The deeper subtext of Chinatown, or rather its over arching theme is that the American dream where the San Fernando Valley was the icon, was build on rottenness, corruption, fraud, murder, robbery, and remains founded on a sleazy capitalist duplicity of respectability and swindle, with only a few law school textbook tissue thin pages in between. Everybody ignores the fine print.
....................
The other night I got into an argument.
It was a stupid argument, the kind you shouldn't waste your time with once you've reached a certain age. But there I was, arguing with this 25 year old. I was already in a bad mood. Earlier, some jackass egged my new car. A minor thing to be sure but still, it puts you in a state.
We're in this restaurant and the guy starts in about how he "used to be a lefty" until he "got over it". Now he reads Hernando De Soto's "The Mystery of Capital" and falls all over himself recommending that work of fantasy to everyone as "the most important book of the 21st century."
Which is Amazon.com reviewer talk; nothing you should hear an actual person say with half eaten cheeseburger in their mouth. Or ever.
Like an idiot I asked him why he tossed his left politics aside. Apparently, he decided one fine, post 9/11 day that the Western civilization he'd spent so much of his young life denouncing (I pictured a coffee house and a barely understood copy of "Manufacturing Consent" on a stained table) was actually quite alright after all.
Sure, there were a few rough patches (slavery for example, most regrettable) but all in all it has worked out for the best for everyone.
We battled back and forth a bit till I caught myself for wasting my finite time and talking while my food grew cold.
Suddenly, during a quiet moment it hit me, this guy's story: after a brief flirtation with resistance to the idea of American perfection his suburban sub-division trained mind snapped back to form. How could such a well appointed world be built on murder?
They did hate us for our freedoms and how hot pre baby Britney Spears looked on stage. Oh sure, Bush is an aberration but once we get a good conservative back in the chair things will right themselves.
All that left kvetching was just the "fine print" we're better off ignoring.
.d.
I never liked you Rusty...you were always a smart alec, a sass mouth and a bit of a giggle puss.
Dr. Impossible
...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/