The People's Cube - Political Satire

I recently tried to imagine how everybody's lives could be much more enjoyable if it weren't poisoned by the never-ending leftist propaganda.

How many more people would be just going about their lives, trying to perfect themselves, achieve something, and feel grateful for the prosperity and the convenience of living in an advanced Western society - instead of experiencing the guilt, the anxiety, the hatred of capitalism, and the phantom pains of oppression. There's plenty of important things we could be focused on instead of trying to resolve made-up societal problems and fight non-existent injustices.

Why is Don Quixote a hero? Because he felt bad about the advancing bourgeois materialism and chose to live in a fantasy world of a whitewashed feudal chivalry? Because he chased a woman who (quite correctly) thought he was nuts? Because he fought windmills, destroying property of some hard-working miller, since it made him feel good to imagine he was fighting dragons?

In that sense, Don Quixote is an ultimate delusional leftie. Take an average delusional moonbat (Alva, the Mime, etc.). He/she/it hates capitalism, feels nostalgic about a system where a benevolent overlord bestows goods and services on the unwashed masses equally and generously. He/she/it treats humans as objects of his emotions as opposed their true nature. He/she/it is fighting the US Constitution, destroying property and sabotaging business operations because it feels good to imagine he is fighting powerful corporate fascists and Bushitler.

Compare a leftie to Don Quixote and he will be flattered by that. ACLU, PETA, Greenpeace, UPJ, ANSWER... They are proud to be fighting windmills. In today's world Don Quixote would be a barking moonbat.

It is expected of people who despise reason and objective reality, to misunderstand history of thought, art, and societies.

Quite ironically, the lefties have misconstrued the original idea of Miguel Cervantes who had named his hero after horse's ass using a Catalán slang term for it. Cervantes had left us with a farcical description of an ultimate loser and would probably be surprised to learn that 400 years later, a whole movement of nutjobs would arise, choosing his mentally challenged character as their symbol.

In a similar fashion, the left has misconstrued the essence and the concept of another seminal book - Orwell's 1984. They turned it into a propaganda tool against capitalism - despite the fact that the book and the characters had been modeled on the Stalinist USSR - a country ruled by an army of raging Don Quixotes who had sent their Panzas to the gulag.

Although we may pity the original Don Quixote, we would've never voted him into Congress or given him any power over our lives. Unfortunately, the quixotic leftists today can be found on all levels of the US government. They have monopolized education, news media, and entertainment. They are sitting in congress and even running for president. They are aggressively trying to get into a position where they can control our lives, styling themselves after romantic feudal knights dispensing favors on their loyal subjects.

Pity and compassion towards these people, therefore, should be the last on the list of our emotions. Explaining how delusional they are would be a wasted effort. Allowing them to destroy the country and us living in it would be madness. Perhaps we should find out more about how psychiatrists recommend to treat mental patients?

Geez... I feel so mentally lazy, comparatively speaking... I just usually sit around wondering why everyone thinks they're entitled to everything from respect to a free lunch to having the nanny state raise their kids for them to thinking it's okay to sue all and sundry for their own inability to wipe their own ass... and occasionally I get so far as to muse that if they put half as much energy and creativity into self-sufficiency and self-improvement, they would have managed to do all that stuff themselves in the first place...

... you, on the other hand, actually find literary metaphors for these questions and expand on them...

It must be somebody's fault that I'm so lacking in imagination... I need to sue someone...

I was reading about the transition from feudalism to capitalism in O'Rourke's interpretation of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" - and it occurred to me that Don Quixote is just the character that epitomizes such a transition. I'm pretty sure that it's what Cervantes had in the back of his mind - in different terms, of course, as he could not know of the industrial revolution, the future of capitalism and its enemies who have always been quixotic in their beliefs.

Any quixotic (idealistic) revolution is then quickly taken over by cynics and plutocrats of the worst type (for more info on this contact Chairman M.S. Punchenko who can't wait for progress and social justice finally to prevail in Amerikkka). Don Quixotes are always the useful idealistic idiots who do the dirty work (helped by good-natured but dimwitted Sancho Panzas). The both types are usually disposed of at a later stage, especially the idealists.

NEW IDEA... NEW IDEA... NEW IDEA...

Speaking of Don Quixote as the epitome of the utopian longing for the idealistic world order, it occurred to me that a parody book could be written about a 21st century Don Quixote. THe setting could be in today's Russia, where Daniil Kihotov, a wealthy son of a former Communist Politburo member, hates the current advance of capitalism and "materialist culture," and feels nostalgic for the good old times of proletarian dictatorship, collective farms, and state-run industries. He is desperately in love with the beautiful wife of Khodorkovsky the Oligarch, he imagines her a suffering victim of the dark forces that had enslaved her and she must be liberated for her own good which she doesn't yet realize. So he embarks on a journey around the country, getting himself in trouble at every step, just like his 1605 prototype.

Or he could be living in North Virginia, in his parents' basement, in a rich suburban area (Mulva). He embarks on a journey across America on a patchouli oil-powered hybrid with a homeless bum whom he picks up at the mall. His goal is to...

Well, the possibilities are limitless - and his could become a plot for a hillarious "on the road" comedy better than Borat... Only Hollywood will never accept it, so there's no point wasting time developing the plot. We can do it as a game, though, for our own enjoyment.

Not sure why, but you just reminded me of a blurb I read in the newspaper the other day about Kim Jong Il's oldest son living in Macau in a ritzy hotel and spending his time gambling... apparently, he's out of favour and his 23 year old brother is being groomed for the Dear Leader's Golden Yak Milking Stool or whatever rolls as a throne in North Korea these days...

Oh.. and my Mom just called me in hysterial laughter... apparently she bought a bag of pecans at Costco the other day and just went to open them, when she noticed an allergy warning on the back of the bag that read, "Allergy Warning: May contain pecans... "... The Nanny State takes one more step toward total diaper domination...

...and I have a sudden urge to attack a windmill... oh... just got this picture in my head of a wind farm... you know... like for alternative electricity generation... the kind that they are now finding are responsible for decimating certain native bat populations... Mulva... tilting at wind turbines...



...the question then is, what would stand in for Hidalgo... maybe one of those experimental bikes...



...he could ride at it and then just toppled over sideways... it'd be funny, cause you can't start moving in those things without people helping you... the ultimate socialist bicycle...

Gaah! I hate it when you do this to me... now I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about this... at least Laika wasn't broadcasting 80's songs this past Friday or I'd be in big trouble...

Do they even need to worry about air resistance at the speeds they are going?

Do they even need to worry about air resistance at the speeds they are going?

No... which also struck me as funny... cause one of three things would happen... he'd slam into the wind turbine so hard he'd die, the shell would crack open and Road Runner would zoom up and beep at him and then take off...



...or he'd aim wrong and career by the turbine and go off a cliff and into a cactus, whereupon Road Runner would zoom up and beep at him and then take off...



...or most likely, he wouldn't be in good enough shape to keep peddling and he'd slowly slowly come to a stop and tip over, and Road Runner would zoom up and beep at him and then take off...



... I know I'm diverging from the central theme of the story...



...but it's Mulva... and his Acme Wind-Turbine Killing Bike...

I love those cartoons....

Everybody likes Don Quixote as an archetypal idealist who selflessly strives to bring justice to this world. But imagine Don Quixote elected to be a ruler of the country: what a disaster it would wreak on its citizens - or on the entire world if he becomes the leader of a superpower. It would be worthy to write such a sequel to the classic novel. Of course, the noble idealist by definition would be allergic to power games, political intrigues, and coercion - an integral part of the necessary evil which is the government. This would appear too low for someone whose head is permanently above the clouds. No, the real power will be in the hands of Quixote's handlers who will not be as idealistic as he is. Such sequel is being written by history right now, and the country where it is happening is the United States.

Don Quixote is the ultimate anti-cynic - something Obama liked to present himself to the public, speaking out against the cynicism that according to Obama seems to be at the root of all evil. What millions of American voters elected as their president was this archetypal image of a selfless idealist, hoping that Obama would somehow live up to that image. What very few of them realized was that the original portrayal of Don Quixote was meant to be ironic and the righteous hidalgo in Servantes' novel was, in fact, a mentally disturbed individual whose fight was against the human nature itself.

Whether Obama really is the reckless idealist presented by his own marketing experts - or a brilliant manipulative politician preying on public frustrations and fears - is a riddle to be solved by history. But whatever the case, the Obama's electoral victory marks the beginning of a new age in the American and the world's history. Some may call it the belated dawning of the Age of Aquarius but I'd rather call it the Age of Don Quixote.

I'm reposting something I just wrote on another threadthat is relevant here.

The Skinnee Jay wrote:"Nostalic Progressive"? Wait, does it mean The Past is Progress? I'm confused. Must be Bush's fault.

Wasn't the entire progressive movement, historically speaking, a nostalgic reaction to industrialization and capitalism? Behind the progressive idea of a powerful benevolent state taking care of the little people is the old myth of a benevolent overlord caring for his subjects without such silly distractions like the individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

What motivated and united the spiritually-minded progressives was their confused, irrational revulsion of the perceived materialism of the markets, which they attacked much like Don Quixote attacked the windmills thinking they were the dragons. The elitist progressives resented the markets, competition, and growing productivity of labor that took the power away from the deserving aristocratic elites and gave it to the undeserving lowly business people - only because they produced our food, clothes, houses, tools, medicine, increased life expectancy, reduced the share of stupefying hard manual labor through innovation, and increased the share of clean, professional, high-paying jobs, which even further reduced the dependency of the individual commoner on the caring elites. The ingrates! That led to the rise of Don Quixote - the archetypal early progressive fighter against the materialistic bourgeoisie.

Any progressive would be proud of a comparison with the idealistic Don Quixote. But it's not the idealism that makes it wrong - it's the direction in which this idealism is going.

The road to renewed spirituality and communal living is clear: punish the achievers, tax the productive, expropriate the capitalist property, reduce labor productivity, shorten life expectancy lest the Social Security program bankrupts the nation, decrease the share of clean, professional, high-paying jobs, and increase the share of stupefying hard manual labor - which is what Obama's shovel-ready infrastructure projects are about. Give up your computer and grab a shovel - the future looks bright!

Only a thoroughly delusional moonbat or a crooked demagogue would call such regress a "progress." But that's what this absurdity is called - "progress." Obama talks about taking the country to the 21st century. That is an insult to everyone who worked hard to take it there. Where Obama is objectively taking the country, though, is back to the beginning of the 20th century at best. It might as well be 1605 when Don Quixote was written.

Speaking of Progressives, when I take my rightful place I know I'll have to work twice as hard as other rulers. So, my dear subjects, you can rest easy knowing that I'll be working hard thinking up new laws and new ways to raise your taxes.

Thank me for your time.

And please, when you depart our presence you are to back away while bowing.

I love you all, you sweet pathetic little people.

Well said, well said.

I have some more thoughts on this matter, but they will have to wait until the beer clears my system!

I've developed some of these old ideas further and included them into my book, Hotel USSR, with this illustration I made as a teenager.



An eerie specter of Don Quixote, the fossilized remnant of the feudal era, haunting the Western world. He lurks outside its cities and waits for an opportune moment to strike at its industries that, as far as he is concerned, are reincarnated windmills.

To the communist Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, Don Quixote may have been a heroic, if somewhat comical social justice warrior. But to the Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes, who had created this character four hundred years ago, Don Quixote was an archetypal delirious fruitcake who wanted to change the world by turning the clock back to the idealized Utopian times that had never existed. Cervantes used a Catalán slang word to name Don Quixote after the horse's ass. He added “mancha” to his full name, which also meant “stain.” The horse's name, Rocinante, meant a “reversal.” The entire novel was a satirical farce about a mentally disturbed retrograde, whose fight was against societal progress and human nature itself. A significant part of the novel details Don Quixote's delusions.

In a tragicomical twist, delusional humanity reversed the author's intention, making his loony character into a hero. I can't imagine what Cervantes would have written today about the epic futility of his satire.

* * *

Speaking of reversals, see this page with more visual reversals of Picasso.

All this talk of idiots and windmills of justice are tiltin' in the mythical mind of this horned rodent. And like Sister Massively Opiated would say since she's here with us, comrades, 'Did you know those Wind Wind Mills actually k.i.l.l. (((birdbrains just smacked up the side of the head like Pinkie's shovel.)))!"

Red Square, what a teenager!

'pelipsky don't know what Cervantes would be saying, but that's because 'pelipsky don't understand Spanish.

But 'pelipsky does understand idiots out there thinking about some kind of justice windmill just rotating away with blades capable of smacking some bird brains as they continuously turn to produce energy capable of powering one electric shopping cart down at the WalMart.

And...may 'pelipsky point out the this story ain't RUSSIAN.

Why, this story is just old time'y!

and 'pelipsky has heard that some of these feller's need to be rounded up and remanded to The Authority!™

forelock tugging before your eminent front,
Jackalopelipsky
Russian Asset
#BR 549
with love, xxx