the diagnosis

[chrisd]

Last summer i went to los angeles after a five year hiatus due among other things to a dislike of big travels. I made a dissapointing discovery which shocked me so deeply that i only now realize i could share it with the beastie community: the u.s. has changed - for the worse!!!
Since 9 / 11 America has lost it's innocence, it's naiveness. The people have become politicized. An attribute many europeans find virtuous, i find worrying: everyone has an opinion on 9 / 11 and on the war and they befiend each other on the basis of politics, i mean come on: politics is crap! America has become like Europe and it sucks. There was such a friction and paranoia in the air, it was sickening. I don't know what to do about it, but there might be a small chance we can keep the dream alive; if we turn our attention away from politics and turn it to art. I have to get going now, but i'll comment some more later. Please comment, and keep it cool!

[Ace42X]

I disagree with your diagnosis. The US hasn't lost its naivety, as re-electing Bush and all the other follies show. It's like a child that got hit, and is lashing out at anything it can. That's not "a loss of naivety" - that's infancy.

And as for "politicised" - US politics has been consistantly dumbed down to the point where it is not "politics" but media punditry gone wrong. I'd say Europe is anything but paranoid.

As for the American dream, better of left dead. It's a lie designed to keep people in their place and prop up that oh-so-invisible but oh so tangible class system. They'd tell you America has no class (and be right...) but the whole idea of there being "street you just don't go down" and "gang turf" etc etc is anathema to me.

[chrisd]

thanks for the answer ace, it's nice to see a prominent member of the political board recognizing my input!

I'm reminded of the beastie interview that was up on this site right before tt5b; adrock was saying how nice it is to live in the u.s.: I mean, before 9 / 11 such a comment wouldn't even have been necessary, now americans are constantly reflecting on themselves and that's bad for the soul. Like in L.A. all the kids on melrose were capitalizing on cali's surfer image, which is big in europe and asia when they really should just be doing their own thing, that's when you really come up with new stuff.