Friday, August 12, 2005

The Aristocracy Does not Live in Silverlake

Last night, due to circumstances beyond our control, a midweek party erupted in Silver Lake. The next thing you know, the subject of the American Aristocracy erupted.

Now, it's interesting that all it takes is Cindy Sheehan sitting outside of Bush's duchy for people to really start getting it on a personal level:

Bush and his greasy pals are oil hungry. And they'll kill whoever is in their way to get what they want.

But then, you start to realize, these Bush people are American aristocracy. Sure, Georgie plays the humble cowboy with the bad diction and the staunch religious swagger, but really, it's all show. The aristocracy, always, has been a bunch of actors. Like the court during the era of Louis XIV, these people dressed up, lied, did whatever it took to get whatever they could.

But after the cobwebs of the midweek party clear, and the sun comes up over Silver Lake and I crawl off the overly tufted divan to my car and drive home in the 6AM traffic on Sunset Boulevard and my fan belt breaks and whips the underside of the chassis but I roll to the curb of my house without incident and say to myself, "Fucking cars, I hate them all," I then start to wonder: Is having an aristocracy really avoidable?

Doesn't every country have one? How many French families really do get to send their intelligent offspring to L'Ecole Nationale d'Administration, (ENA) whose alumni pretty much run the grande nation of egalité?

Do we, all tribes on earth, rely on the aristocracy to do our filthy bidding? Do we allow for a severe pecking order, giving the richest families access to the military so they can go get the stuff that we need to live on? And in return for their services of murder and acquisition, do we perhaps allow them to make (steal) enormous sums of money to further entrench and strengthen their positions in business, so they may continue to maintain a steady bargaining power in the world, which in turn brings to our shores monstrous booty?

And can you blame people who have always had everything for aspiring to squeeze the last billions of dollars they can out of the oil business before they have to actually trudge into some other energy business that scares them, since they don’t know what that business is yet?

To me, the question is not, how could this FUCKING SELFISH IDIOT be our president.

To me, the question is, why do we love the aristocracy and why are we willing to let them lead us blindly? Or, at least, half of us...which is enough, apparently, to get the job done.

Good luck, Cindy Sheehan. The greed and mendacity you face is greater than that which exists in one wretched, exercise obsessed vacationer in Texas.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is always a ruling class. Always. Sometimes, as in the case of Soviet Russia or Communist China, there is an uprising and the existing ruling class is kicked out but a new one quickly forms.

I believe it is simply human nature. We want to see people we are close to do well. We are likely to assist them in growing their own power and influence. We are likely to pass our assest onto them. For example, should someone we know be a writer's assistant on a TV show and be in a relationship with an actor I'd guess he would help that actor get a role acting on the TV show. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I have benefited from this sort of thing myself.

The real question is how the ruling class behaves. If they don't 'look after the little people' there is eventually an uprising and the ruling class is replaced.

Revolution anyone?

Dan said...

Only in LA is a writer's assistant part of the ruling class.

I think the subject of Aristocracy and Ruling Class is getting muddied. Aristocracy refers to a ruling class born into power: by no gumption or intellect of their own, they inherit their role as leader of a society. This is clearly something any society can do without.

In America we like to think we did away with that and replaced it with a Meritocracy - an elite who've earned their position through whatever means (and helped their partners get acting jobs). While we are largely a Meritocracy, our President and his dismal C.V. prove that the American Aristocracy is still with us.

Why do half the people let them lead us blindly (however the elite got that way)? I think it’s because the myth is so prevalent that the have-nots in our society are duped into believing they can have a piece of the pie. The regime has taken the American Dream, mixed in a little homophobia, tied it all up with a Jesus bow, and sold it down the river.

Dan said...

Shame folks can't at least pick smarter and more benign people to follow blindly. I'd gladly join the cult of Oprah.

The fact that Democrat leaders are made up of American Aristocracy shows how prevalent it is in our country.

Now that we’re all worked up, I hope to Oprah there is a vintage diary entry in Monday’s Trench.

Don Cummings said...

Thank you all, for your kingly, greasy comments.