Journal of the mental environment
"It is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie!"
Photo: Yosi Sergant (flickr)
There were supposed to be fireworks in Grant Park on November 4 but, at the last minute, Obama pulled the plug. His bid for the presidency could have culminated in an explosion of phosphor against the dark Chicago sky. Instead, he offered us these simple words: “Today we begin the earnest work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.”
It was a sober denouement to an ecstatic experiment in possibility. It was also a warning. With his restrained rhetoric and almost somber demeanor, Obama was sending a clear message to his emotive base – this whole thing is about to get seriously unsexy. Now that an inspired generation of voters has exuberantly elected Obama president, we are forever separated from him by the yawning expanse of legislative structure. The symbiotic relationship we have enjoyed with him is over. Obama is now the president-elect of the United States of America; he no longer feeds on our fervor. Instead, he will engage in the slow, tectonic grind of policy change. And we, having reached the apex of our democratic abilities, will have to sit on the sidelines. Our level of direct participation has officially peaked.
But that doesn’t mean that we’re done, only that our role has changed. Having pledged to tackle climate change, the economy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and America’s increasingly villainous role on the world stage, Obama represents the most realistic hope for change since Kennedy. But he is still a politician and, as such, Obama is operating within an immovable power structure infinitely stronger than any one man. As he begins the business of governing – a banal blend of appeasement, compromise and concession – Obama will be unable to maintain his status as a revolutionary figurehead. Sustaining the sense of hopeful rebellion that swept such an improbable candidate into the White House falls squarely on the shoulders of the people who put him there: “Generation O.”
The question hanging in the air is this: does our generation have the revolutionary spirit to keep this thing going? Now that the election is over, the results of any collective efforts to bring about real change in America are going to be decidedly less tangible, quantifiable and visceral. Political shifts of such magnitude – building a green economy, instituting universal healthcare, reining in a capitalist system run amok – are going to require more than a willing president. If these changes are to manifest, they will be the result of a vigilant, engaged and youthful populace that never stops pushing. That means our generation, the one described in Adbusters’ now infamous hipster article as a “lost generation, a defeated generation,” representative of a culture that is “so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new,” will have to be the engine powering this revolution. That’s why it’s essential that we temper our post-election euphoria with a serious dose of realism. It’s also why Obama canceled the fireworks.
This is the beginning of the battle, not the end. And if there’s one critique of this generation to which I’m willing to lend credence, it’s that we are seriously hooked on immediacy. If we fail to resign ourselves to the fact that change is a process, not an event, then I fear we’ll be sent spiralling headlong into a dangerous new cynicism at the first disappointment dealt to us by Obama.
Disappointment is inevitable. We’ve elected a good man to office but we are years away from tearing down the broken system within which he must operate. So now you have to ask yourself, how much fight have you got in you?
Comments
Hello Adbusters,
As an active member of Generation O (Born: March 5, 1987 - Gregorian, and the Day of 8 Blue Galactic Monkey - Mayan) I will admit my generation has done (just about) all but nothing for our world community; until now. While in the early days of the election I was leaning towards Hilary Clinton, after a series of disappointing low blows and hesitation to step up as a (in my opinion) womyn*, I had to throw my vote in with Barack Obama. Truth be told though, neither of them are Liberal enough for me or for many in my generation. You see, we are not satisfied with candidates that just look different. We want our candidates to /be/ different and to be bold and confident enough to take that challenging step with poise - and style.
So to answer your first question, yes, we have already shown our revolutionary potential, and just with sheer numbers. Though I must say, we take notice that we (World Citizens) are lagging behind in terms of consciousness and action. Truly, /it is/ revolutionary to not have a white, heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon male in the White House; but is it really so revolutionary to not be white? I think not.
I think America has finally done a job that could and should have been done ages ago.
Racial ignorance and prejudice are surely one of the basic ignorance’s of the world; easily curable by exposure, education and biological science. We are the Neo-60s if we must compare ourselves to another generation, many of us are that generations children after all, but we are a force unto ourselves; we are not content with the world, particularly the United States, as we are receiving it. The War Generations before us have birthed us, raised us, educated us and hired us all the while explaining to us that things can not be different, that life is chaos and war, that a person across an ocean is an “alien” being.
In this way, we will change the world: We, for the most part because every generation has its ignorant haters, are tired of fearing our fellow U.S. citizens and our general World Citizens. We do not like that we are disrespecting our Earth to an irreparable level - we will be the ones living on it for the long term after all. We think it’s ridiculous that people in other countries are dying from diseases that already have cures. We think it is an insult to the Humin* Race that there are individuals dying from starvation when we have Wal-Mart’s, Restaurants and Cosco’s that throw out produce because of surplus. It is even more insulting that there are people dying from dehydration when NASA has just created a drinking system that recycles 90% of urine, sweat and other bodily fluids into drinking water - for astronauts (.000001% of the World Population).
Basically, the way the War Generations have been running our country (and the world in general) is an affront to Humin* Kind. To say that one will not do something because it isn’t economically feasible or practical is to say in /imaginary terms/ that one will simply not do something. Capitalism may be King, but America was not founded on the notion of sovereignty - on paper anyway. Nation States and Capitalism are not the waves of the future, they are the stagnant pools of the past. Furthermore, they are not conducive to Humin* life on Earth for the long term. As Humin* Beings, I believe we have but one true purpose: to inherit the Earth and keep it - until we die - for future generations.
Not to tear it apart by making outrageous claims like this skin color means this, that religion means that. Particularly when science tells us that we are one in the same, that diversity is necessary for evolution and with the reasoning capabilities that dictate what and how we do things. We were all born in the same time old fashion, we all bleed red, we all return to the Earth through Death. With this in mind, I cannot find any inclination within my reasoning brain that would possess me to declare some people as “evil” or anything that I would not in turn call myself.
Sincerely,
A Generation O(ian):
March 5, 1987
Day of 8 Blue Galactic Monkey
—————
*I make a conscious choice to spell two words of the English Language differently from what is expected.
A. Hu(man) I spell as Humin.
B. Wo(man)/Wo(men) I spell as Womyn.
Basically, I do not believe of the ROOT Word MAN or MEN in either the words Humin or Womyn. For the obvious reasons, Huminity COULD NOT HAVE BEEN DERIVED FROM MAN ALONE. Thus, I substitute the male “Man” with a similar but randomly selected equivalent, “Min.”
In that same vein, /I do not suppose to imply that Huminty came from Womyn alone either/; thus I substitute the male “Man” with a similar but different word “Myn.”
Fitting. The black man resembling the white man who freed black wo/men. An alleged similarity in values. Two radicals(?) Reincarnation?! In 1861, the time had come for Lincoln to act, so he did. But someone else would have if he hadn’t. Obama is charged with necessarily radical action to turn a floundering nation around (not unlike Abe). If he doesn’t, his successor will (have to). Both ordinary men in the right place at a time everyone simply saw coming (then was run over by and had to react to)?
Obama has the potential to create a sustainable “amerrkin” green economy to match Europe’s best (for everyone, not just white ecos - Van Jones, _The Green Collar Economy_). Obama can also facilitate
—-a New Homestead Act —
a la Lincoln’s 1861 well-intentioned semi-debacle — the right way. The way Lincoln intended it? (You will hear more about this.) Start with the American Indians… A New Act can be green as the envy eating John McCain. Stewardship, not ownership. Responsibility, not sprawl. No fictitious persons need apply. Self-reliance, not grocery runs. Outwit the need for more roads. Restore dignity to american agricuilture and kill those fucking factory farms. Resurrect the role of Lincoln’s Land Grant Colleges and Ag Extenion programs.
Guess this turned out to be an ad… for an idea. All because of Lincobama…Many thanks to the artist.
(Less bitching, more re-creating, please)
We can be Heros
or nothing at all.
The end of apathy? Maybe
Hope isn’t the watchword of the young. It’s cynicism.
Go visit 4chan for 15 minutes and tell me about hope.
Sarah, great article, thanks! (there’s nothing scarier than apathy)
“Today we begin the earnest work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just A LITTLE BIT BETTER than the one we inhabit today.”
How about a LOTTA BIT BETTER?
Despite these challanges, I still think we can do this. Go to the inauguration with a sign. “Close Gitmo” or whatever—the important thing is the fact that we have all the tools at our disposal. Youtube, blogs, e-mail, and cell phones could all be used to the best of our ability.
Bush never gave a shit about what the people thought. We know that Obama can’t possibly be as stubborn as he was.
so let’s get out there and do this!
“The public sucks, FUCK HOPE, FUCK HOPE”
-George Carlin
Let a new kind of Patriotism replace our Apathy.
For the first time since I was a child, I feel a real sense pride in being an American. On Nov. 5th, I raised a glass and a flag for Obama’s win. I invite everyone else to do so as well.
We’ve worked hard these last 7 years to change the minds and hearts of those whom supported the outgoing administration. Now that we have change coming, or at least a symbol of it, it is not a time to just sit on the sidelines and wait for it to come. It is not enough to sit at home, watch Colbert and blog. It is not enough to argue politics with our relatives over Thanksgiving Dinner. It is not enough to wax philosophical with friends at the basement bar in your small college town. We must remain ever vigilant of our new leaders and full participants as citizens. Obama may have to give up his Blackberry, but last time I checked, all of our representatives, or their assistant, read your letters.
We must work to re-define what it is to be AMERICAN. We must start acting civil towards each other. It will start out simple enough… holding doors open for strangers, using your signal light in traffic, smiling and saying, “Hello” to your neighbor. Then, if you don’t already, you might find yourself volunteering for Habit-for-Humanity or buying groceries for the local food bank. When we are guests in other countries, we mustn’t act like drunken frat boys or snobby trust funders. We shall carry ourselves with an unpretentious dignity and show an interest in what is going on around us and a respect for our hosts. Small gestures they may be, but then again, so is voting.
By-the-way
I sure hope this org’s usage of the phrase “Generation O” does not prove ominous, as “P” comes next in the alphabet… God help this world if Sarah Palin does not remain confined to the borders of Alaska.
Collective intention in all aspects is the key to successful progress.
Collective intention to reduce our carbon footprint.
Collective intention to become informed consumers.
Collective intention to reuse and recycle as much as possible.
Collective intention to treat each other better.
Collective intention to work with each other and not against those who disagree with us.
Collective intention to progress forward with a system for us and by us…always remembering what happens when we disengage.
-New Orleans 2008
There will be no revolution or real change as long was we keep looking to the government to solve our problems. That’s not going happen as long as we elect our politicians on image, soundbites, rhetoric and bullshit.
So many people, in these comments and otherwise expect and/or desire some revolutionary change with Obama or whoever they wished won. The instant gratification thats been poured down our throat has apparently not yet been digested and shit out.
Patience is not something that is easy to learn retroactively, but you’ll be the better for it.
After the dust of a revolution settles, you’re still left with all the dust. Its just all over the floor and you have to sweep it up. Why trash the place when you can rearrange it?
Have patience. Don’t give up.
The only comment worth listening to on this entire website:
“pro-bama, no-bama. adbusters only job in my opinion is to stimulate discourse. dissent is a distant second”
pro-bama, no-bama. adbusters only job in my opinion is to stimulate discourse. dissent is a distant second.
Adbuster’s job is to “topple existing power structures and forge a change in the way we live in the 21st century.”
Since this thread quoted my comment, I’ll respond.
My point was basically the same as yours: there’s clearly a strategic divide as to how we’ll proceed.
Obama is irrelevant.
WE are on the same side.
The divide is strategic.
——————————-
Adbusters posted both sides and was BRUTALLY attacked by partisans from both sides.
This is because Adbusters is NOT A NEWS OUTLET. It has a political goal. It is a propaganda outfit.
So when they publish an EDITORIAL taking a side on this issue, it’s seen as the NEW OFFICIAL TALKING POINT.
———>flamewars ensue.
What AB COULD do is post a ***NEWS*** story detailing the existence of this strategic divide, the pros and cons, and perhaps historical analysis…. That would be more interesting and useful than patronizing articles and comments telling me that I’ve been fooled by Obama.
Wow, it’s incredibly sad that some commenters expect a progressive political magazine to publish only one, rigid, orthodox point of view. The mature thing to do, of course, is to publish different points of view and then to allow adult readers to make up their own mind.
do an article about DMT and the alien intervention of 2012, why so serious?
I'm surprised at how negative most of these comments are, considering I guess that the readership here's supposed to be people looking for changing the system. Now I know he's not Kucinich, and he's not Nader. But for someone to say "there is no revolutionary potential here" in Obama's win and what that COULD (not will, but could) mean for America and the world is, I think, just stating that they've decided on hopelessness as a committed lifestyle. There IS a difference here, and we can waste as much time as we want by bickering over the degree of that difference.
-
But the point the author's making is that we need to start thinking about retooling the fervor we've had for the election (for whichever candidate we supported) and directing it into more sober and constructive activities, increased community activity, and actually ENGAGING in the system sometimes in order to change it.
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This is (as I understand it) the center of the article:
-
[D]oes our generation have the revolutionary spirit to keep this thing going?
-
& I saw more people interested in keeping up their comfortable addiction to being pissed about the "way it is" and exactly zero practical answers to the question.
wtf. he hasn’t even been president for a day and people are already pessimistic? i say let him do his job, let’s do ours, then we talk. until then i’m just gonna go ahead and say stfu. even if this campaign was based off of “false consciousness,” it is evident there exists this NATURAL HEGEMONY within this country which can be used for better or worse.
for you pessimists, making some fucking lemonade why don’t you? i’m tired of your ivory tower BS.
The question is really do we want any hegemony at all? Do we want a working-class hegemony (as Gramsci suggested) with Obama as the figure head, or is eliminating all cultural hegemonies our goal?
in one word: YES
Dang! Adbusters, y’all are caught between hammer an’ anvil, yo! Can’t win!
!
Pro-bama
or
No-bama, which is it?
?
Or more accurately:
Hope or despair, which one is the best STRATEGY for RIGHT NOW?
All you anti-bama downers, listen: OBAMA IS IRRELEVANT!
Nobody here is being “FOOLED” by Obama.
—>The real argument is STRATEGY.
Do we use the strategy Obama has already proven successful with young people, HOPE,
Or do we continue our old Bush-era tricks that aren’t working?
Do we try to build a sympathetic resonance on Obama’s change message?
Or do we drown out and dissipate that wave of change, to go back to our comfortable old tricks?
In this dark night,
We stand or we fall,
We are kings now,
Or nothing at all.
Check your armor,
Light up your torch,
Touch the flame to the sail,
Before you head to the shore.
And we will burn the fleet,
We can never go home,
So to victory or underground.
Burn the fleet,
We’ll be heroes or ghosts,
But we won’t be turned around.
Well the old flag,
Will burn with the sand,
And a new one,
Will fly if we fail.
But the fire,
Continues to rise,
And it shows not a hint,
Of any fear in our eyes.
And we will burn the fleet,
We can never go home,
So to victory or underground.
Burn the fleet,
We’ll be heroes or ghosts,
But we won’t be turned around.
-Dustin Kensrue of Thrice
All this “Hope” stuff is just so much baggage we need to get over. Hope is putting faith into the positive outcome of something beyond our control. When I get on a plane, I hope it doesn’t crash. I don’t hope I’ll eat tonight, I’ll make sure I eat to night. I don’t hope that worker’s exploitation ends or that the government fades away to decentralized collectives or that hyper-industrialism doesn’t destroy the planet. I will do whatever it takes ensure those things. Sam Bain has an interesting book on this aptly titled “No Hope.”
Obama invokes change. Yet never has the dead hand of the past had a “reform” candidate so firmly by the windpipe. Is it possible to confront America’s problems without talking about the arms budget, now entirely out of control? The Pentagon is spending more than at any point since the end of World War II. In “real dollars” the $635 billion appropriated in fiscal 2007 is 5 percent above the previous all-time high, reached in 1952. Depending on how you count them, the Empire has somewhere between 700 and 1,000 overseas bases. Obama wants to enlarge the armed services by 90,000. He pledges to escalate the US war in Afghanistan; to attack Pakistan’s sovereign territory if it obstructs any unilateral US mission to kill Osama bin Laden; and to wage a war against terror in a hundred countries, creating for this purpose a new international intelligence and law enforcement “infrastructure” to take down terrorist networks. A fresh start? Though I do agree, I’d pick Obama over McCain any day, but where does this differ from Bush’s commitment to Congress on September 20, 2001, to an ongoing “war on terror” against “every terrorist group of global reach” and “any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism”?
Though I have no intentions of discrimination, all politicians are fishy to me.. (especially when one claims they ‘know for a fact’ terrorists are going to challenge them in the ‘next five to six months’?) ..and although it’s somewhat difficult for me to obtain any of this information without uneasiness.. I’ll stop my complaining until whatever happens, happens.
Read up on Nader, he has pretty good intentions. (Including other 3rd party candidates…) Change the two party system!
The author talks like blinded prophet. Obama’s messiah. Give yourself some time to see results of Obama’s work. So far he wants Jamie Gorelick for general public prosecutor:)
There is no “revolutionary” potential here. The same kids you talk shit on in your elementary, anti-hipster piece of shit article were merely coerced into consuming Obama because of his hip, retro marketing campaign. This is not the end of apathy, it’s the same old thing with a retro-fitted poster. There is very little difference between two psychotic christian leaders, and certainly no difference in the real problem; the entirety of civilization.
Hope is better then nothing but if history dictates as it has up until now, the elite wealthy and extremely wealthy will control, and abuse the poor and middle class as they always have. Look at the egyptions, roman empires, chinese emperors, aztec and mayan empires, those are just the well known civilizations that were built on the backs of the poor. America is no different and neither is any first world country.
** Until there is a fall
But he is still a politician and, as such, Obama is operating within an immovable power structure infinitely stronger than any one man.
_______________
The above statement beggars belief and the sad realization that the author doesn’t know history, not even in the slightest degree, apparently.
Man-made structures are, by the very nature of the fact that man made them, far from “infinitely strong.” In point of fact, single men and women have, throughout history, changed its course, and irrevocably. I don’t propose to list the heroes and villains populating that list; do your own research.
It’s wonderful to be a “realist,” save the one irrefutable fact that there is no such position. Your subjective take on Obama’s ascension to the Presidency is, in point of fact, somewhat doleful. What he faces as president is daunting in the extreme; this cannot be disputed. And it will require sacrifice (the real kind), understanding (the authentic variety), and a willingness to trust the man to do his job whilst holding him accountable at every juncture. It requires a fundamental tack, which is this: democracy is messy. Very messy. Change comes slowly, painfully, and always with cost. Always. Get used to it.
So many want Obama to fail, easily as many on the fringe left as the fringe right. Let’s pray that President Obama sees this and does the right thing by both, which, in the final analysis, might simply be to ignore them.
There still needs to be hope. I agree there is still lots to be seen from his administration but let us hope that there will be changes. Let us hope that this is one small step in the right direction and that we have not been promised empty promises. Until there is (if there is) there is still hope.
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