Thanks Steven. This post had been sitting on my desktop as a rant for the past couple of weeks and I almost didn't pursue this because of all the holes that you noted between the Opium War to this Fentanyl scourge. So much has been written on this history that it would have to be 25 seasons of Happy Days to comprehensively work through this (like Law & Order). What kept coming back-- and the reason I didn't let this slip into the quicksand of my rant folder was to work in the "Decade of Humiliation" part. Maybe that's where I lose sight of the century and jump the shark. But when the shark, jumps the Fonz...I love that construct! That's the Happy Days meets Flipper mash up.
The "Decade of Humiliation" is definitely worth bringing into the light . . . America exceptionalism overlooks the fact that other countries have both pride and memories . . . and payback is a bitch . . . and revenge is a dish best served cold.
Thinking about the similarities and differences between the opium war, the fentanyl scourge, Ma CIA's old-fashioned crack and the contra kerfuffle all reminds me of Kenneth Burke's observations about competition and cooperation on a continuum . . . the way that a football game is a competition between two teams on one level but cooperation on the level of agreeing on where and when to play, who gets to referee, what the rules are, etc . . .
In these drug wars, the government gets the scapegoat it needs and the soma'd publics that it wants . . . a zero sum gum that is still a win/win.
Now they've perfected the formula to the point where it doesn't even take drugs . . . the clean get screens (Tik Tok) and the thugs get drugs . . . selling hope to the hopeless whether they're hoping for escape from reality or an escape from their escape.
Just goes to show that when we survive life's *special* challenges, we see things with more clarity. And yeah, TikTik is the new stadium and parking's a bitch!. Haven't read Burke, but you got me interested.
Are you talking about the chemical companies that are part of the global supply chain sending poisonous chemicals, or are you suggesting that the Chinese government has poisoned the U.S.?
If you're talking about the lead paint on toys or the chemicals in the toys, that's called cost-cutting, profit-driven outsourcing by Western corporations.
Would it be fair to say that opiates have become the religion of the people?
There's a lot to consider in the give and take and push and pull between consumption as the source of succor in a world that produces nothing so much as suffering . . . Retail therapy = Buyer beware . . . you'll wake up with one hell of a hangover (if and when you wake up at all).
Between the Opium Wars of the British Empire and the Fentanyl "War" of the present, there's a lot to take stock of. Would it be war by Baudrillard's standards or something else? Real people are really suffering and really dying . . . but would we think of it as a war without "Hillbilly Elegy" and all of the other propaganda?
Hey, look over here! It's a narrative that frames what's going on in a way that works for us!
I'm old enough to remember (and you are too) when the U.S. Government was fighting South American cocaine cartels as public policy and flooding urban areas with crack cocaine in the shadows.
How much of what's going on now is the result of capitalism's insatiable appetite?
Consumption to numb the pain . . . via narcotics, distractions, false hope, false pride, and more.
All while capitalism consumes us through our consumption . . . we stay yoked to the plow because we have to be able to afford whatever we pick as our poison to dull the ache we take home from the yoke.
What if Happy Days had kept right on making shows until they had nothing left to work with but the Shark jumping the Fonz?
Thanks Steven. This post had been sitting on my desktop as a rant for the past couple of weeks and I almost didn't pursue this because of all the holes that you noted between the Opium War to this Fentanyl scourge. So much has been written on this history that it would have to be 25 seasons of Happy Days to comprehensively work through this (like Law & Order). What kept coming back-- and the reason I didn't let this slip into the quicksand of my rant folder was to work in the "Decade of Humiliation" part. Maybe that's where I lose sight of the century and jump the shark. But when the shark, jumps the Fonz...I love that construct! That's the Happy Days meets Flipper mash up.
The "Decade of Humiliation" is definitely worth bringing into the light . . . America exceptionalism overlooks the fact that other countries have both pride and memories . . . and payback is a bitch . . . and revenge is a dish best served cold.
Thinking about the similarities and differences between the opium war, the fentanyl scourge, Ma CIA's old-fashioned crack and the contra kerfuffle all reminds me of Kenneth Burke's observations about competition and cooperation on a continuum . . . the way that a football game is a competition between two teams on one level but cooperation on the level of agreeing on where and when to play, who gets to referee, what the rules are, etc . . .
In these drug wars, the government gets the scapegoat it needs and the soma'd publics that it wants . . . a zero sum gum that is still a win/win.
Now they've perfected the formula to the point where it doesn't even take drugs . . . the clean get screens (Tik Tok) and the thugs get drugs . . . selling hope to the hopeless whether they're hoping for escape from reality or an escape from their escape.
Just goes to show that when we survive life's *special* challenges, we see things with more clarity. And yeah, TikTik is the new stadium and parking's a bitch!. Haven't read Burke, but you got me interested.
Are you talking about the chemical companies that are part of the global supply chain sending poisonous chemicals, or are you suggesting that the Chinese government has poisoned the U.S.?
If you're talking about the lead paint on toys or the chemicals in the toys, that's called cost-cutting, profit-driven outsourcing by Western corporations.
Learn some insights about addiction and how to overcome it:
https://open.substack.com/pub/soberchristiangentlemanpodcast/p/essay-paradox-of-overcoming-addiction?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=31s3eo
You left out the chinese sending poison to America…why?
Well said and well done! 👏👏
Great insights Arnie . . .
Would it be fair to say that opiates have become the religion of the people?
There's a lot to consider in the give and take and push and pull between consumption as the source of succor in a world that produces nothing so much as suffering . . . Retail therapy = Buyer beware . . . you'll wake up with one hell of a hangover (if and when you wake up at all).
Between the Opium Wars of the British Empire and the Fentanyl "War" of the present, there's a lot to take stock of. Would it be war by Baudrillard's standards or something else? Real people are really suffering and really dying . . . but would we think of it as a war without "Hillbilly Elegy" and all of the other propaganda?
Hey, look over here! It's a narrative that frames what's going on in a way that works for us!
I'm old enough to remember (and you are too) when the U.S. Government was fighting South American cocaine cartels as public policy and flooding urban areas with crack cocaine in the shadows.
How much of what's going on now is the result of capitalism's insatiable appetite?
Consumption to numb the pain . . . via narcotics, distractions, false hope, false pride, and more.
All while capitalism consumes us through our consumption . . . we stay yoked to the plow because we have to be able to afford whatever we pick as our poison to dull the ache we take home from the yoke.
What if Happy Days had kept right on making shows until they had nothing left to work with but the Shark jumping the Fonz?