September 15, 2019: Difference between revisions
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** “Americans are angrier now than at any time I’ve ever seen them.” — “rage”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=121}} | ** “Americans are angrier now than at any time I’ve ever seen them.” — “rage”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=121}} | ||
** flag conservatism and moral reform{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=50, 52}} | ** flag conservatism and moral reform{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=50, 52}} | ||
*** strive for world empire to begin moral reform at home{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=51–52, 57}} | |||
**** becomes a moral imperative{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=53}} | |||
** See the end of {{harvtxt|Hitchens|1997|}} for a likely scenario of a fascist takeover. In some ways, it seems similar to Trump’s America, though instead of solely against black Americans, it also demonizes Mexicans and Muslims. | ** See the end of {{harvtxt|Hitchens|1997|}} for a likely scenario of a fascist takeover. In some ways, it seems similar to Trump’s America, though instead of solely against black Americans, it also demonizes Mexicans and Muslims. | ||
*** {{harvtxt|Baumann|2016|}} compares Mailer’s analysis of Barry Goldwater and his supporters to Trump and his with some striking similarities. | *** {{harvtxt|Baumann|2016|}} compares Mailer’s analysis of Barry Goldwater and his supporters to Trump and his with some striking similarities. | ||
*** could happen quickly because of our lack of tradition{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=108–109}} | |||
** “Compulsive adoration of our leaders is poison, after all.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=85}} | |||
* Personal Responsibility (The Necessity of Criticism) | * Personal Responsibility (The Necessity of Criticism) | ||
| Line 16: | Line 20: | ||
** “Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=126}} | ** “Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=126}} | ||
* '''Democracy''' is | * '''Democracy''' is noble and always threatened{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=70}} | ||
** “Democracy is existential”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=16}} | ** “Democracy is existential”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=16}} | ||
*** We cannot take democracy for granted because it is always in peril and always changing.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=16–17}} | *** We cannot take democracy for granted because it is always in peril and always changing.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=16–17}} | ||
*** Is hard-won and maintained: “The only defenses of democracy, finally, are the traditions of democracy.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=70}} | |||
*** '''“Democracy is a state of grace attained only by those countries that have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.”'''{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=71}} [bold mine] | |||
*** “If our democracy is the noblest experiment in the history of civilization, it may also be the most singularly vulnerable one.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=110}} | |||
** “inimical to security”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=106}} — Mailer hopes there’s not another national crisis to push us toward fascism (Was Obama’s presidency that thing for those who are now in power?) | |||
** depends on critical distinctions{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=108}} | |||
** links freedom to democracy, and asserts it’s just as delicate — also the thing he likes most about America{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=110}} | |||
* Corporate Capitalism | * Corporate Capitalism | ||
** against corporations{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=117}} | ** “Corporate power is running this country now.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=104}} (See the discussion that follows.) | ||
** against corporations,{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=117}} as they expanded into American life since WWII{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=48}} | |||
** contradiction; leads to greed in a “Christian nation”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=120}} | ** contradiction; leads to greed in a “Christian nation”{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=120}} | ||
*** live as an oxymoron: be altruistic / “beat everyone” | |||
*** “money-grab” of the nineties led to a “pervasive American guilt” | |||
**** “money leaches out all other values”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=108}} | |||
*** “Jesus and Evel Knievel don’t consort too well in one psyche.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=46}} | |||
** “Marketing was a beast and a force that succeeded in taking America away from most of us.” | |||
*** created a '''culture of interruption''' that led to a '''deterioration of concentration'''. Mailer was talking about commercials on television, so arguably this problem has gotten worse with our devices and notifications.{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=89–91}} | |||
** likens corporatism to “the pall of plastic”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=46}} | |||
*** the aim of technological society is to work everything over to plastic{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=92}} | |||
* '''Technology''' inspires totalitarianism{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=126}} | * '''Technology''' inspires totalitarianism{{sfn|Hitchens|1997|p=126}} | ||
** “Technology has become the dominant culture in existence and may soon be the only real culture.”{{sfn|Mailer|2003|pp=88–89}} | |||
** contributes to “the deterioration of the powers of concentration, like florescent lights, bad architecture, invasive marketing and ubiquitous plastic{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=91}} | |||
** frays the soul{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=91}} | |||
** substitutes power for pleasure, making us narcissistic and power-driven{{sfn|Mailer|2003|p=92}} | |||
===Citations=== | ===Citations=== | ||
{{Reflist| | {{Reflist|15em}} | ||
===Working Bibliography=== | ===Working Bibliography=== | ||
Revision as of 12:16, 25 October 2019
Mailer’s Political Resonance
Themes
- Fascism is humanity’s natural state[1]
- against political correctness[2]
- “we’ve got to find a way to say human nature is both ugly and beautiful, and we have to deal with both.”[3]
- “Americans are angrier now than at any time I’ve ever seen them.” — “rage”[4]
- flag conservatism and moral reform[5]
- See the end of Hitchens (1997) for a likely scenario of a fascist takeover. In some ways, it seems similar to Trump’s America, though instead of solely against black Americans, it also demonizes Mexicans and Muslims.
- Baumann (2016) compares Mailer’s analysis of Barry Goldwater and his supporters to Trump and his with some striking similarities.
- could happen quickly because of our lack of tradition[8]
- “Compulsive adoration of our leaders is poison, after all.”[9]
- against political correctness[2]
- Personal Responsibility (The Necessity of Criticism)
- “When you have a great country, it’s your duty to be critical of it so it can become even greater.”[10]
- “The politics of Norman Mailer have conventionally been evaluated more as a personal register of the American zeitgeist, and less as owing any debt or duty to ideology.”[11]
- Left Conservative — “a challenge to those who remain fixed in orthodoxy or correctness”[12]
- Cancer is an outgrowth of inaction or conformity.[13]
- “Culture’s worth huge, huge risks. Without culture we’re all totalitarian beasts.”[14]
- Democracy is noble and always threatened[1]
- “Democracy is existential”[15]
- We cannot take democracy for granted because it is always in peril and always changing.[16]
- Is hard-won and maintained: “The only defenses of democracy, finally, are the traditions of democracy.”[1]
- “Democracy is a state of grace attained only by those countries that have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.”[17] [bold mine]
- “If our democracy is the noblest experiment in the history of civilization, it may also be the most singularly vulnerable one.”[18]
- “inimical to security”[19] — Mailer hopes there’s not another national crisis to push us toward fascism (Was Obama’s presidency that thing for those who are now in power?)
- depends on critical distinctions[20]
- links freedom to democracy, and asserts it’s just as delicate — also the thing he likes most about America[18]
- “Democracy is existential”[15]
- Corporate Capitalism
- “Corporate power is running this country now.”[21] (See the discussion that follows.)
- against corporations,[2] as they expanded into American life since WWII[22]
- contradiction; leads to greed in a “Christian nation”[23]
- “Marketing was a beast and a force that succeeded in taking America away from most of us.”
- created a culture of interruption that led to a deterioration of concentration. Mailer was talking about commercials on television, so arguably this problem has gotten worse with our devices and notifications.[25]
- likens corporatism to “the pall of plastic”[24]
- the aim of technological society is to work everything over to plastic[26]
- Technology inspires totalitarianism[14]
- “Technology has become the dominant culture in existence and may soon be the only real culture.”[27]
- contributes to “the deterioration of the powers of concentration, like florescent lights, bad architecture, invasive marketing and ubiquitous plastic[28]
- frays the soul[28]
- substitutes power for pleasure, making us narcissistic and power-driven[26]
Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mailer 2003, p. 70.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hitchens 1997, p. 117.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 127.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 121.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 50, 52.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 51–52, 57.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 53.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 108–109.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 85.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 15.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 115.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 116.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 19.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Hitchens 1997, p. 126.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 16.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 16–17.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 71.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Mailer 2003, p. 110.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 106.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Mailer 2003, p. 108.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 104.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, p. 48.
- ↑ Hitchens 1997, p. 120.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Mailer 2003, p. 46.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 89–91.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Mailer 2003, p. 92.
- ↑ Mailer 2003, pp. 88–89.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Mailer 2003, p. 91.
Working Bibliography
- Baumann, Paul (March 23, 2016). "Mailer on Trump". Commonweal. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
- Begiebing, Robert (2020). "Norman Mailer and Joseph Ellis: Unsettling Dialogues on Democracy". The Mailer Review. 12 (1).
- Binelli, Mark (May 2007). "Norman Mailer". Rolling Stone. pp. 69, 72.
- Busa, Christopher (1999). "Interview with Norman Mailer". Provincetown Arts. pp. 24–32. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
- Hitchens, Christopher (1997). "Norman Mailer: A Minority of One". New Left Review. 22 (March/April): 115–128.
- Mailer, Norman (2013). "Immodest Proposals". Mind of an Outlaw. New York: Random House.
- — (2003). Why Are We at War?. New York: Random House.
- Mailer, Norman; Mailer, John Buffalo (2006). The Big Empty. New York: Nation Books.
- McAfee, Andrew (October 23, 2019). "Technology Will Keep Us From Running Out of Stuff". Wired. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- Pritchard, William (November 24, 2016). "Stormin' Norman". Washington Examiner. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
- Sheed, Wilfred (1971). "Norman Mailer: Genius or Nothing". The Morning After: Selected Essays and Reviews. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 9–17.
- Wade, Francis (August 12, 2019). "Reading 'The Armies of the Night' in an Age of Youth Protest". LA Review of Books. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
