Christopher Jones' Insatiable Ego-Sphere - August 20th, 2005

As everyone knows, Thursday night is Zydeco night at the Rock-n'-Bowl on Carrolton Avenue. So when my friend Judie and I went out to kick up our heels last Thursday night we expected to get busy to the sound of the washboard. We expected to get busy to the sound of the accordion. We expected to get busy to the sound of the drums, the bass, and even to a couple of wild folks hootin' and hollerin'. This was to be expected. What we did not expect was to have our booty-shakin' busyness surreptitiously deep-sixed by a spontaneous effusion of irrational jingoism - and by none other than the usually placid proprietor of one of New Orleans' finest establishments. It came in the middle of the set when said proprietor leapt up on stage with the band. At first we admired his aplomb as he boogied frenetically to the beat, and then we could only applaud as he jumped up and came down into the full splits. When he came back up and grabbed the mic however, unfortunate surprises were to follow... First he thanked the band; No surprise there. Then he told everyone how happy he was that his son-in-law was coming back from Iraq in two weeks time. Also neither surprising nor unfortunate, quite a good thing actually - he has survived the violence and chaos which has ensued following our military's unprovoked invasion of that country. Then he pointed out a family, present, who's son had not made it through his tour-of-duty in Iraq. Also not surprising, but sad, unfortunate, distressing - how many more lives will this miserable war take? This being said, he asked everyone present in the dance hall to give a hand to our troops. This was welcome, as they certainly need all the support they can get given that the government and the politicians aren't giving them jack... What was truly surprising was what came out of his mouth next...although perhaps I am a fool to find it so surprising given the banal excess of its repetition throughout the length and breadth of our society. He explained that we should all be applauding and grateful because if those soldiers weren't over there doing what they were doing then we wouldn't be able to be here doing what we were doing - dancing, drinking, and socializing with our friends. He then raised it up a notch by saying that if those soldiers weren't over there doing what they were doing then women in our country wouldn't be able to enjoy the special privileges that they enjoy here and which no other women across the globe are able to enjoy. He next asked all the women in the room to clap their hands if they were grateful for the right to vote. When Judie didn't clap long and loud enough he pointed to her and called out aggressively, "Hey, you there! Clap! I said clap!" Finally, he began pointing around the room at the other women present also commanding them to clap more. After this he said, "Anybody who isn't clapping - I'm kicking out of this place!" And then for punctuation he proceeded to belt out the entire Star-Spangled Banner. No kidding. And when this patriotic feat was accomplished he made a few perfunctory, closing remarks, stepped off the stage, and sauntered back to the bar to join his buddy with whom he laughed and joked around for the remaineder of the evening - thus allowing the slightly befuddled looking band to continue with their music. At the time we were both so flabbergasted that we just stood staring at this man disbelieving the surreality of what was issuing from his lips. Thinking on it in the days since it has alternately made me furious, frustrated, sad, and terrified. Part of me just wants to let loose with a bellowing, "Fuck you!" Another wants to analyze the situation intellectually - an instance of "ideological quilting points" (following Laclau following Lacan following etc., etc.) being knitted together during the course of everyday interactions - nothing surprising or abnormal there. Another part of me wants to do something, to mobilize, organize and get to work quilting a social fabric that doesn't justify unprovoked armed invasion, the stealing of other people's resources, and the slaughter of other human beings - soldiers and civilians - with vapid lies and shallow platitudes that make the seemingly impossible, given the facts (facts? truth? weren't those important once...), but always quite possible within the realm of ideology and fantasy, leap between quotidian social pleasures - the simple, human things we love and that give us joy, like Zydeco dancing - and the necessity of global domination and empire. And part of me just wants to run away and hide...and to pretend that all of this is not really happening, not in my life, not in the places that I love and to people that I care about...