There is change afoot. America is has been struggling to find an identity outside of its fascination for consumption and the historical legacy of slavery, racism, and its attachment to Manifest Destiny for at least the last forty years. Rebranding the U.S seems to be the foremost theme in our political landscape, but I think it goes far deeper than simply an image change that most Americans are seeking.
So my indictment of the last post of the very American New Age movement might be a bit hasty and one dimensional. A more thoughtful analysis sees the emergence and evolution of this movement since the sixties as an engine for an uniquely American spiritual understanding and alternative to traditional hierarchical "religious" approaches, and one possible opportunity to subvert the ongoing commodification of everything and everyone . So, I can live with the faulty reasoning, the half baked ideas, the wildly imaginative storytelling; loving some of the characters within this microcosm of the world with this understanding.
The only thing that still irks me is when capitalistic tendencies infect this sometimes naive possibility to hope (much like they have the populist, environmental, and social movements), and what follows is denial and ugly rationalization around its effect from its most charismatic leaders.
Yes, that pains me.
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