Angry about Anger

Monday, November 11, 2024

It’s a coincidence that I’m reading Damon Runyon’s mega-huge collection of short stories, Guys and Doll and Other Writings, published by Penguin Classics, as I heard the news of Donald Trump’s grand reunion with the White House. One looks at the whole world as it is downsized into the location of Broadway, New York City, in the 1930s. It is not a massive leap of believability that Trump and his family could have come from this world, as Runyon portrays it. Con artists, crooked people, and a cast of characters that are as colorful as their names, such as Dave the Dude, Nicely-Nicely Jones, Rusty Charlie, Society Max, The Seldom Seen Kid, Harry the Horse, and Liver Lip Louie, among others.

The next four years are going to be emotional, low, and physically painful. On the other hand, my reading list will grow, and I don’t plan to focus on our future old president because the noise around him is more fascinating to me. It would be interesting if Jared Kushner succeeded in building high-rise hotels facing the Mediterranean Ocean from the Gaza Beaches. Once the citizens of Gaza are removed, it will be Surf’s Up, and the blood-stained grounds will turn into a boulevard of dreams or, more likely, nightmares.

There is a need for something new because the current system is not working. It has to go differently than the categories we are given, such as Left, Right, Far Left, Far Right, Center, Neo-Con, Neo-Lib, etc. Maybe it should be the Far-Out Party, like in That’s Far-Out Man! The two main political parties are also over but cannot be replaced by what exists now. There needs to be a Revolution that destroys the concept of political parties and borders. Borders include countries, genders, animals/humans, the family structure, etc. I think it’s time we walk away from the past and throw a lighted match over our shoulders.

Other than that, there are probably more logical things to do, and of course, organizing with others. However, at the same time, I feel that it is like thinking in a box, and we have to jump out of that box to make logical choices. The horrible aspect of all of this is that one is watching it in slow motion, like observing a car accident as it happens. Perhaps the other half, those who didn’t vote for the Runyon character, should be more forceful in showing our disapproval. It seemed to work for the Right, so why not everyone else?

I’m angry about anger. Using outrage to attract more currency is an unhealthy way to achieve wealth. Anger can only be good when used in a creative act or making art; otherwise, it’s a useless emotion. In that sense, perhaps we should feel joy and support our enemy. Why not organize a movement to build monuments on the enemy by insisting that statues honoring him at every American airport or putting up posters in the middle of the night to show our appreciation and help raise funds for only the most outlandish proposal he comes up with. I got this idea from Albert Cossery’s great novel The Jokers.

Other than that, I think of Runyon’s short stories with con artists and gangsters, which is the flip of the coin with Bertolt Brecht’s world in Germany during the 1920s/1930s. From the past, we can learn, but we must always keep a fresh box of matches with you.