Idols and Disappointment

It’s easy to get sucked in when one of your idols is standing on a stage fifteen feet away from you spouting the same rhetoric that runs through your mind every time you read a newspaper or watch the news. When your thoughts are coming from his mouth, there’s nothing left but to sit in awe, clap your hands, whistle and shout and cheer.

On Monday, July 3, 2006, Jello Biafra made something of a surprise appearance at the Lakeshore Theater in Chicago . At 7:15 p.m., Biafra walked out on stage in black judicial robes and shiny aviator glasses and performed a piece in which he declared the country to be under martial law. It was an interesting bit, and made very clearly a point of how close we’ve come to exactly that situation under Bush.

He then made a few remarks about the hypocrisy and malevolence behind the Bush administration, and read his Gulf War piece, “Die For Oil, Sucker.” At about twenty-five minutes into the show, still going strong, I was enthralled; sucked in and breathing the fumes coming from Biafra ’s lips, as was everyone else. We were his audience. He never even had to try. After the show was over, I realized, he didn’t.

Three hours passed. Three hours of railing against Bush, thrashing the Corporate Media, exposing Congress as the do-nothing slaves to commerce they may indeed be. An entire Major League Baseball game began and ended while I sat and was pandered to by one of the great leaders of the left.

After three hours of a ceaseless serenade to an audience full of people sharing the exact same views, for many of whom those views were placed by the same chanteur standing on the stage in front of them, we were treated to an intermission, after which there was the promise of more of the same. I think I’d have been less irritated and much less disappointed if there had been a message beyond “Bush is Bad” during that first three hours. But there wasn’t. There was no Breaking News. There was no shifting gestalt. It was a rehash of knowledge and opinions shared by everyone in the room, and we cheered away because an idol stood there and told us we were right.

Intermission ended, and Biafra strode back out on stage to declare that it was time for him to tell us what to do about it. I got excited; the payoff was about to arrive. But for forty more minutes, instead of giving us guidance for our rage, or recommending some kind of action to take or group to join or people to help, we got more anti-Bush sentiment. Then, when the time for the Grand Revelation had finally arrived, the moment for Wisdom to be disbursed amongst us, our directive was “Don’t forget who you are and where you came from.”

This is where my irritation, disappointment, and even anger became a palpable part of the evening. That was the moment I experienced a Grand Revelation all my own, and I suppose I should thank Jello for that.

I had just sat through a microcosm of the liberal/progressive/leftist/what-have-you movement in this country. It’s all buildup and no payoff. Our unifying message is “Hate Bush,” and our unified action is to do nothing. Do nothing but feel strongly that what’s going on is wrong. Do nothing but talk to each other about our shared politics and polemics. We focus on our hate for Bush and his administration, so much so that we lose sight of the fact that the man is done in two years, and it’s the future immediately after those two years which is in the direst of situations. Our triumphal activity is to sit around and complain, stroking our own egos, unwilling to really make our presence known. Unwilling and unable to do anything that might make a change, but willing to say “I told you so” when things really begin to go wrong.

The conservatives are at least capable of deciding what they want and pursuing it. Maybe in that, they deserve the control they have. They may be taking this country farther and farther away from the ideals which I and hopefully many others believe it was founded upon, but the only reason is because they’ve been given free reign to do so, part and parcel, by the inability of the left to stand by their convictions and take action towards achieving anything at all.

I suppose “Don’t forget who you are and where you came from” is a decent place to start, except that it doesn’t mean anything. I’m twenty seven years old, the son of upper-middle class baby boomers who moved to the suburbs in the early nineties. I come from a life of comfort and convenience. This is what I’m supposed to use to shape my world view?

My recommendation would be almost the exact opposite. Read a newspaper. Then read eight more, at least three of which are foreign. Spend some time figuring out who you are and what you stand for, because chances are you haven’t done that yet. Take a look at your idols and who they are and what they do, and reevaluate everything you know about anything. Ask questions, because after taking in all this new information, you should have a few.

Expect more. Don’t just vote; make sure that your representatives are doing what you voted them into office to do. If they’re not, vote them out. Get involved come election time and stay involved afterwards, especially on a local level. Write letters. Get to know your local newspaper people. Volunteer for campaigns you believe in. If you don’t believe in any candidates, run yourself. It’s not about win or lose, it’s about taking some damned initiative, because if you don’t stand up for what you personally believe in, you sure as hell better not expect anyone else to either. No one is going to do anything for you. You will be disappointed in life, it happens, but when you expect less, you get less. Expect more until you get satisfaction, and then keep expecting more.

Expect better. Stop swallowing the same pabulum because you don’t want a different meal. You believe the Bush administration is wrong? You believe things have changed disastrously in this country since 2001? If so, do you really want to sit in a room for four hours to hear someone tell you those things four thousand different ways with no further substance? If your answer to that is yes, my suggestion to you is far graver: stop thinking about anything at all, ever, because there’s just no point. On the other hand, if hearing your own opinion spewed back at you is no longer enough, get angry. Not just angry at Bush, not just angry at the war or the oil companies or Halliburton. Angry that the great leaders of the left aren’t leading anyone to do anything other than Hate Bush. Angry that there’s no plan for the future. Once you’re there, the only thing left to do is lead. Lead your friends, your family, anyone. Stop being static. Change starts with one person.