NOTE: This is my podcast made the day after the the January 6 2021 attempted insurrection. On the podcast I get the date wrong; I say it’s January 7, 2020. I think that is because, as you can hear, my voice is still hoarse, as I was just three weeks out of my five-week stay in San Donato hospital in Arezzo, Italy after my catastrophic illness.
NOTE: This is my podcast made the day after the the January 6 2021 attempted insurrection. On the podcast I get the date wrong; I say it’s January 7, 2020. I think that is because, as you can hear, my voice is still hoarse, as I was just three weeks out of my five-week stay in San Donato hospital in Arezzo, Italy after my catastrophic illness.
I did not transcribe this podcast so this post ontains only the audio. Listening to it again for the first time today, November 25, 2023, almost two years later, is kinda spooky!
Right-wing violence, insurrection, irrational fury: President Trump stirred the flames. But he didn’t create the pain and disillusionment underneath it all. Why are so many Americans in pain? Why are so many Americans angry? What is underneath it all?
Dear Cary,
I listened to this episode three times because there was so much to mull over and really absorb. Thank you for helping me see things from a different angle – as a result of your always-present compassion. Where do you see the role of white supremacy in the assault on the Capitol? I differentiate between white supremacists and and the hurt and angry Americans that you described, and it’s clear both factions were at the Capitol, perhaps for different reasons. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I love your podcast and your writings – the way you see the world and how you express yourself. And I’m so happy you are on the mend and have survived such traumatic events with Covid and your surgery. Sending you love!
Hey Cary
Thanks for another thoughtful and wise essay. I too have been thinking about the dark underside of American culture: the love of toxic, masculine, individualism, the deepening anti-intellectualism and contempt for knowledge, including self-knowledge. So much unmet need for community and dignity and creative self expression. So much loneliness. Many have found no way to fulfill the need for contribution, for usefulness. My fantasies, emerging out of deep frustration, from my need to DO SOMETHING, run like this: I’ll spend time in Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Wyoming…and somehow be able to gather groups of Right Wing folks to attend my Improvisation workshops, in which the hearts, minds and bodies of participants will be opened and enlivened enough to allow authentic and intelligent political/ philosophical discussion between warring tribes. Obviously, this speaks to my absolute belief in the transformative power of creative activity. After listening to your podcast I also want to see an army of Jungian therapists infiltrate the Republican party.
Until next week, blessings for good health & inspiration.
Joya
Cary, nice to see you back. As I listened to your thoughts I couldn’t help thinking how similar they were to what the book Lord of the Flies was about. Basically boys dropped into a new frontier where they had to create a new society, a new tribe with its own rules and standards to survive their new frontier that they found themselves in. It wasn’t pretty. It was wild and cruel with glimpses of hope and humanity surfacing like crests of waves to assure them that they were okay in their new environment. I think America is going to forge a new society for itself, tearing down old ways and old myths and envisioning new ones that they will strive to encode into a new way of being with themselves, their past and their future. Unfortunately it will get messy but in the end Americans will sort it all out.
Man, seein’ it through your eyes from over there from beloved Italy, makes me even more sad. Yet somehow keepin’ the hope alive here in SF … writing, friends, family, nature, music all help.
ps: you said Jan 7, 2020 … ha! 2021 indeed off to a weird start. PEACE dear friend!
Thank you for looking deeper from afar, Cary. I agree with you that suffering and pain usually underlie angry destructive behavior, even, dare I say, that of Donald J Trump. I also think the lack of a real resolution to the Civil War figures into our current turmoil. Keep pondering and podcasting! I love hearing your voice, and look forward to next Thursday. Beaming you the best from San Francisco. Lucy