Masochistic Martyrs at Heart
Let’s face it, Americans are masochistic martyrs at heart. Americans like to see themselves suffering at the hands of the "man." The man could be the ingratiating congress person, the pin striped lawyer, the stuffed suit banker, whatever. It does not matter if you wear a blue collar and pound nails all day, a white collar and sit in a cubicle, a pink collar and hold signs in Senate hearings, you like to suffer. No pain, no gain. If you don’t suffer then you have no stories of trials and tribulations, and thus no stories of overcoming trials and tribulations and you are nobody and nobody loves you. On the third day you arose from mortgage foreclosure, credit card debt, drugs, alcohol, disease, the misuse of your gun, maybe just your own general stupidity. Whatever, you arose from some kind of trial and tribulation and now you have a been there, done that, story to tell all your friends, your enemies, or maybe just yourself when you’re standing out next to the road with a sign: Please Give Me Money I Am Dumb As Shit and I Need To Drink To Forget.
This masochistic martyrdom started a long time ago with the arrival of the Pilgrims on the Northeastern shore. Puritans thrived on guilt. And what other reason besides a bad need to suffer martyrdom could lead people to get on tiny crowded boats and go off to some unknown wilderness? The Puritans performance in what is now America proves the point. Not happy with the simple suffering of starvation and disease they created reasons to suffer. They freaked out and started accusing each other of being witches. After that first Thanksgiving they figured out ways to get the Indians all pissed off so they would attack them, capture them and haul them off to become tested by the fun times revelry of the native life. We got captive narratives of how the Puritan women suffered with dignity the indignity of being an Indian captive.
The Puritan masochistic martyrdom is the alien presence that the Scientologists are trying to get clear of. It infected everyone who came to America and all the generations that followed.
There is no other explanation for what Americans are doing today. They watch daily how their supposed government is dishing out billions of dollars to bankers because the bankers say they are broke, as those very same bankers pay themselves huge salaries and bonuses and say that they must be paid so much because they are the only ones who can fix the problem they created. Let’s get real. No one believes this. Yet no one goes out into the street in mass and lets their supposed government know that they understand they are being robbed in plain sight. Why not?
Masochism and martyrdom. Kids learn this in America. They learn that when they were just an idea and a lot of humping and pumping and an occasional orgasm they were really wanted. But when they get older, say post-linguistic, five or six, they become a thing to be placated. They learn how to say ‘no" and "I" and "want." And they see all the things they want on TV. There is no escape, not even on PBS kids. You as the parent have to tell them "no" and that "we can’t afford everything" and the kid learns that to want things means not getting them, and the relationship between wanting things and not getting them because getting everything they want will lead to standing on the side of the road with a sign saying Please Give Me Money I Am Dumb As Shit and I Need To Drink To Forget. And so they feel guilty. And it feels good, because deep down they are Puritans. To feel good is to feel guilty. They, those kids, grow up knowing that to feel guilty and suffering is to feel good. So when the opportunity comes along it is not to be ignored. Those kids, and now you, can’t resist the opportunity to feel like shit. You especially can’t resist the opportunity to feel like shit, like you have been totally had, but to know that YOU would never do that to someone else, and that the people who do that kind of thing are bad, bad, people, and you are a good, good person because you would never do that. Ooooo. Feel good. Vote republican so that you can ensure that it will keep going on. Vote Democrat because you think the stealing is just a bit too obvious, but don’t be surprised when it is anyway. Either way, you get to feel superior to the people who screw you over. When feelings is all you are going to get, you have to learn to be happy with, well... feelings.
There’s a song about this but it sucks.
Which is how it is for most Americans. They get a feeling... it sucks, but it’s all you are going to get. I mean, Americans believing anything that the government says about banks? A stress test? And the result is that some of the banks need a little bit of... something..... maybe Cialis? For when you’re ready? In the meantime the kids come, you have to drive to the beach, rent a bath tub? We know the Cialis will kick in when no one is looking. And we just have to hope that another four hour plus erection really leads to some kind of intervention and not another... bailout?
Give it up people. Feel superior to the banking guys who have figured out that you really are a bunch of rubes and will take you for all you need to give.