(^{radically trivial}) A Lite Reading Lesson: Towards the Topography of Post-al Fascism

Facetious Fascism (FF)

LESSON ONE:

THE STRUCTURE OF BIGOT CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE ROLE OF CLOWN PEDAGOGY IN ITS PRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION

(written, in spite of these big words—for the most part—as a lite story so that the facetious fascist can understand it—more analytically rigorous versions will appear in the next issue of RADICALLY TRIVIAL)

Radical Tangerine is a saga of mourning and melancholy (see the GLOSSARY)—the on again off again epic of the life of a young man (angry as hell and white as a lily) who is dangling between adulthood and adolescence, caught in confusing images of a complex world that he does not understand but is told by the clown pedagogues (who taught him “The TEUTONIC Canon"), that this world rightfully belongs to HIM and HIM alone. . . these “other” guys have, however, taken it away from him (Forrest Gump who now teaches in the Creative Writing Program in the University says it is all because of “affirmative action”; it is "affirmative action” that has taken away from the BOX OF CHOCOLATES the “surprise” and joy of inequalities. Forrest Gump is a defender of “difference"—the “you never know” school; he does not like “affirmative action” and because he has eaten so many chocolates he now actually thinks that ketchup is a vegetable. . .) This young man (who is angry as hell and white as a lily) wants his world back and wants it back NOW!

But, alas (is this witty or what?), his world has become an “alien” world which speaks with “foreign” languages that at most have an “apparent similarity” with his mother tongue. (ENGLISH FIRST! shout the members of FF at the opening ceremonies of Forrest Gump's seminar on “Sympathetic Imagination and the Lyric” waving their fists in lyrical performances.)

This world, which has become for him a “chamber” of “merciless tortures” no longer yields its meaning (non-lite words again) to the bits and pieces of knowledge he has picked up in his philosophy courses he took with Forrest Gump who is now a professor of philosophy at the University. He looks up the passages he has underlined with his yellow marker in his philosophy texts and the notes from his creative writing seminars. But even Plato (who, he had been repeatedly assured, had explained everything and left no room for any more explaining) does not seem to mean much anymore. . .

THE REPUBLIC ? (or is it the Republican?) The Cave, the tank, the shadow, the third gender. . (are these “other” guys members of a third gender ?), they sure aren't like anybody I have seen on the rifle ranges of NRA, they do not speak English. . who are these guys?

Get out VOLTAIRE FOR BEGINNERS. He is great: he taught a lot of well-to-do people (these guys call them "the frightened bourgeoisie of his time") how to say “blah, blah, blah” anytime they came across anything that was a bit hard to understand. But Voltaire is not quite as funny anymore. Get THE SHORT MAXIMS OF SWIFT. Swift, the sage of the STAIRWELLS. He too was a “blah blah blah” man (not, definitely NOT a “person” he was a MAN). He too really helped well-to-do-people to find simple solutions, VERY simple: GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. He really protected people from, thinking: Just SAY BLAH BLAH. All the Forrest Gumps in the Creative Writing program at the University LOVE Swift. . . we read him, we dream him, he is one of US, we are one of HIM. All my teachers say BLAH BLAH BLAH anytime anyone raises a tough question: BLAH BLAH BLAH . . . BLAH, YOU BOLSHEVIK

Who are these guys who have made his life miserable, have taken his English language away, have called him a bourgeois coward who does not have the guts to sign his name to his writings.

why do they tell me that I am like another guy who used to be here and who used to write anonymous letters and memos and put them in the mail boxes. . . where is he now? what was his name? Oh, Forrest Gump? Are they all Forrest Gump? where is he now,

oh, is he here,
is he there,
is he at Oswego?
is he in Syracuse?

He too (like me) thought nobody knew him and when people pointed to him, he laughed and said “they accused the WRONG GUY”. . . he did not know the joke was on him; never got it, I never get it, I am the WRONG GUY. . . I am the IT GUY, they refer to me as IT (is this what they mean by the death of the subject? What happened to the variety of chocolates? I am not a subject? am I? am I the IT GUY? so, there is no WRONG GUY? Who are these guys, I never met anybody like them when I was campaigning for OLLIE NORTH. Is Ollie an IT? You never know (YES!).

[image of Ollie North in radio booth.]

Angry as hell and white as a lily ...they accused the wrong guy.. round-up of usual suspects fails."

•

Who are these guys who call him the running dog of capitalism (what does it mean?) Are these “other” guys really radical? No, “of course not” he heard his buddy and mentor Forrest Gump who now teaches creative writing at the University saying “because”, Forrest Gump said, “if they were really radical they will be out there doing things." Like what? “Oh, like 'blowing up the ROTC.' Destructive things." Forrest Gump is good, he is like SWIFT, he has a knack for making real complex things real easy, real manageable and I mean REAL SIMPLE.

The FACETIOUS FASCIST (angry as hell and white as a lily) equiped with this bit of Gumpian wisdom, decides that these guys, who call him the running dog of capitalism, (what does it mean? ) are not really radical. They are posing as radical, they are frauds, but then why is Forrest Gump (who now teaches all the courses of creative writing at the University) so angry with them? (angry as hell and white as a lily) Why is he so mad at them? If, as Forrest Gump says, (and all the other Forrest Gumps agree) they are not radical because they are not destructive then why does he also say they are really destructive? Can it be that Forrest Gump is confused? Can it be that his making complex things real simple is not working any more? Why is it that good people like Voltaire, Swift, and my Forrest Gumps get obsolete so fast? The Republic? (or is it the Republican?) Tank? Cave? The REPUBLIC (or is it the Republican?) Forrest Gump says these guys are not radical so they must be harmless frauds but then why worry? Let the TRUTH expose the fraud. . . isn't this what THE REPUBLIC (or is it the Republican) says? If these guys are a fraud because they don't blow-up the ROTC, then why did I call them TERRORISTS? Terrorists? Theorists? They destroy people for the “cause of theory," I said. . . I was joking. Was I? These guys say jokes are historical (what does it mean? are they pulling my leg?) they are “extremists” for sure, I said, they torture people. Am I joking? Am I serious? Am I becoming an IT GUY? What is happening to me? Forrest Gump! Forrest Gump says there is the serious beyond seriousness—he just wrote an essay in the AWP CHRONICLE, he says politics is not partisan, he is like Forrest Gump. . . maybe this is it? Radicals who are not radical because they are not terrorists but then they are radical because there is a radicalness beyond. . . Am I becoming an IT GUY? They accused the wrong guy? Am I the wrong guy? An IT GUY? Is this what that guy what is his name Daniel O'Hara means by Radical Parody? These are a parody of radicals? I got it: the radicals who are not radicals but then they are radicals after all? How does it work? Parody is not the same as the real thing but then how could they be destructive if they are not the real thing? Forrest Gump says they are destructive, they destruct other people's writings.., maybe, he says, they are not radical because they only destruct other people's writing? So does this mean that writing is not the REAL thing? Then how come Forrest Gump who now teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the University makes REAL (and I mean REAL!) money out of writing THE WHITE MAN' S LIFE? Is writing real or not? Are these writers real or not? Is Forrest Gump a fraud? Is Voltaire a fraud? Is THE REPUBLIC (or is it the Republican?) a fraud? Who is REAL here? Forrest Gump who teaches in the creative writing department at the University? These Guys? The REPUBLIC (or is it the Republican?) Forrest Gump makes a lot of real money from writing memoirs, lyric poetry, short story, you name it, he writes it. Forrest Gump who now teaches in the Religion Department, was a guest lecturer in the Fiction Workshop which was taught by Forrest Gump last semester and he too said these guys were a fraud. . . not radical. He said all radicals are now a—theologists and all are ERRING and resistance fighters in ALTARITY. He too said these guys destroy the writings of other people, that these guys are real, they are extremists, for sure. . . BLAH BLAH BLAH. Are these guys radical or not? If they are harmless why is everybody saying BLAH BLAH BLAH! The FACETIOUS FASCIST (angry as hell and white as a lily) is now beginning to worry. The concepts he has picked up from the Republic (or is it the Republican) of Plato, the wit of Voltaire, the satire of Swift, the wisdom of Forrest Gump. . . none of these seems to help. The clown pedagogues have not taught him concepts that can explain the world to him. Clown pedagogy does not teach concepts: it markets experiences, the flavors of ESPRESSO, the delight of CAFE AU LAIT, the _p l e a s u r e s_ of CAPPUCCINO..

FULL OF CAFE MOCHA AND CONCEPTLESS IN SYRACUSE

where Is the bathroom?