied and immersed in himself into whose ear the bell has just boomed with all its strength the twelve beats of noon suddenly starts up and asks himself: “what really was that which just struck?” so we sometimes rub our ears afterward and ask, utterly surprised and disconcerted, “what really was that which we have just experienced?”Genealogy of Morals

The post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in an estimated 4.5–4.7 million deaths
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are estimated to have cost the United States between $4 and $6 trillion. These wars are considered the most expensive in US history

thank you mrSunshine

[mnaz]

I'm always doing that ... fixating on some random event or point in time and assigning great overarching cultural significance to it. Can't seem to break that habit.

[stilltrucking]

I seem to have a fixation on the past. How those wars fell off the table of the collective consciousness. How Liz Cheney and her father became heroes of the democratic party. Why Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden voted for those wars?
Yes those who remember the past must be doomed to repeat it. Ah well!

[mnaz]

My old roommate (in the '80s) used to say something like "there's always at least 10 or 15 per cent truth in what even the most objectionable people say. That's pushing it when it comes to Trump-- for whom the "broken clock is right only twice a day" analogy is more apt. Still though, he's not "wrong" when he says things like "government is corrupt." This is a major reason--certainly not the only reason-- why he won. Twice. This normalized hatred of corrupt government in general. Except not in general; FOX and a huge, sustained right wing radio blitz for decades have waged a mostly successful propaganda campaign to pin corruption squarely and exclusively on the left side of the aisle. Which of course is utter bullshit.

Beyond that, the push for a corporate takeover accelerates, aided by asinine divide-and-conquer "culture wars" tactics and the imperative to bow down to the religion of Profit Is God. I doubt that loudmouths like Musk and Swami guy want to make government more "efficient." They'd rather dismantle it altogether; a fully deregulated stage with all manner of corporate tax cuts, handouts and perks. The corporatist's wet dream. We just trade one brand of corruption for another.

But I digress.