Sole of America
Look who's talking about race . . .
Framing the last decade in a pop culture landscape allows us to gain some interesting and novel perspectives by which we can ground ourselves in a never-ending always-swirling cycle of conceivably cataclysmic confrontations.
Putting politics downstream from pop culture explains a few things. Let’s use two specific examples from our Gen-X collective to shine some insight on this. The Lone Ranger and the WWE provide all the answers we need. We just gotta look.
My superhero was a cowboy and the greatest cowboy of all time: The Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger TV series ran 1949-1957, but was actually created in 1933 for radio. Airing over 1300 radio broadcasts and with 221 TV episodes in the can, it became an iconic American touchstone.
It ran in syndication on KTLA in the 70s and 80s, and my Saturday mornings were spent glued to the TV. If you’re in LA, Lone Ranger Rock is a local landmark in Chatsworth. The episode The Letter Bride is a study in racial harmony, airing in 1956 no less. Hearing the blatant racism echoes today, and is forever repulsive.
A Chinese laundryman who is a friend of the Ranger's, is expecting his bride from China who is arriving. But she's taken by some men in masks. Later the Ranger and Tonto arrive and learn that she was abducted by bigots who wants their friend to leave town. So they set a trap for them so they can find out who they are and hopefully where they are holding her.
The dialogue is so prescient and captivating, knowing the year it was written, especially in the context of criticisms of Native American treatment on the show. But if one notices, in almost every episode, Tonto is reading, planning, or executing - in all cases, Tonto is exercising autonomy as an equal in the relationship.
The Lone Ranger was explicitly anti-racist in the midst of an overtly racist system and society. Their friendship modeled aspirational behavior, which is so American. Clayton Moore demanded and was granted license to express his egalitarian viewpoint, and it hit a nerve. The creed that came with that title is as timely today as ever, perhaps even more.
The Lone Ranger As generally depicted, the Lone Ranger conducts himself by a strict Moral Code based on that put in place by Striker at the inception of the character. It read: I believe that to have a friend, a man must be one. That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world. That God put the firewood there but that every man must gather and light it himself. In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for what is right. That a man should make the most of what equipment he has. That 'this government, of the people, by the people and for the people' shall live always. That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number. That sooner or later... somewhere...somehow... we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken. That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever. In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.
It started as a consolidation of small independent wrestling terfs, then upwardly fractured fortunately into familial in-fighting worthy of its own story arc, and eventually became WWE. It’s now a bloated Elvis-like parody of what the pioneers created. Andre the Giant, Gorilla Monsoon, Iron Sheik, and Sgt. Slaughter are more than just stars in the constellation; they built it.
But the biggest, baddest ever is still The Hulkster. Still a phenom. Always a phenom. His story arc is beyond WWE; it’s literally the story arc of an American. Rise from nothing, stand on top of the world, lose it all. And then, when all hope is gone, a redemptive rebound beyond all belief. It’s my story. It’s me. It’s us.
And it’s still relevant on the scene. Pop Culture considered Trump a total Baby-Face, (see clip above before clipped out) but even way back then, he identified a lurking enemy
Trump made his first appearance on 60 Minutes in 1985. He complained to Mike Wallace about the press: “I believe they make me out to be something more sinister than I really am.”
I found that quote in an Atlantic piece from 2016, right before he became The Bad Orange. He has not changed his attitude, it’s quite remarkable to have such a consistent public history. But the cultural currents changed. The mental-dams of pop culture diverted the stream. Half the population went downstream. The Other Half got left behind. Again.
Just like WWE, and somehow giving voice to the left-behind Americans, The Billionaire Trump developed a good storyline. One with lots of back-plots. He wrote his own script. The media was always the villian. He was always the hero.
When Donald Trump Became a Celebrity
In the 1980s, the real-estate developer stepped out onto the national stage—and in interviews with the press, showed a different side of his personality.
In 1988, Trump attended the Republican National Convention as a guest of Vice President George H.W. Bush, whom he supported in that year’s presidential contest. While there, the businessman sat down with Larry King for a CNN interview.
“Are you a Bush Republican?” King asked.
“No,” Trump answered. “The people that I do best with drive the taxis. You know, wealthy people don’t like me because I’m competing with them all the time. And I like to win. I go down the streets of New York and the people that really like me are the workers.”
If you look at anyone as famous now as they were four-plus decades ago, a rarity in and of itself, one can count the costume changes. Not here. Same hair. Same suit. Same neckwear. No dogs. No babies. No shit. He’s tyson in a tie. Still Forever.
America is always punching up, over our weight. We declared independence with a rag-tag guerilla militia. We conquered a foreboding frontier on foot mapless. We overcame fratricide in a great spasm of hate and bound our wounds by freeing slaves. We landed on the moon. We cured Covid. We’re still pretty awesome.
But we also punched down a lot too - we said all men were created equal as we beat the black humans we owned. We double-crossed Native Americans at every turn. We subjugated women into de facto non-existence outside the home. We leave veterans and women and children homeless on the streets. We still suck at much.
But here’s the thing - most of us are trying to do the right thing. We live our lives, enjoy our blessings and forgive our trespasses, and raise our kids to be better and have better. It’s just day-to-day life, one foot in front of the other. And we end up on the other side. We’re okay with all that if we’re not lied to about our lives.
But here comes the hate. I was watching the NAJB interview and yup, it exploded. Trump has a particularly good habit of stepping on his dick. It’s predictable as fuck, and he finds new and inventive ways in almost every interview. Baked in.
I love NBC News - they went there. Oh, they said Donald Trump + penis. He’s dead now. Think about the headline and notice the date. It’s now 2024. Arc.
The commonality is the kernel of truth embedded somewhere within his digressive dissertations. I’m not sure he knows intellectually as much as intuitively. It’s obvious from his syntax that he is familiar and comfortable speaking to workers - taxi drivers back in the day, waitresses today. (He talks about his dick. So do most guys. Sorry chicks.) (Hopefully, not to waitresses - learned experience).
I hear it when he speaks, having grown up speaking working-class American myself. Chattering heads are still chin-scratching about the Trump Voter. It’s so clear, it’s like the Polar Express. The chin-scratchers can’t hear the bell. In the resulting despair of missing out, they mock and ridicule that what they cannot understand.
To that point, and to my surprise, The NY Times posted a truthful headline. I know it’s the truth because that trend describes my children and about 12% of Americans. That’s 42 million mixed-race Americans. And Trump, while dick-stepping, revealed a truth. And we should talk about it. Oh wait, I did.
This was the first post I wrote for the original iteration of CSW - Red Neck, White Skin, Blue Collar. Pretty strong title, but it served it’s purpose. And then retired. But the solid point remains, that race has less than zero genetic relevance to any logical decision making today. It’s time to deconstruct race and elevate purpose to its place. Meritocracy is the American Way. It is the key to success.
Here’s another story about racism and white people. Now a revelation - just like most groups, The Whites aren’t a monolithic thought-herd! Whaaat? I know, right? There are actually a multitude of thought and experience. Just breathe.
We even talk shit about each other - like calling our poor cousins the white trash of the family (proud white trash!). We even call each other out about some shit we don’t like. Like racism. Yeah, read about righteous white people here. I know, not all the same. Who knew?
So where does this bring us? To solutions. For me, my Substack is a solution. I have a racial perspective unlike anyone else. So do you. It is time to reject racial classification as determinative of any human attribute of importance. Period.
Not for admissions or fraternities, or judgeships or vice-presidencies, or voting groups. Not for food, music, art, craft, or history. Not for nothing. When politicians and pundits shame voters by invoking race ramifications for certain opinions, it’s beyond repair. Seriously? What the fuck? Can I think on my own?
This whole weird thing is not perplexing at all. It’s a sign of complete detachment from reality. The line of attack is devoid of any semblance of sense. Any sense, common sense, bad sense, sense of foreboding. After everything - Hitler for God’s sake!
I write about this too - this impulse to yell at each other. But an argument actually has rules of engagement. But sadly, those too, are remnants of imperialism. Where will our stand-off end? The siege of logical thought multiplies daily. It builds upon fallacy and hypocrisy to support it walls of deceit. It’s connonade of invective splatters perfect patterns of partisan patious. And solves nothing.
Now, he’s weird. And by extension, so are all of his voters. What haven’t those voters been? Deplorables, cultists, handmaidens, white supremacists, domestic terrorists, nazis - my brain is freezing attempting to index the insults.
Ask yourself this: have you ever heard Trump talk about the people who vote? Have you ever heard him criticize any voter? He doesn’t. That’s meaningful.
For anyone. He loves his supporters. And he loves everyone not supporting him. He doesn’t castigate them, or insult them, or denigrate them. He invites them. He persuades them. He charms them.
Maybe, just maybe, we’re so jaded, we can’t be charmed again. Or we refuse to be. I’m hard to be charmed. It feels like a sucker. I want to be charmed and not feel like a sucker. I believe millions of people feel the same way. That explains a lot.
Here is a solution. Talk about race. In six words. This is such a great idea. What’s yours? I just signed up. So should you. I’d love to know your six in my comments.
I never even thought about race.
I love you people. You make great things happen. You find new ways to solve old problems. You think hard about soft things. You take soft ideas and make hard actions out of them. You look inside to reflect a better outside. We love you for that. Let’s never let up.
Ric
Two kinds of music - Country and Western!