The Tale of a Whale

Well, Wafers, maybe it's a question of dual consciousness. Some of you have suggested that it's possible that more and more Americans are becoming Waferish, at least in part. That is, they realize that the country is finished; that capitalism is a con; and that progress is an illusion. Hard to say. I'm guessing that these Waferian themes have penetrated some American minds on a subliminal level, but that the dominant consciousness is still the ideology of the dominant culture. This would mean that some percentage of the public is undergoing a kind of mental strain, in that these people are of two very conflicting minds. So they mostly remain committed to the American value system, but in Mr. Hyde fashion, there is a dark undertow pulling them in another direction. It may even account for the typical hysteria that Americans display when confronted with serious critiques of the country: the critiques touch a hidden nerve. As to how all this figures into our ongoing national collapse, or whether it makes any difference at all, I don't really know. But imagine this as a collective dream, anticipated by Herman Melville: as the ship of state moves along, the giant tail of an enormous whale rises up out of the sea, and smashes the ship to pieces. You don't have to be Freud to decode that one, I'm guessing.