[lbo-talk] Americans pissed, sez Greenberg

JBrown72073 at cs.com JBrown72073 at cs.com
Wed Oct 31 08:50:03 PDT 2007


Jenny Brown wrote:
>>Except I don't think America's unwarranted sunny
>>disposition has much to do with lack of intelligence, it has more to do
with
>>the expectation that one is supposed to at all times put on a smiling face.

Not
>>just to please the customers & boss but also because discontent, pessimism,
>>dissatisfaction, are--must be!--rooted in personal failings and to admit
>>these feelings would be to reveal a terrible mismatch with the world.
We're all
>>happy just like we're all middle class.
>>
Joanna wrote:
>Well, yes and no. I agree with your description of the "have a nice day"
>syndrome.
>At the same time, you cannot have failed to notice the "I'm mad as hell
>and won't take it anymore" strain.
>
>Geraldo and Fox tv capitalize on this. That's the other side of the
>happy face. Except, it's not anger.
>I think it's really anger covering up fear. The worst combination. It is
>the anger that one is willing to put
>in the service of the powers that be in order to get a seat on the life
>boat.

Yes. The implications of individualism are impossible to bear psychologically. Something grinds to a halt under the weight of it and just spews.

Jenny Brown

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