LIFELIKE almost, but...

Sunday again. I woke up this morning with a palpable hunger. Not something gnawing at my increasingly capricious gut, but a compelling desire for some intellectual stimulation.

Since wifey slept in a bit longer than she usually does on Sundays (she woke up at 0430 instead of the usual 0359), that also kicked my own circadian AM routine in the cojones, thus throwing my entire surgens post somnum ritual markedly off-base.

Instead of my usual habit of rising, heating up a cuppa and spending an hour absorbing a particularly interesting chapter of one of my several thousands of books, I felt a bit derelict on the consequent sea of disruptive custom and instead of the above, I switched on the Hungry Eye to see what passes for ‘free’ early AM television programming these days.

As the minutes passed, I quickly found myself awash in a virtual ocean of uberbanal effluvia (masquerading as “commercial advertising”), only relieved every 10 minutes or so by some actual (if abyssmal) programming content. For the 16-millionth time I marveled over the fact that almost every (“Not actual customers: paid professional actors.”) talking head in these tawdry, awkwardly cartoonish TV advertisements was black, with most of the actual oral testimonial yawping done by black women (actors), while the dufus-looking, befuddled “hubby” (if it is a ‘married couple testimonial’) sat complaisantly off to her side, gazing dumbly at his hefty, garrulous partner as she blathered on about the wonderful benefits of XYZ Products, obvious rapture in her voice. Plainly present in her exuberantly tonal pronouncements of why you should eat/buy/consume/acquire the product in reference (voiceover...”Right now! Hurry! Limited supply! Don’t delay...the clock is ticking!”, etc.) was the inferrence that by consuming said products her life had miraculously improved. Praise God!

Clearly, after decades of being virtually ignored by commercial corporate American marketing, the by now firmly entrenched corporate DEI/Critical Race Theory philosophy, apparently has taken that PC imperative to heart to be ‘more racially inclusive’, and now widens its target quota of suckers to include black Americans. As this thought settled in on me a bit further, I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow over the fact that America’s Commercial American Marketing Forces (caps SIC) seem to feel that this constitutes exemplary compliance with the new corporate national spirit of enforced racial inclusion.

Consequently, now both whites and blacks are finally being equally exploited by commercial interests! What a fine, outstanding exemplar of the best precepts of American democratic equity and inclusion at work! 

But wait a minute! Commercial exploitation is the same, whether the target is white, black or all-the-colors-of-the-rainbow, isn’t it? Great flim-flammist P.T. Barnum apparently perceived no categorical distinction implicit in his Prime Dictum of taking in suckers, whomever and wherever they might be; after all, as Gertrude Stein never said, "A sucker by any other name is still a sucker! Nor did the great G.K. Chesterton, or Malcolm Muggeridge, or a host of other social critics of immense social standing argue this concept any less differently, themselves.

Now, naturally this psychosomatic process that inundates, overwhelms and smothers one’s cognitive neurons is extraordinarily depressing, often even disabling...if one’s reasoning defense mechanisms and ‘anti-BS’ protective mechanisms are disarmed, or somewhat weakened by the wear and tear imposed by many years of suffering through experiential social woes and tribulations.

And that is what this awareness did to me as I found myself mentally gagging over the enormous insult such hackneyed media fare imposes upon any brain still remotely accustomed to using processes of rational analysis and reasoned reflection as navigational aids to plot a course through the confused world of human affairs.

Given that the ZERO-IQ nature of the stuff that one finds 24/7 on every single television media ‘free TV’ channel is so appallingly harmful and socially destructive, as well as the fact that perhaps as much as 80% or more of the ‘viewers’ who watch this non-stop crap on ‘free television’ (read: the lumpen masses) are likely marginally brain-dead anyway, is it any wonder that the younger generations, looking for higher, inspiring values and meaning in America, feel that this bastardised, commercially marketed construct of democratic pop-culture reality, has  nothing more inspiring to offer them than a vague urge to binge-watch non-stop commercial ads selling hi-tech shavers for pudendal couture on ‘free television?’

I mean, Holy CRAP, Batman! No wonder younger people are so aesthetically jaded, nihilistically disillusioned and socially anarchic...and thus rendered dysfunctional!

My increasing mental discomfort with this new contemporary American status quo grew exponentially, the more I sat there watching and recoiling from the absolute dreck that feeble minds are being saturated with on commercial ‘free television’, today.

Finally, after no small expenditure of heroic effort, I regained some control over the effects of these dystopic dynamics that pour forth from the Big Eye’s yawning ocular-buccal orifice, reached out and switched off this stream of liquid babysh*t that the Tube defecates all over those of us who dare to take more than a scant peek at its dreadfully vacuous fare.

I guess that’s the point where I most felt the need for a revitalisingly fresh hit of intellectually superior stimulation. Something that, instead of progressively further enslaving my Quixotically reflexive impulses with anarchic messages prompting mindless behavior and collective mesmerisation, would inspire, stimulate, renervate, and restore my sense of being a meaningful participant in a rational American society that hasn’t yet entirely vanished into the bowels of wanton, commercially mangled language and cultural soft porn.

Looking around my library, my glance fell upon upon one of social critic John Zerzan’s several seminal works, specifically his 2012 book ‘Future Primitive, Revisited.’ Taking it up and reading through it again was like taking a plunge into the cold ocean depths of primal nakedness and I would strongly suggest to any of you out there, who also feel a profound sense of grief or loss over the unconstrained proliferation of America’s nihilistic pop-cultural excesses, that you try a dive into it yourself. That said, let me encapsulate some of Zerzan’s central tenets and lay them out for you here.

John Zerzan's philosophy of post-modernism critiques modern civilization, arguing that the roots of our current social and psychological problems lie in the earliest developments of agriculture, language, and symbolic thought. He believes these innovations severed humanity from a more authentic, instinctual existence. Zerzan's work is a form of what he terms “anarcho-primitivism”, advocating for a return to a non-hierarchical, pre-agricultural way of life. He sees, in consequence, the "fall" of humanity as being a process of increasing alienation, whereby each layer of technological and social development adds another barrier between us and our true selves.

Zerzan contends that the very concept of symbolic culture—the use of words, numbers, and images to represent reality—is the first step toward abstraction and separation. This leads to a disconnect from direct experience. Language, in his view, doesn't just describe the world; it re-shapes our perception of it, creating a structured, hierarchical reality that didn't exist before. This initial separation is what allows for the rise of complex societal structures, labor specialization, and the eventual domination of both nature and other humans by internally formulated forces. He views agriculture as the second major step, as it necessitated a sedentary lifestyle, ownership of land, and the concept of property. These developments, he argues, are the basis for all forms of hierarchy and control, from the state to the family unit, and are the fundamental cause of our alienation. As such, they have been absorbed into the bowels of modern American capitalistic commercialism as philosophical bedrock. Think ‘free TV’ dreck, here.

The modern anomie and affectual disengagement seen in today's younger generations, such as Gen Z and Millennials, can be viewed through a Zerzanite lens as the culmination of this long, progressive (no pun intended) process of alienation. Zerzan's philosophy suggests that the pervasive sense of meaninglessness, depression, and social anxiety isn't a new phenomenon but an intensified symptom of a civilization that has strayed too far from its origins. The constant, unrelenting barrage of digital information, the relentless pursuit of economic productivity, and the commodification of every single aspect of life are all logical extensions of the initial move toward abstraction and control.

For Zerzan, the digital age, with its social media, integral language mutabilities and virtual realities, is the ultimate expression of symbolic alienation. It creates a "meta-reality" where relationships are mediated through screens, emotions are expressed with emojis, and personal identity is curated for public consumption. This isn't just a technological problem; it's a profound spiritual and psychological one. The social anomie and disengagement of Gen Z and Millennials can be seen as a kind of instinctual rebellion or burnout against a system that they readily perceive as offering no genuine connection. When life is lived through a series of representations—likes, shares, and curated feeds—authentic, embodied experience becomes rare.

This leads to a deep-seated feeling of anomie, a lack of purpose or norms, because a symbolic world has replaced the real one, but cannot provide the same sense of belonging or meaning. The affectual disengagement seen in these generations is a natural result of this. It is a protective mechanism, a way of shutting down emotionally in a world that feels increasingly simulated, perpetually restless and devoid of genuine human warmth. It is as if the final vestiges of our pre-civilized selves are finally giving up, unable to cope with the sheer weight of layers upon layers of imposed technological and social abstraction.

In today’s pop-cultural false-reality, with its morbidly unhealthy emphasis on excessive fantasy, substitute realities and desanctified traditional moral and ethical governance mechanisms (read: religion and tribal customs, et al), the worst aspects of America’s unique system of capitalistic consumerism have bloomed and sprouted semantic and metaphysical simulacrums like virtual Venus Fly-Traps, that instead of gorging on human skin & bones, consume the cranial tissue of those whose protective (read: experiential) mental defenses are not yet fully matured.

The most tragic aspect of this fatal metamorphosis is that unless we actively strive to reverse the process, post-modern humanity is threatened not just with its own extinction but with an extinction that offers no innately compelling rationale that advocates saving it!

At this point, poised high-up on the verge of a dizzying cliff, the collateral argument is perhaps that it would be better for mankind to die out, thus yielding the enormous responsibilities of being the highest sentient life-form on the planet to an even newer evolved status: that of non-human, “Super-Intelligence.” Or, put another way, AI's demonic bigger brother!

I would strongly suggest that all you nihilistic, wannabe refugees from nasty ole reality (the genuine and original reality, not the smoke & mirrors substitute offered by American consumer commercialism) put this last thought in your hash (or crack) pipes and take a couple of strong, deep tokes as you ponder this rather pressing quandary we are all faced with today, before it’s too late...