The Madness of American Culture

[beiser]

so much has been written about the religious right that it seems almost unfair to go deeper on the topic. I think the key thing to realize is that these are the people who have out-organized and built a stronger coalition than the mainstream institutions. The American east coast, which is essentially the governing body for all the "respectable" parts of the state, has all the inherited belief in existing institutions and systems that Europe has, but none of the institutional memory required to keep things running. Eurocrats at least believe something, I think.

And then the leftists are also imagining up novel ideological hellscapes.

And then there's California. I've heard stories at parties from venture capitalists that are so absurd I could never write theory fiction; what is "fake" is so much less absurd than what is real that I could never hope to parody it. There are grifters all over; I know a woman who once worked as a hired tutor for a billionaire's kids, who has transitioned to a neo-fascist account (notably, not a Trumpist), which combines in a voice of pure terror the politics of the far right with the whiny self-importance of the identitarian left. Billionaires flit around in conspiracies of silence—hedonism, omerta, lots of hallucinogens and ritual practices, occasional violations of SEC guidelines. They're sharp, but the most distinctive thing about them is how quickly they can multiply very large numbers together. Secrets are easy to keep, at least out of the public eye. Magazines run by "operatives," domestic propaganda outlets, writing about urban planning, meme accounts that turn into centers of libidinal interest for entire industries. Con-men who become legitimate by accident. The problem with europe, of course, is that nobody wants anything badly enough.

 

[beiser]

The New York Times recently, famously, largely unsuccessfully argued recently that the country's "true" founding came with the arrival of slavery.

I was told much more convincingly at a party the other month that the real founding of the United States was with the invention of the cotton gin, whereby a man hoping to abolish slavery in the south introduced a technocapital innovation that caused an exponential economic takeoff, resulting in the massive expansion of slavery, a booming industry in automated textile production, urbanization, and a never-ending chain of acceleration that led first to the civil war and even now continues to destabilize the country along partisan lines.

 

[Mr. Tea]

The New York Times recently, famously, largely unsuccessfully argued recently that the country's "true" founding came with the arrival of slavery.

I was told much more convincingly at a party the other month that the real founding of the United States was with the invention of the cotton gin, whereby a man hoping to abolish slavery in the south introduced a technocapital innovation that caused an exponential economic takeoff, resulting in the massive expansion of slavery, a booming industry in automated textile production, urbanization, and a never-ending chain of acceleration that led first to the civil war and even now continues to destabilize the country along partisan lines.

The idea of the techno-utopianist creating something that ends up just making the problem he sought to solve much worse reminds me of the Adam Curtis film (yes, of course you have to take him with a pinch of salt, but) where he talks about the early 'hacktivists' and other visionaries in the Wild West days of the internet, around the dawn of the World Wide Web, and how they thought this new frontier of free information exchange would break the monopoly of the traditional corporate media channels and usher in a new era of democracy.

[Slightly camp RP voiceover:]

But this was a fantasy...

 

[catalog]

I always think of the trout fishing in America guy who came up with the term, all watched over by machines of loving grace, topping himself. America and california especially, rotten at the core. See also Chinatown film

 

[version]

Thomas Midgley Jr. (May 18, 1889 – November 2, 1944) was an American mechanical and chemical engineer. He played a major role in developing leaded gasoline (Tetraethyllead) and some of the first chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known by its brand name Freon; both products were later banned due to concerns about their impact on human health and the environment. He was granted more than 100 patents over the course of his career.

[...]

In 1940, at the age of 51, Midgley contracted poliomyelitis, which left him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to lift himself out of bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the device and died of strangulation.

[...]

Midgley's legacy has been scarred by the negative environmental impact of leaded gasoline and Freon. Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history", and Bill Bryson remarked that Midgley possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny". Use of leaded gasoline, which he invented, released large quantities of lead into the atmosphere all over the world. High atmospheric lead levels have been linked with serious long-term health problems from childhood, including neurological impairment, and with increased levels of violence and criminality in cities. Time magazine included both leaded gasoline and CFCs on its list of "The 50 Worst Inventions".

 

[beiser]

The automobile had two paradoxical effects in the post-war period—one was a massive increase in wealth, as it enabled movement to the suburbs, which freed economic activity from the constraints of urban landlords. The other was massive, large-scale brain damage from tetraethyllead. Because these two movements were linked, they impacted the same set of people—the latter end of the baby boomers became the wealthiest generation in history, while experiencing a quantity of brain damage from lead exposure that was without compare. If you look at the average blood lead level of that generation, they experienced typical serum lead levels so high that it would merit urgent medical interventions. At its peak, average levels were almost high enough to elicit numbness and trouble breathing.

 

[version]

I made a thread on the disappearance of the serial killer where I think lead poisoning came up. The main theories I've heard for the number of American serial killers in the second half of the 20th century are lead poisoning, Vietnam, head injuries and stuff like MKUltra.

 

[borzoi]

I always think of the trout fishing in America guy who came up with the term, all watched over by machines of loving grace, topping himself. America and california especially, rotten at the core. See also Chinatown film

the twin dark forces of silicon valley in the north and hollywood in the south.

 

[borzoi]

I made a thread on the disappearance of the serial killer where I think lead poisoning came up. The main theories I've heard for the number of American serial killers in the second half of the 20th century are lead poisoning, Vietnam, head injuries and stuff like MKUltra.

aren't they all just mass shooters now? quicker and easier way to infamy.

 

[sus]

The automobile had two paradoxical effects in the post-war period—one was a massive increase in wealth, as it enabled movement to the suburbs, which freed economic activity from the constraints of urban landlords. The other was massive, large-scale brain damage from tetraethyllead. Because these two movements were linked, they impacted the same set of people—the latter end of the baby boomers became the wealthiest generation in history, while experiencing a quantity of brain damage from lead exposure that was without compare. If you look at the average blood lead level of that generation, they experienced typical serum lead levels so high that it would merit urgent medical interventions. At its peak, average levels were almost high enough to elicit numbness and trouble breathing.

I wanna believe this conspiracy so bad

 

[catalog]

The automobile had two paradoxical effects in the post-war period—one was a massive increase in wealth, as it enabled movement to the suburbs, which freed economic activity from the constraints of urban landlords. The other was massive, large-scale brain damage from tetraethyllead. Because these two movements were linked, they impacted the same set of people—the latter end of the baby boomers became the wealthiest generation in history, while experiencing a quantity of brain damage from lead exposure that was without compare. If you look at the average blood lead level of that generation, they experienced typical serum lead levels so high that it would merit urgent medical interventions. At its peak, average levels were almost high enough to elicit numbness and trouble breathing.

This is like the long webrerian version of the more Marxist virilio thing about how inventing the car also invents the car crash

 

[version]

aren't they all just mass shooters now? quicker and easier way to infamy.

That also came up. It's like blogging losing out to tweeting.

 

[beiser]

I wanna believe this conspiracy so bad

this isn't even a conspiracy this is just me posting two true facts next to eachother. Notice that the peaks in american dumbassery are consistently in the rust belt, which was the epicenter of lead manufacturing.

The scariest thing is that with the way Chinese industrialization has been going, in urban areas the post-90s generation has blood lead levels far worse than anything ever seen in the US, coinciding with a rapidly rising nationalism. I do not think people are prepared for the kinds of violent international conflict this could lead to.

 

[beiser]

I made a thread on the disappearance of the serial killer where I think lead poisoning came up. The main theories I've heard for the number of American serial killers in the second half of the 20th century are lead poisoning, Vietnam, head injuries and stuff like MKUltra.

lead poisoning is just the reason so many of them got caught.

 

[version]

A bunch of serial killers apparently had the same head injury as children. The Chessboard Killer from Russia got hit in the forehead by a swing after falling off.

 

[beiser]

likewise, the "Spirit of 68"? Tetraethyllead

 

[version]

Serial Killers

It seems as though they either ceased to exist or simply stopped being interesting after 9/11. When's the last time you heard of a Gein, a Dahmer or a Bundy? Where did they go? Are they now the "lone wolves" and terrorists we see plastered across the news? Are they too easily caught in the age...

dissensus.com

 

[Mr. Tea]

Thomas Midgley Jr. (May 18, 1889 – November 2, 1944) was an American mechanical and chemical engineer. He played a major role in developing leaded gasoline (Tetraethyllead) and some of the first chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known by its brand name Freon; both products were later banned due to concerns about their impact on human health and the environment. He was granted more than 100 patents over the course of his career.

[...]

In 1940, at the age of 51, Midgley contracted poliomyelitis, which left him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to lift himself out of bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the device and died of strangulation.

[...]

Midgley's legacy has been scarred by the negative environmental impact of leaded gasoline and Freon. Environmental historian J. R. McNeill opined that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history", and Bill Bryson remarked that Midgley possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny". Use of leaded gasoline, which he invented, released large quantities of lead into the atmosphere all over the world. High atmospheric lead levels have been linked with serious long-term health problems from childhood, including neurological impairment, and with increased levels of violence and criminality in cities. Time magazine included both leaded gasoline and CFCs on its list of "The 50 Worst Inventions".

He must be the most Pynchonian person who isn't actually a Pynchon character.

 

[IdleRich]

I always think of the trout fishing in America guy who came up with the term, all watched over by machines of loving grace, topping himself. America and california especially, rotten at the core. See also Chinatown film

Brautigan. His books are - on the surface - cutesy but (some more than others) often have a lot of implied darkness in them.

 

[linebaugh]

He must be the most Pynchonian person who isn't actually a Pynchon character.

I always thought that was this guy, who wrote anonymous public letters under the pseudonym Wanda Tianasky, whom people at the time actually thought was a pen name for Pynchon himself

Tom Hawkins[edit]
Main article: Tom Hawkins (writer)
Thomas Donald Hawkins (January 11, 1927 – September 23, 1988) was born in Pangurn, Arkansas. He grew up in Port Angeles, Washington and graduated in 1950 from the University of Washington with a degree in English. He married Kathleen Marie Gallaner and worked for Boeing in the early fifties, then in Beaumont, Texas in television, for station KFDM, and advertising. In 1960 he moved to San Francisco to join the Beats, supporting himself as a postal worker. After his work was rejected by local Beat publications, he took to self-publishing under the name "Tiger Tim" Hawkins. As a fan of William Gaddis, Hawkins discovered newspaper, the self-published Gaddis fansheet of "jack green". He became convinced that green was Gaddis, a detail that would show up in the Tinasky letters. Tinasky also claimed that "The novels of William Gaddis and Thomas Pynchon were written by the same person".

After Hawkins retired, he and Kathleen moved to Mendocino County just outside Fort Bragg, where they lived in poverty for most of the eighties. Hawkins engaged in petty scams and thefts, and took to disguising himself. Kathleen came into an inheritance and bought a car for herself and a pickup truck for her husband. She also bought a kiln, and began a promising career in pottery.[citation needed]

Three weeks after the last (according to Foster) authentic Tinasky letter, Hawkins bludgeoned Kathleen to death, and kept her body inside their house, unburied. After several days, he set fire to their house and drove her car off a cliff into rocky shoals, killing himself.[citation needed]

At the time, no one connected the end of Tinasky with the Hawkinses' murder–suicide. Indeed, this event didn't altogether stem the flow of Tinasky's invective: at least one "copycat" letter, by Foster's account, had been published while Hawkins was alive, and these continued to trickle out for a short time after his death.