FreakNation: The End of the World as we know it?

Organization and Mobilization: Three Cheers for FreakNation!

Greetings from Fun City.  I’m getting wind of some really weird shit that’s going around out there. FreakNation seems to be getting some very nasty press around the community at large.  Better than no press at all, I suppose. There are some, it seems, who think my talk of a free society means I’m advocating the creation of a race of mutants; an entire society of irresponsible, unhappy, unproductive, non-communicative serial drug and alcohol addicts whose sole idea of life and livelihood is either dealing drugs or larceny, and who are primed to rape and murder at the slightest provocation. It’s being said that if I had my way, America would lapse into uncontrollable anarchy and chaos and would quickly be taken over by the Chinese. Or the Iranians. OK, so I guess you got me. No, seriously folks. Let’s try to clarify things just a wee bit.

To begin with, I suppose it’s natural that people in the post-drug-culture age equate partying with utter failure and fatal addiction. Fair enough. This is the age of rehab and that’s the rhetoric they’ve been buying into for god knows how long now. Problem is, this whole 12-step mind-set causes my most important point with regard to the party lifestyle to be entirely overlooked. Personal life failures and addiction are predominantly the products of a failed social order. People drink and drug themselves into oblivion for lack of anything better to do, so let’s not get too fucking self-righteous here. Addiction of one form or another is a temptation for all of us. The fact that many succumb to it is more a reflection of the paucity of available alternatives than of innate weakness of character. And for those who are tempted to pass judgement on the so called ‘addict,’ you’ll have to justify your own situation in the process. Are YOU happy? Are you living up to YOUR greatest potential? Are you satisfied with the choices available to you? If you answered ‘yes’ you’re in the extreme minority, and this discussion doesn’t apply to you. But don’t get the idea that trudging off to your meaningless job, trading the hours of your life for someone else’s profit is any better choice than staying home getting drunk or stoned. It ain’t. In fact, you just might be a bigger part of the problem than the drunk or the druggie. You’re probably mired far more deeply in the cultural quicksand than your ‘irresponsible’ counterpart. Chew on that one before your ego does too big a number on you. At any rate, the point here is that whether you plug away as a dutiful drone in the work force or party like your plane’s goin’ down, modern America is still in the throes of death and in need of a miracle transfusion. Well, amigos, WE’RE the new blood! That’s why we’ve got to get it together…before we fall apart. (continued…)

~ by jtmarquis71 on April 12, 2008.