A Problem of Nihilism: Essay 1

About a decade ago, I had a job that required a commute of just over an hour to get to work. That gave me some time to think about things. I eventually recognized that certain areas of research and rumination led to serious doubts about meaning and value in life. I finally had an idea to combine the various topics in a writing exercise for 500-word essays. But I reached an impasse when I realized I had not wanted to write an overly long and complicated analysis of entire historical periods. (I also became extremely busy with the cartoon series “Scum On Top.”) So, these essays end where I left off, but they now serve as a foundation for most of what I’m addressing in "Scum (Back) On Top."

According to my notes, although I wrote the essays much earlier, I had settled on a preliminary title as dated “4-19-21:  Republicans, the Radical Right, and the Final Victory of Nihilism: A Primer.”

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"A Problem of Nihilism: Essay 1"

 

For the past few years, I have thought that anyone who wanted to test their religious faith might consider three areas to examine. (This would also apply to test one's belief in a "purpose to the world."

 

 Serial killers. In themselves, the extent of the crimes and the relative impunity with which the killers operate are disturbing enough. The number of them in the 1970s alone is startling. And while the atrocities of Dean Corlii are horrifying, someone like Gary Ridgway and his casual disposal of scores of victims is baffling. A meaningful order in things might seem a bit in doubt when a man can get away with killing a human being every other week or so for a long time.

Organized crime. Corruption is routine. Anyone can be "leaned on," bought off, or otherwise used. Any offender can be "rubbed out," which is at most a necessary evil. Tribal loyalty is the basis of ethics, though that is still tenuous, as "honor" can be a pretense for obedience. And as epitomized in the climax of the film "The Godfather," there can be quite a gulf between formal observance of religious ritual and "how things are in the real world." (Which is implicitly atheistic, with no God recognized as a barrier to any evil.)

Genocide. The mass murder of entire peoples. From the most ancient times, in tribal warfare, wherein people of a vanquished foe are utterly wiped out. Then with the rise of great empires that crush all dissent. Later, expanded wealth and technical knowledge led to naval voyages that resulted in "discoveries" of "New Worlds" and the spread of colonial empires. Native peoples are conquered and corralled and nearly eradicated, their victims to a great extent unnumbered, unnamed and unknown.

That anonymity and offhand disposal of the victims seem to be distinctive features of all of the above. A further instance would be that of the peoples of Africa, who were notably subject to slavery. Bought and sold as if they were a kind of livestock, barely named or known except as one would one's farm animals. And even long after emancipation, they could still be dispensed with in a lynching or an isolated unsolved murder here and there.

In Nazi Germany, of course, the victims were numbered and known, like inventory items. The process reached a level of efficiency that seems to have set a standard. In that odd case, the enemies were not so much "real" (in the way Carthaginians might be) as they were scapegoats, seen as specters of pure evil. (A delusion that came from decades of being exposed to notions about racial "health" and "purity." The threat came from anyone who did not "belong," from those deemed "unfit" or "unworthy of life." Or who otherwise seemed a "danger," likened to invasions of vermin or an "infection" in the "body.")

Toiling In Obscurity, Part Two

Recently, it’s occurred to me that there’s an aphoristic quality to cartoons in that an artist might compress a great deal of background material into a very small sample. I’ve also considered that explaining things in "Toiling In Obscurity" may have helped any possibly interested parties to see some of the thinking behind "Thus Spake Steve Bannon." So, I thought I'd publish some essays I began about a decade ago that now serve as backing information and inspiration for what I’m doing with the "Scum (Back) On Top" series. But first, I’ll elaborate on some of the themes and references in my most recent cartoon.

 

Panel 1:  The current president is represented only as 1) a mostly featureless orange head with a black oval for the mouth, a vertical black line in the middle top, a right ear with a 2" x 2" white bandage (as worn in public appearances after the assassination attempt), wearing the black Bearskin hat with MAGA in red letters given to him by Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in the first Trumprussian regime; and 2) an unattached right arm raised with fist clenched in the gesture he made after said attempt. (Along with his exclamation, "Fight! Fight!" this made some see him as a “champion.”)

He is lying in bed as his (now iconic) raised right arm unintentionally suggests that he is stretching while yawning. A recurring dream begins with him giving a great (of course) speech at a packed (of course) rally, with good people on both sides. (Alluding to his statement trying to condemn violence in the aftermath of the torch-lit rally of Brownshirts in Charlottesville, Virginia on 11-12 August 2017. He seems to have understood he was supposed to condemn violence as such but constantly gave away the impression that he mostly wanted to lay the blame on “the other side” -- i.e., the counter-protestors who were NOT Nazis and Klansmen.)

Panel 2: POTUS has bothered me for a long time; it's too reminiscent of Caesar (which was a standard, informal "title" for any Roman Emperor -- viz., "Render unto Caesar....") and is also an example of the "telescoping" of words (as identified by George Orwell) in twentieth century political language, of police states in particular -- viz., Gestapo, USSR, USA, etc.

The specific satire on "home schooling" involves it (along with "private schools") as symptomatic of conservative reaction against public schools in the United States, and mainly the racial integration thereof (under the guise of better school standards and "moral [religious] instruction"). So, such teaching might ensure proper spelling for specialized "Biblical" terms but not be so strong on civics. And of course, there’s an allusion to what the current president said during an "Access Hollywood" interview.

Panels 2-3: In September of 2009, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of the US Congress to propose a national healthcare plan (which became the Affordable Care Act). Feeling provoked by the darkness he observed in the vicinity of the president, and further emboldened by Koch funding, a Republican Representative from South Carolina named Joe Wilson upset the decorum and respect traditionally given to the US chief of state by standing up and shouting, "You lie!" I've been highly amused at the idea of something similar (but perhaps ambiguous) occurring to the current president.