Neutralization

There are days when I’m afraid that the white hot fervor of revolution was all burned up by eight years of Bush, and now, when we need it most, in the midst of a major economic downturn and governmental austerity, it’s seen as passe.

If you look at a lot of recent movies and media, popular leaders (Tom Zarek of Battlestar Galactica, Amon of The Legend of Korra, Bane in The Dark Knight Rises) are generally portrayed as violent, selfish charlatans. The people who follow them are ignorant sheep. The heroes are those who preserve the status quo against the barbarians at the gate. Given that these portrayals come from major corporate media outlets, I think I am rightfully disturbed. Now, when we most need inspiring tales of successful popular uprising, none are found.

In cultural terms, backlash against cliches is inevitable. Enough Bad Boys-style movies will give you Hot Fuzz. Enough teenage college students wearing Che Guevara t-shirts will give you Tom Zarek. But the timing of this backlash couldn’t be worse.

Maybe it was easier to generate indignation when the actual issues of Iraq and Afghanistan were thousands of miles away. When the biggest problems are homegrown – economic inequality, unemployment, and lack of opportunity, exacerbated by governmental austerity and budget cuts – paradoxically, it’s a lot harder to muster a revolutionary spirit. The lives of the intellectual liberal class are at stake now, and any major disruption to “business as usual” stands a chance of seriously limiting our future options – in the form of arrest, legal proceedings, jail, and felony arrest records.

I”m not saying this as an unattached individual who would mindlessly urge people to get in the streets regardless of dependent spouses and children – rather, I *am* one of the people neutralized by this threat. I’m comfortably uncomfortable. My income has stagnated, but I can afford a decent apartment in a decent part of town and the company I work for is reasonably decent. But if I were arrested or my job was lost, I would lose my apartment – which means my fiancee and my roommate would lose their apartment. We have backup plans (mostly involving living with parents), but they would radically alter our current paths, careers, and lives in profoundly undesirable ways.

Our generation has no workable blueprint for struggle. The oft-imitated, never-replicated 1960s has proven to be an unworkable model – The Iraq War proceeded unabated, and Obama has left many thousands of private contractors in Iraq. The Afghanistan War continues to claim lives, despite rosy predictions to the contrary. Most people don’t even seem to know or care about the CIA drone program, slaying civilians far outside of the control of any legislative or judicial oversight. Indeed, after Bush decided to send troops into Iraq, the movement seemed to collectively throw its hands up in the air and go home, assuming fait accompli.

Meanwhile, Americans seem to lack the stomach (or perhaps our stomachs are too full) for the Tahrir Square model of revolution. Indeed, given that Egyptian youth unemployment was at 25% in 2011, we are far from that point at a mere 7.9%. Regardless of the brave youths Occupying Everywhere, he illusion of the American Dream, and it’s accompanying delusions of social mobility and meritocracy, seem alive and well, despite evidence to the contrary.

A lot of people ask me where we should go from here. I wish I had an answer to the big questions. For myself, I continue to involve myself in my local slam poetry organizing committee and try to provide arts programming that enriches my local Jersey City community. For the last four years, I’ve worked as part of The Spoken Word Almanac Project, responding critically and poetically to current events. I post about politics on Facebook and try to connect with likeminded individuals – it’s been a real treat to see my friends and I evolve together, intellectually and politically, seven years after college. I’m trying to stay connected, and engaged in the civic process. After Sandy hit, I did a bit of volunteer work (and if I had more time on my hands, I would be at the Barrow Mansion, 8am-8pm every day). I don’t have a blueprint, and I think anyone claiming to have one is probably trying to sell you a Communist newspaper or a Tea Party slogan. But damn if that doesn’t feel like nearly enough most of the time.

But hey, maybe the lack of blueprint is a strength. You can’t tell us we’re doing it wrong. You can’t tell us that this doesn’t fit pre-existing models – through trial and error, we’ve found that they don’t work. Maybe the key is keeping our moral and intellectual compasses active and engaged. Maybe we just need to keep listening, and trying new things, until we find something that works. And hopefully, we’ll do it before it’s too late.