Concerning Character and Archetypal Behavior Patterns (Part 2)

3. On Censorship and Artists:
The greatest artists, those whose work may be regarded sublimely, develop their art from internal passion developed by life experiences and influences. Suffering often plays a large, if not exclusive role. Their art proves interesting and inspires, because these artists left behind a piece of their personalities. Lesser creators are artisans and craftsmen, whose technical abilities may even be superior--yet something is still lacking in comparison. Craft work is functional and should not be disparaged. Skill may abound, and should be respected. However, it rarely leads to the sublime. The raw can be very powerful. The evoked emotions may be the prime element, and therefore undefinable. A scream moves through more than mere noise. Great shocks generally occur but once. Their repetition reduces their impact to a lowest common denominator status, and eventually rendered affectively meaningless. A boundary envelope may only be pushed outward once. All too often bubbles becomes filled by imitators with no new vision. The next challengers will often be repressed by the incapable, and therefore effectively censored. Unity is the bad part of the artistic community. Mediocrity flourishes. Their decadence dulls. Their leisure class pretensions produces nothing but pampered idleness. (What else can be expected from veal?) People who know nothing, speak nothing, and certainly think nothing are the worthless product of their environment. Only idiots would try to vindicate their useless lives with concepts like innate worth. Usually through drug overdoses or other amusing antics, their all-too-rare premature deaths are funny. Unfortunately, most so-called artists are too gutless to kill themselves before middle age sets in a comfortable suburban existence. In their semi-isolation, these so-called artists vote, attend PTA meetings and bore their middle class friends with their mediocre product. These lumps will fade by their own complacency. The so-called artist cannot even produce interesting propaganda. Their mean, embraced by this generation at the behest of self-righteous, post-granola, lame professorial edicts, is a politically-correct program failure. These kind often possess some very dull inner angst which causes them to flagellate themselves and their class. They actually like losing, thus vindicating their liberal value system. Inbreeding always ends in a successive generational sterility. Inertia is exhausted. By holding back any onward rush, this sort preserve the status quo. Discouraging the new, their behavior may be considered to produce a kind of censorship. Hence, business always finds a stable pool of applicants for the advertising industry. We get hip, which has not been for 40 years. We are shown cool by conformity. Their formal training is geared for this direction, and prepares them for their formal submissive role. Using a tool does not mean being one, or finding which tool to be. The choice can be made not to be innate, nor be inane. Skill is not necessarily art, and art is not necessarily skill. Talent is irrespective. Institutions and hard working idleness do not produce creativity. Dollars and decadence are more profitable than the truly creative. Mindless expression is easy. The idiot intellectual and so-called artist will sometimes curiously merge. Where did such walking rubbish get the idea that painting or playing music conferred any right to spew? By believing their own innate worth, this implies that any thought is as good as any other. Therefore, care is not taken nor heeded, and their babble drowns out everything. The internet will only make this situation worse. The coinage is completely devalued: problem solved. The mass media will also contribute by espousing a popular culture which will eat itself. Poetry is a bad example. Luckily, this joke will someday be completely spent by exhaustion, and the annoyance will end. Spoiled children could do no more. These sniveling dullards will put anyone with a brain to sleep. Where else would one see work shirts worn by people who do not work? These trendy lumps see themselves as wolf among sheep, but are no more than grass. However, somebody does buy this crap. Market forces have co-opted all media, which nullifies opposition expressed by these means. Large corporations have sanctioned rebellion, thus gaining sustenance like a large sucking tick and rendering the remains criminal. Money can buy anything, including perception. Who could take an irate millionaire seriously? The real opposition is swamped by noise and lights. Association is a powerful tool utilized for maximum advantage for maintaining the mean. The steady stream washes everything down the drain. Suppression is now gentler (a euphemism for castration), but probably no more kinder. Real trouble will not be caused by previous methods. The FBI does not need bother kicking down doors nor even wiretapping opposition, because all play roles demanded by efficiency, if only through providing a safety valve for internal pressure relief. The issues are irrelevant. Witness the energy wasted on either side of such issues like abortion. The so-called mediocre artist will not lead, nor support anything but the entertainment and advertising industries. This kind is best ignored.

4. The Modern American Idiot Archetype:
This archetype may be considered more general than the preceding examples. Culturally white, the Modern American Idiot is found everywhere, being not exclusive to the United States. Via complete integration with the subject personality, this archetype has swallowed the spooned mainstream completely. The Modern American Idiot believes himself streetwise and hip, but also paradoxically terribly afraid of crime. He assumes a world-weary pose, subconsciously projected from his overworked life, while actually never having done anything except toil. A medieval peasant worked less, but the Modern American Idiot believes themselves to be free. The distorted, vicarious and even completely fictional converges to form opinions and even self-image based within socially acceptable limits. Moreover, the Modern American Idiot will deny with his last breath having been externally influenced, thus preserving the myth of freedom. The Modern American Idiot just happens to think along party lines, and may be lead by the nose easier than cattle. No prods are even required, because these herd animals are motivated entirely by the virtue of their own freewill. Note the behavior manifest in traffic flow patterns. The automobile culture is a decadent creation of an anti-natural herd instinct manifestation.
Unfortunately, this archetype does not always benefit by its majority. The subject may be insecure, bordering on the paranoid or suicidal. The personality is based entirely upon cognitive failures regarding the all-defining environment. Standards are seen as absolutes. Of course, concerned parties inevitably manipulate such erroneous tendencies for maximum advantage. Criminals lurk on every corner, thus passively discouraging the subject stepping out of line. Interested parties may encourage the voter to accept political impotence in favor of increasing reliance on technique-driven approaches. The motivation are profit and stability, which are considered virtuous. The Modern American Idiot lacks substance and embraces the shallow. A certain cowardice instinct exists in this supplied verbal world. Passivity produces unity far more efficiently than organized religion. Corruption is more easily stomped out. Fears are whipped onward then subdued. Passive agitation rarely boils over. The exceptions are opportunities to be exploited to the hilt. Unless system shattering, rioting serves the power structure far more than the participants. Solid opinions regarding law and order will form from media exposure, which inevitably focuses on the sensational or violent. Blatant propaganda campaigns are unnecessary. Pretext offered by current events are all that is needed. Modern techniques need not resort to clumsy and inefficient extremes. The Modern American Idiot enables the surest approach by being specifically targeted and groomed for maximum effect. Well fueled, the machine just trudges onward. Corporate news outlets speak in the dialect of the Modern American Idiot. Even exceptional coverage will be dulled by editorial demands for reaching the largest audience. Options are buried under a massive onslaught, but still afforded their rights, thus maintaining the myth of freedom. Alternative media, less beneficial to the official power structure, are denied access. True investigative journalism is stunted. The roots may lie in the Vietnam War. Once reporters were allowed into war zones, despite spin, conflict was brought home in something less than a total positive light. Now, live satellite coverage could prove disastrous where Americans blown to bits on live national television. The edit would be impossible to influence. Security considerations are the only justification required to prevent appositional investigation. A backlash could occur (see below). For the Modern American Idiot, promotion is prime.
Although others might exceed this archetype in stupidity, none can compete with the abject mediocrity which defines its existence. Their transitional nature does not allow them to focus abstractly upon issues, integrate with concrete realities, nor allow any abilities for reflective contemplation to develop. Work and paying the bills consume all attention outside subject personal life. Relationships are tailored to fit preconceived social roles. Many marriages fail due to boredom. The jaded squander energy through excessive drama. Perhaps, the stabilizing effect is itself in an unstable equilibrium...
The Modern American Idiot prizes conformity. The Modern American Idiot waves flags in unison to the drumbeat, but only the loudest will suffice. The background is fine. Only the moment matters. Any load may be borne, provided the duration is short. Old weights are long forgotten. At least, like any good peasant, this lower order of rank knows its place and steps out of the way.