Artists Packaged White Supremacy
Myths follow power, but in the years after the Civil War many powers vied to dominate the American future. Artists like Whitman made choices that tipped the scales in this battle toward terrible ends.
How White Supremacy Failed
By the post-WW2 era, white supremacy was becoming an obstacle to money and power.
There’s No “Us” in “California”: A Glimpse At Post-Racial America
California is a living experiment in the interest-convergence dilemma.
Wokeness Is Missing a “Theory of Us.” That’s OK.
A successful revolution must remove its Robespierres. We have many battles to win before being blessed with that problem, but it would be wise to prepare.
Building Blocks of a Unifying Mythology
Elements of a new mythology are out there, like notes on a piano waiting to be played.
Outlining a New Mythology
In a post-racial America, what are the values that should define “us?” What symbols, rituals, memorials, songs and other cultural artifacts would best cement those values into place? Who are the heroes to emulate and the villains to reject?
Stand Back and Stand By: Defeating White Supremacist Terror
In the end, we can help cement into place a new unifying mythology by making villains of those who fought for the old.
Tentative Glimpses at a New National Mythology
These kinds of transformations seldom have a long tail. They usually appear pyrrhic until they suddenly prevail. We may have far less time than we think to imagine what will replace white supremacy as our unifying mythology. And People sharing a space without a shared definition of “us” rarely share that space politely.
On the Move
We’re on our way to Austin. Closed on our Chicago area home last Friday. Sticking around the area this week to tie up loose ends. It’s been a wild, tumultuous process that’s left little room to sit and think, much less write. Might still be a couple more weeks before …
“Cancel Culture” Panic Is Hilarious
As in some backwater Islamic Caliphate, mass artistic content in the US had to pass the wary eye America’s religious mullahs until just a few years ago and Republicans loved it.