The Sadness of America

[Paul Mackin]

On Oct 9, 2005, at 8:54 AM, Thomas Eckhardt wrote:

> Indeed. The sadness of America may have to do with "changing all  
> from subjunctive to declarative, reducing Possibilities to  
> Simplicities that serve the ends of Governments". Or the ends of  
> multinational corporations, one might add.
>
> On a different note: According to my experiences, most US-citizens,  
> for better or worse, are not capable of perceiving "God's own  
> country" as sad. Perhaps sadness and melancholy are sentiments we  
> Europeans bring to America. Just a thought.
>
> Thanks for your posting, Heikki.
>
> Thomas

I think Thomas has a point here. But talking about what "most US  
citizens" do or don't feel is treading on dangerous ground. It's a  
very diverse country.

If we're talking about American foreign policy there is much  
Americans SHOULD  feel sad about.  How many do feel personally guilty  
is another question.  I think I feel that if any other country were  
in charge things would be even worse. If that were possible.

However, it sounded  like Heikki was talking about American culture  
more generally, including American consumerism and mass production.  
Consumerism may be lamentable, but is it sad? There is sadness and  
there is sadness. Americans don't have to drink American beer or  
drive American cars. They can buy imports. And it's the rest of the  
world that has all the bad television programs, repellant  movies,  
and ghastly pop culture willingly thrust upon it.   I think in this  
case  that the  sadness of the fuckER is probably less severe than  
the sadness of the fuckEE.


>
> Heikki Raudaskoski schrieb:
>
>
>> One reason I loved America when I lived there was that it
>> was so immensely sad. When I left my Austinite home on
>> Joe Sayers and was suddenly confronted by the miracle mile
>> of Burnet Road, the melancholy of it all almost crushed me
>> sometimes. Pynchon can convey this sorrow very well.
>>
>>
>> Heikki
>>
>>
>
>
>