Bankruptcy

Social Mood, Movies and Politics

By J. Michael McBride

As has been previously stated, much of what I read (e.g., Elliot Wave Theory) holds that social mood drives the financial markets and also, perhaps less directly, large governmental actions, like wars. War fever, for example, tends to rise when markets bottom, so that is something to watch for (fervent nationalism in combination with a testosterone fueled feeling of “we need to kick some …” in order to make ourselves feel better). Here is an interesting op-ed article discussing the summer mega hit Batman movie. This article is found in the New York Times from a few days ago.

“The Joker’s paradox, of course, is the same as that of 9/11 and its long aftermath: audacious transgression ought to call out of us an equal and adamant passion for love of truth and freedom, yet the fear he inspires instead drives us deep into passivity and silence.

If, like me, you’d hoped, distantly, vaguely, probably idiotically, that the 2008 presidential contest might be a referendum on truths documented since the previous presidential election, guess again. That our Iraqi invasion was founded on opportunistic lies, that it was hungered for by its planners in advance of the enabling excuse of 9/11, is a well-delineated blot on American history. But for those of us interested in a conversation about accountability it was always declared to be too soon — we remained unsure of the evidence, or too traumatized to risk fraying the national morale — until the moment when it was abruptly too late, when it became old news.

Yet I suspect it is still the news. While both candidates run on the premise that Washington Is Broken, I’m disinclined to disagree, only to add: our good faith with ourselves is broken, too, a cost of silencing or at best mumbling the most crucial truths. Among these, pre-eminently, is the fact that torture evaporates our every rational claim to justice, and will likely be the signature national crime of our generation — a matter in which we are, by the very definition of democracy, complicit. (Perhaps some unconsciously hope that electing a man who was himself tortured will provide moral cover, just as Batman’s losing his parents to violent crime forever renews his revenger’s passport.)”

Here is a link to this opinion piece by Jonathan Lethem:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21lethem.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1222185185-ssif0uvQvHJzNRNj1DcEog

Michael

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).