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What's with the war-mongering in america? My French friend asks. Look, when the dumb American Republicans elected a cowboy from Texas, they knew what to expect. A shoot out. American politics imitates Hollywood make-believe politics, so it's inevitable that there should be a shoot out during the time the cowboy from Texas becomes military chief of America. History shows it. America loves a fight. So It's either Americans against Americans [les sudistes contre les nordistes, les blancs contre les rouges, les rouges contre les blancs, les blancs contre les noirs, les puritans contre tous les autres] or else it's America against the world, or America against the other planets in the solar system, America against the entire Universe. A Texas Cowboy Presidents take on anybody and anything. They have guts. That's how it is in America, and why it's fun to live here as an incurable foreigner. An outsider-insider. It's like watching a movie and being in it at the same time. It's really funny. If I was writing this in French I would say, C'est fendant. Perfect word to describe the situation, because fendant means to split, like spliting a piece of wood with an axe. It means to cut in half, to separate, to be in and out at the same time, to be a spectator as well as a performer who laugh at the same time, because fendant in French slang really means to laugh, to have a good laugh, to explode in fourire. So, one could say to be or not to be—literally—that's how I am in America. Present & absent at the same time at the great comedy that American reality has become. Once upon a time it was tragic to live in America. Now it has become comical. But the comedy makes life almost bearable, especially since there is no end to this great opera. Yes a tragicomic opera because now in America there is music everywhere with the action. In a few days, America is going to celebrate—to commemorate—the first aniversary of its only defeat on its own soil by an enemy. Over 3000 casualties on 9/11, as that infamous day is called. In a few days, America will become a giant flag of stars and stripes, and it will be full of music—bombastic songs of love and respect and admiration and devotion and pride for america. America the land of the free and the fanatics, America the land where one delusions are spent in advance, America the land of misrepresentation where a cowboy can pass for a president. And now, as a consequence the 9/11 catastrophe, America is in the process of cleaning the world of all those who do not believe in America. On 9/11, I think I'll go play a round of golf, and forget that I am in America .... Or get Stoned. -Raymond Federman |