Sunday, July 23, 2017

The past is an outfit that doesn't fit us anymore

I know a lot of Bernie Sanders followers are going to execrate me for this post and and I might be on the wrong side of a lot of right people the I admire, but Bernie and to some extent Hillary, were like a Jodorowski movie or supporting Lula and the Brazilian Labor party in 2017.  They are our grandparents or our aging parents that tell us their stories of their youth, their recounted past that time had smoothed the rough edges and it is now exciting the kids to give it a try.

In a sense, they highjacked the thirsty for change of the younger generation, piggybacked on the new crowd technology, reviving their bruised ego to give it another chance in history.

I decided to support Hillary, because at least having a woman in the white house would be a big change. Instead, the electoral college decided to go for another big change and elect a shrewd crook with dishonesty and authoritarian rule unheard of in our history.

It's a mistake to think that the revolutionary work done by Hillary, Bernie and their generation has a lot in common with Occupy Wall street. Failing to recognize the differences is what defeated the progressive view they wanted to win.

The same way in Brazil, the country definitely owns a lot to the relentless work done by Lula and the Labor party, but their past shouldn't forgive the criminal acts that were performed with their knowledge, or participation, or connivence. Because if this is fair, then it is also fair to forgive the trespasses of the Cardosos, the Neves, the Temers, etc. They were all affected and fought one way or another during the military dictatorship. They all did good things for the country and later on, when drowning on the inebriation of the power, got corrupted. Forgive them and give them another chance is not the solution.

I know it seems that now the world is beyond a rational solution, but guess what, the same organ the we use for reasoning is the one responsible for our feelings and until we not only recognize feelings as part of our reasoning but we learn how to acknowledge and use them as such, we will be stuck in this collective cognitive dissonance.

To the Jodorowski fans out there, I'm among them. I supported his work in crowdfunding platforms, I treasure my Jodorowski dollars and my movie posters. I smile with warm feelings watching his movies, but it is not for their innovative aesthetics, but for the nostalgia of the time in my teenager years when this type of aesthetics was cutting edge, never seen before. I enjoy seeing the hidden unintended meanings I can get by admiring how his son engages with him, participating on his work. How sweet and ludic their relationship seems to be on the screen. He aged much better than Woody Allen, for sure. But today's indie movie scene has a lot better and more enticing story telling that appeal to the younger generations. His movies look like the old pair of jeans that I found in the attic that still fit, but look undeniably old. They might fit on me, but I am the one that don't fit in them anymore.










No comments: