[lbo-talk] Foofooraw: The Dialectic of Impotence (An Inauguration Day Story)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

*[i published this, but probably need to give it a more through
proof-reading--- excuse any typos]
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*http://theactivist.org/blog/life-on-the-fringe-an-inauguration-day-story
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*2:45 pm: the day before Obama’s inauguration.*  The temperature is well
below zero. I’m more than slightly intoxicated, ruing the poor blood
circulation in my hands and wondering if
Shyne<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BeTqapowAU>is still in prison,
all the while navigating through checkpoints around the
White House on the way back to my dorm.  I strike up a conversation with,
then give two exchange students from Germany some absolutely awful
directions.  Unable to convince a national guardsman that I’m not an
immediate threat to F and 18th, I’m forced to take a three block detour
through a crowd of people.  I’m no misanthrope, but I was fairly certainly
that most of these people were trying to sell me crap I didn’t want.  I
politely refuse Obama
flair<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1aWP18QYKW8/SXDcp_XonxI/AAAAAAAAANQ/BmhctaBsmaA/s320/obama+thong.jpg>of
every size and shape and put my headphones in to listen to some 80’s
pop
music.  I figure that no one in their right mind would bother someone
looking at the ground, speed walking and blasting
Prince<http://lolabrigada.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/prince-purple-rain-425836.jpg>.
*I was right*.  First, I was accosted by some religious types.  Christian
Zionists <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism>, to be specific.
“One Jerusalem”, “Obama’s a Muslim”, some ranting about the Second Coming.
I wondered what Berl
Katznelson<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berl_Katznelson>would say.  I
wondered what could have possibly went wrong in a 19-year
old’s life that he would know who Berl Katznelson was?  I thought about the
pretty, now probably hopelessly lost, Germans.  Poor girls.  I gave my
directions with such confidence.  I snap back to consciousness and the
teenage comrade of Israel is still raving. But having just read Christopher
Hitchens<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmrzine.monthlyreview.org%2Fseymour261105.html&ei=QWbjSsTnKYqUlAeHhvCKBw&usg=AFQjCNGdrhK3wtTIXRLsTNLHpy7GqtQuAQ&sig2=Sr1vamPEykcwTeo8trG_dw>’
*God is Not Great <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD0B-X9LJjs>*, which
caused me to *reconsider* my lifelong atheism, I was especially polite to my
pasty friend and I grabbed some of his publications.  I knew that their
literature would be “ironical” enough for one of my friends to want to put
in a scrapbook or something.  I took a few more copies.  More for me, less
for them to confuse people prone to confusion with.

Ten steps later, still looking down at the ground, thinking about how great
the word “foofooraw” is, I hear two more magic words that send a warm tingle
down my spine, “Bob Avakian.”  I’d seen copies of the Revolutionary
Communist Party’s (unimaginatively named) *Revolution* newspaper strewn
about the street during the past few days and I had heard strange stories of
encounters with Übermensch. Those whom braved the bitter cold to speak of
their dear leader’s plan to “serve masses and make glorious proletarian
revolution”.  I quickly discard my Starbucks cup and shove my Iphone into my
back pocket.  Yes, an Iphone that cost, a perpetually broke student, 40 some
odd labor hours.  It may seem like a decadent extravagance, but if you’re
among the few that are suddenly compelled to find out the legal status of
Shyne’s case or the definition of “foofooraw”, it’s an absolute necessity.
Now fully de-bourgeoisified, I venture forth to introduce myself to my
comrades.  After a few years on the radical left, I finally found the
elusive *vanguard*.

http://theactivist.org/blog/life-on-the-fringe-an-inauguration-day-story