Читать книгу Livin' la Vida Barroca. American Culture in an Age of Imperial Orthodoxies онлайн

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When was the last time you heard a well-known person of the Left (or what passes for it today) talk about courage or taking a stand on principle in the face of overwhelming political odds simply because it is the right thing to do?

No, the generation that slept and munched-out below posters bearing Che Guevara’s “I’d rather die on my feet than live kneeling down,” that used to tell stories of Allende’s machine gun-vs-dive-bomber defense of the Moneda Palace, now prattles earnestly on about requiring a veto-proof majority, about Obama’s need to “say certain things” (a.k.a. placate powerful interests) to get into office, and about “not letting the perfect become the enemy of the possible.”

The political and social sub-culture that used to loudly proclaim its inconformity with existing frames of reality, now assiduously hectors itself and others about the need to work within the set of options provided by a carefully circumscribed political and media system.

That the same system is, arguably, several times more corrupt and schlerotic than the one they once fantasized about overthrowing, or at least radically modifying, seems to matter little. It’s as if they were still bent, in their late 40s, 50s and early 60s, on apologizing to their now-sainted daddies of the “Greatest Generation” for having questioned their incandescent imperial wisdom all those years ago. “Look at me Dad, I’m serious the way you and your martini-drinking World War II vet buddies were serious. Really Dad. We can do Empire too!”