Philadelphia

The Song "Streets of Philadelphia' by Bruce Springsteen, popped into my head last night. The movie 'Philadelphia' came out a long time ago. I was a senior in high school. It was about an HIV-positive gay man and his interaction with a hostile society.What a different time that was. We were debating 'Don't Ask, Don't tell' in the military. That was Bill Clinton's effort to move the needle to the left in an administration and a general political zeitgeist that was moving to the right. Even his VP Al Gore wanted to put warning labels and ratings on CDs. Such was the mood of the nation. Even the liberals were conservative.Hollywood, via such movies, was able to shame us into caring about (in this case) gay people: humanizing them. Such was its bully pulpit at the time. That bully pulpit, that prestige, has all but vanished. Movies, tv, music and sports have always been political, whether we knew it or not.A conservative backlash has pulled the nation rightward since Nixon. Each GOP President since has been an overt attempt to undo Civil Rights and to facilitate the wealthy getting wealthier. Each Democratic President hasn't been far behind, with some window-dressing and the occasional assist to those marginalized.But the arts were pulling just as hard to the left: humanizing minorities, asking us to care, to feel, to empathize. To imagine the streets of East LA via the hard-hitting music of NWA. To humanize black people. To celebrate LGBTQ culture. To be grateful for what diversity has brought us. Showing us the historic and current plight of women.The arts and sports have been about subverting the power paradigm. And yet we find ourselves in a place where the cool kids are no longer in Hollywood. The heroes are the ultra-wealthy and the MAGA movement. They have a vice-grip, not only on all levers of power in Washington, but on the narrative that used to be provided by the arts.And as such, we are sorely lacking inspiration. Where is the national moral compass? We are missing the calls, the demands on us to feel the suffering of those who pick our food and clean our homes. No, now we are told to scorn them, to blame them. Round them up and all of our problems will go away.Cut all this supposed deep state government waste and we will be prosperous again. Slash all those safeguards that insulate so many from the ills of the corporate domination of every facet of our economy and society. Let’s blame the poor!It's a far cry from 1993, where we could be reached by a movie like 'Philadelphia.' A movie that asked, 'who are you? Are you your brother's keeper?' A movie that demanded that we not only humanize our brother but that reminded us that we revivify ourselves via our acknowledgment of the needs and frailties of these 'others' that those in power now want to eliminate.The left, via the media, is now a victim of its own success. So thoroughly have we embraced multiculturalism that a rage-filled backlash has swept the nation and threatens to wash away all the gains, all the protections and all shreds of mercy from our national institutions.The choice we have now is absolutely ludicrous. Only a Scrooge, a Mr Potter, would support the policies of the current regime. And yet half the nation did just that. They eat it up. And just like Scrooge, they are under a mind virus called Wetiko. This term was coined by Native Americans upon noticing the greed and malice of the European settlers.No amount of money is enough for Elon Musk or any of these oligarchs. Notice there are no Musk Cancer Centers. No Bezos homeless shelters. These men are absolutely under the spell of greed. And the dupes that follow them think they can amass more wealth, or at least not lose what they have if they follow this scorched earth regimen. Consequences be damned.And yet these are the scenarios where heroes emerge. This is where the arts become subversive again. Where they hold up a mirror and show us how ugly we've become. That's what 'Philadelphia' did. The TV character,Archie Bunker, was a stand-in for us. But so was Meathead. We just had to be shown the options. We had to be willing to be the fool, like Meathead and Gloria. To trust our guts and our hearts to lead us to right action.To fully embody our humanity, despite the ways that society glamours us and busies us with the toil of its wealth extraction games. We sit befuddled, divided and looking externally for a hero that was and is indwelling.With these posts I've tried to rouse the populace. It sure hasn't made me rich. But it has made me feel human. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greenmang.substack.com/subscribe