The Rise of the Anti Hero and the Triumph of Solipsim in a Godless World

This beyond dark imagery is becoming more and more prevalent. Just the imagery associated with some of the movies and television shows--for example, the imagery from American Horror Story--today repulses me. However, the imagery isn't always so repugnant.  From Dexter to Walter White to Tony Soprano to Frank Underwood to Jack Bauer the world is awash in antiheroes who sell sex, death, destruction and moral corruption as easily as...well, as easily as the devil sold the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The antihero rapes, tortures, kills, corrupts, etc. in service of his or her sense of what constitutes “the greater good.,” and not only do we root for them, we love them--some, of course, more than others. With the exception of Dexter because I can't stomach the idea of a "heroic" torturous serial killer-- I've watched them all and as much as I hate to admit it, to this day, I miss Tony Soprano and Walter White.  What that says about me speaks volumes. So I'm preaching to myself (and hopefully to my children if they ever read my blog...I'm certainly not holding my breath) because I'm as easily seduced, if not more so, by  the anti-hero.  As the saying goes: People teach what they need to learn.

In order to define antihero, you must first define hero because anti simply means “against,” or “opposite of.” So, what is a hero? He or she is one whose virtues and good works greatly outdistance those of ordinary good people. To take it a step further, heroes are "souls already purified from all attachment to things worldly, and solidly anchored in the love of God."  To put it very simply, an antihero is a central character or protagonist in a novel, play, movie, TV show, video game, etc, who lacks heroic virtues: temperance, fortitude, prudence, and whose virtues and good works greatly outdistance those of ordinary good people.

“Virtue consists in the following, or imitation, of God [Jesus Christ]. Every virtue, like every other thing, has its type [exemplar] in God. Thus the Divine mind itself is the type of prudence; God using all things to minister to His glory is the type of temperance, by which man subjects his lower appetites to reason; justice is typified by God's application of the eternal law to all His works; Divine immutability is the type of fortitude. And, since it is man's nature to live in society, the four cardinal virtues are social [politicae] virtues, inasmuch as by them man rightly ordains his conduct in daily life. Man, however, must raise himself beyond his natural life unto a life Divine: 'Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matthew 5:48). It is, therefore, necessary to posit certain virtues midway between the social virtues, which are human, and the exemplary virtues, which are Divine. These intermediate virtues are of two degrees of perfection: the lesser in the soul still struggling upwards from a life of sin to a likeness with God — these are called purifying virtues [virtutes purgatoriae]; the greater in the souls which have already attained to the Divine likeness — these are called virtues of the purified soul [virtutes jam purgati animi]. In the lesser degree, prudence, moved by the contemplation of things Divine, despises all things earthly and directs all the soul's thought unto God alone; temperance relinquishes, as far as nature allows, the things required for bodily wants; fortitude removes the fear of departing this life and facing the life beyond; justice approves of the aforesaid dispositions. In the higher perfection of souls already purified and firmly united with God, prudence knows nothing but what it beholds in God; temperance ignores earthly desires; fortitude knows nothing of passions; justice is bound to the Divine mind by a perpetual compact to do as it does. This degree of perfection belongs to the blessed in heaven or to a few of the most perfect in this life. -- St. Thomas (I-II:61:4)

The rise of the antihero is establishing a new social order completely independent of nature and totally at the service of human will.  Whereas, literary heroes used to be good people who did good things for good reasons, in contemporary literature, antiheroes have begun to outnumber heroes.  However, the anti-hero is getting harder and harder to discern as all moral boundaries are consistently and seductively blurred.  In other words, anti-heroism is a response to modern man's uncertainties about moral code and value judgements as modern anti-heroism captures the sensibility associated with modernism. The reader, spectator empathizes with characters who are immoral.

“The moral inversion of suspense is when the spectator empathizes with characters who are immoral, who are not necessarily presented as morally preferable in the narrative and may thus otherwise have been perceived as unsympathetic, and feels suspense in relation to a situation where it seems unlikely that this character will succeed. Empathizing with the character makes the spectator root for this character wanting him or her to succeed--more traditionally seen -- (The Antihero in American Television by Margrethe Bruun Vaage)

The devil, it turns out, with his disarming mix of charm and wit on the one hand and darkness and terror on the other, rules the day ...All you want to do is join the party, be his friend, sit next to him, make him smile. 

“Through Wisdom is a house built; and by Understanding it is established: [But] by Knowledge shall all the chambers be filled." (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Instilling fear--because when fear dominates our thinking, love is absent--and the transvaluation (reversing the meaning of traditional and accepted values) and inversion of the predominant moral system of the Christian world are the operating principles of modernity and the postmodern ethos, which has successfully seized the moral high ground...not all that hard, considering the levers of power are in their hands to not only  'do what thy wilt,' but to convince us that 'to do what thy wilt is the whole of the law,' that is, unless you step out of line.

Links:

The Rise of the Antihero

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Harvesting Profits and Power Despite the Human Toll.

In Roman society, just before the birth of Christ, lived the richest Roman of Julius Caeser's day. His name was Marcus Licinus Crassus; his passion for wealth rivaling even that of modern day banksters. How did he amass his millions? Well, to quote Plutarch, "he got [his riches] by fire and rapine, making his advantage of the public calamities."

You see, there was no such thing as a fire department in the Rome of Crassus' day. Once a fire started, it could level a whole neighborhood. So, Crassus took it upon himself to organize a fire brigade. Once the call of fire was heard, his men would rush to the blaze; however, once they arrived, the stood idly by while Crassus haggled with the frantic owners. If the owners agreed to sell cheaply enough, he ordered his men to stop the blaze. If the owners wanted a better price, he and his fire fighters left.

That's just one of the many calamity-induced schemes Crassus created, making him the wealthiest, and one of the most, if not, thee most powerful men in Rome.

Fast forward to present day, and Crassus looks like Mother Theresa in comparison to the greedy corporate bastards in power. Well, at least Crassus didn't start the fires (as far as we know). The same can't be said for those who think they rule the world in 2011. That's right...some say the Army Corp of Engineers flooded the land to drive down prices. Remember, because the floods were man made, insurance companies are refusing to insure these people, or they're claiming June 1, as the start date; therefore, anyone who bought flood insurance after May 1, 2011, are not covered.

Some river bottom property owners say they received a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers' Kansas City district office asking them if they want to sell their land.

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that the letter is angering some of the people who received it because some of them are fighting for their land from a flood they believe the Corps caused.

The letter reads: "The Corps is currently seeking willing sellers." It is part of a 15-year-old corps plan to buy up river property or obtain easements.

That's not all. Ann Barnhardt of Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc. reports that George Soros, through Ospraie, is buying up farmland, too.

1. File this one under “Now It All Makes Sense”. A Missouri farming and ranching contact just got off a conference call wherein he was informed that the federal government is sending out letters to all of the flooded out farmers in the Missouri River flood plain and bottoms notifying them that the Army Corps of Engineers will offer to BUY THEIR LAND.

Intentionally flood massive acreage of highly productive farmland. Destroy people’s communities and homes. Catch them while they are desperate and afraid and then swoop in and buy the ground cheap. Those evil sons of bitches.

2. Speaking of evil sons of bitches, George Soros appears to be “investing” in farmland through the same puppet company that he used to get into the grain elevator and fertilizer business.  The company is called Ospraie Capital Management and is buying up farmland in a joint venture with Teays River Investments as a partner.

Okay. Here’s the connection. This Ospraie outfit was a hedge fund specializing in commodities that was started and run by some cocky child who didn’t know how to trade bear markets and got his butt kicked into next week in the grain market of 2008. He also lost a fortune trying to trade RARE EARTH METALS. In fact, it was so bad that he had to shut his fund down because he had promised his investors that he would give them all of their investment money back if the fund lost more than 30% in one year.

But it appears that Soros swooped in and saved the day because this Ospraie is the “co-investor” with Soros that bought the remnants of ConAgra’s trading operation and renamed it . . . Gavilon. In the industry, it is widely acknowledged that Ospraie IS Soros.

As you probably remember, Gavilon just recently bought both DeBruce Grain out of Kansas City and the biggest grain elevator company in the Pacific Northwest, thus making Soros (who is the money behind Gavilon through both his own Soros Fund Management AND his de facto control of Ospraie) the third-largest grain company in the U.S. with 280 million bushels of storage capacity, behind only Archer Daniels Midland (542 million bushels storage capacity) and Cargill (344 million bushels storage capacity).

Bottom line: . Please also note that the hotlink citation above is dated June 26, 2009. My contact says this has been going on for two years – and also remember what I told you about farmland prices inflating wildly, especially in Illinois. I have personally confirmed farmland in Illinois selling for $13,000 per acre within the last month, whereas that same kind of ground in Illinois was going for $5500 per acre the day Obama was inaugurated.

Links:
Ospraie launches JV Agricultural Fund.

Rogers & Soros: Farmland “One of the Best Investments of Our Time”

Betting the Farm

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What Kind of God Would Create Such Complex , Self-Aware, and Fancy Worm Food?

A kind and loving God? Well, if that's God's idea of kind and loving, it certainly doesn't jive with what most of us humans believe is kind and loving. However, somehow, I think that's the point. Considering, we can't explain 99% of what's "out there" and that's not including all that is "out there" that we don't even know is "out there", we, humans don't know a whole lot...we just think we do. And, that's why I'll take Tony Soprano over that smug "know-it-all" Richard Dawkins any day.

And after three days of drinkin' with Larry Love
I just get an inklin' to go on home
So, I'm walkin' down Coldharbour Lane
Head hung low, three or four in the mornin'

The suns comin' up and the birds are out singing
I let myself into my pad
Wind myself up that spiral staircase
An' stretch out nice on the chesterfield

Pithecanthropus Erectus already on the CD player
And I just push that remote button to sublimity
And listen to the sweet sculptural rhythms of Charles Mingus
And J.R. Monterose and Jackie Mclean
Duet on those saxophones

And the sound makes it's way outta the window
Minglin' with the traffic noises outside, you know and
All of a sudden I'm overcome by a feelin' of brief mortality
'Cause I'm gettin' on in the world
Comin' up on forty-one years

Forty-one stoney gray steps towards the grave
You know the box, awaits it's grissly load
Now, I'm gonna be food for worms
And just like Charles Mingus wrote
That beautiful piece-a music, 'Epitaph for Eric Dolphy'

I say, so long Eric, so long, John Coltrane
And Charles Mingus, so long, Duke Ellington
And Lester Young, so long, Billie Holliday
And Ella Fitzgerald, so long, Jimmy Reed
So long, Muddy Waters, and so, long Howlin' Wolf

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The Politics of the Sopranos.

Who knew that tree-hugging ex-politicians loved “The Sopranos”? It turns out that Al Gore is a die-hard fan, but when the series finale loomed in early June, he and his wife, Tipper, had to be on a plane for an appearance in Istanbul.

So Mr. Gore, now better known as the star of “An Inconvenient Truth” than as the former vice president of the United States, called Brad Grey, the chairman of Paramount whose studio distributed his documentary, for a favor. Mr. Grey is also an executive producer of “The Sopranos,” from his previous incarnation as a Hollywood manager. Could Mr. Gore get an advance copy of the final episode, he wanted to know?

No way, said Mr. Grey. “I’ve turned down everyone who’s asked,” he recalled telling Mr. Gore. That episode was the holy grail, and he couldn’t risk it being leaked.

But after a night of tossing and turning, Mr. Grey had a change of heart. On the Sunday of the finale, he had a Halliburton-made steel case, containing a copy of the episode, delivered to the tarmac where Mr. Gore’s plane sat in Chicago. The case was locked with a code (some might call it a “lockbox”). Mr. Gore could not open it until the plane was in the air, when he was instructed to call Mr. Grey’s office for the numeric code. Mr. Gore sent Mr. Grey a photo of himself trying to pry open the case, which Mr. Grey now keeps on his desk.

And unlike that final episode, this story had a postscript. After the tale of Mr. Gore’s special delivery made the rounds of Hollywood political circles, the Republican candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani called Mr. Grey, a longtime friend, to complain. Why didn’t he get a special “Sopranos” delivery, too?

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David Chase Gave Us a Gift that Keeps on Giving.

I enjoyed the Sopranos like no other series I've ever watched on TV because every episode stayed with me long after it ended. David Chase ended the Sopranos series the same way he did every episode...he left the viewer thinking and I loved that. I'm so glad he did not end it with definitive answers to every question or wrap it all up in a pretty package with a great big bow.

Think about the anticipation a little kid has the night before Christmas, and as he awakens to colorful, sparkling packages with huge bows just waiting to be opened. He voraciously tears open the presents under the tree within less than 5 minutes, and then it's all over. Yes, he may play with them but more than likely, by the next day he is over it.

David Chase gave us the gift that keeps on giving because the series will stay with us much longer than if he gave us closure as many people on the internet are claiming they want. Some even call David Chase arrogant or are saying the way he ended the series was a big f*ck-you to his audience and that he has no respect for us. I just found out Wikipedia has had to prevent further editing to the David Chase entry because of vandalism. David Chase is an artist; artists do not set out to produce something they think will win them a popularity contest, instead they try to express their perceptions in such a way to stimulate the response or emotions of others.

"It is only by ancient symbols, by symbols that have numberless meanings besides the one or two the writer lays an emphasis upon, or the half-score he knows of, than any highly subjective art can escape from the barrenness and shallowness of a too conscious arrangement, into the abundance and depth of Nature. The poet of essences and pure ideas must seek in the half-lights that glimmer from symbol to symbol as if to the ends of the earth, all that the epic and dramatic poet finds of mystery and shadow in the accidental circumstances of life."

-- William Butler Yeats

So here go some random thoughts I've had regarding the finale.

David Chase chose to incorporate William Butler Yeats's "The Second Coming" into his story..."What rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" became the question, "Who is this rough beast?" for everyone trying to figure out how David Chase would end it all.

As the camera focuses in on the cat watching Christopher's picture I heard a sound similar to a growling or low grade roar making me think of a lion which made me think beast or "rough beast". Paulie is totally spooked by this cat, lifting a broom over his head to strike the cat, that is, until Tony makes his appearance making Paulie quickly retreat. Paulie makes his feelings known when he calls the cat a snake with fur and mentions that cats can never be in the same room as babies because they will suck the breath out of the baby...the only thing coming between Paulie and the cat's demise is Tony. Tony makes it clear that the cat is welcome and we know how Tony feels about the destruction of anything he considers innocent such as the horse, babies etc.

Paulie waits until Tony leaves before gesturing toward the cat to get lost. It's interesting to note that many tyrants don't like cats, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Geghis Khan, Napoleon I, Mussolini and Hitler. Many believe tyrants don't like cats, because they can't stand anyone or anything that does not submit to their rule and you can't rule or boss a cat. The Egyptians worshiped cats and when Rome defeated the Egyptians, cats were ostracized and it is well known that Julius Caesar hated cats. Paulie...Julius Caesar? Um...no!?!
Tony and Paulie have a final conversation outside of the market about something Tony wants Paulie to do. Paulie does not want to do it for superstitious reasons and tells Tony about seeing the Virgin Mary appear before his eyes, something Paulie's never told anyone else, therefore trusting that Tony will not let him down. Betraying Paulie's trust, Tony mocks Paulie about his vision, and then manipulates the situation so that Paulie ends up consenting to do what he is so afraid or does not want to do...apparently not the first time Tony has exploited Paulie's weakness but perhaps the last.

"A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all around it"

Tony leaves and Paulie is left sitting alone, and as he's done so many times before, Pauly lifts his sun reflector to capture the rays, bronzing his skin to look like that of a "Greek God" perhaps? The camera goes wide and we see the cat walking toward Pauly, stopping short, seemingly trying to avoid Paulie's awareness. The cat stretches out and stares at Paulie, who deeply despises him, giving us a picture reminiscent of Greco-Roman times maybe and the power of the Sphinx (cat) or when cats were thought of as Gods in ancient times.

"Reel shadows of the indignant desert bird

The Sopranos attempt to gather the family together for the "last supper" ordering onion rings, indicative of the communal wafer maybe. As the song "Don't Believe" by Journey plays, the family is gathering one by one as strangers gather all around them, possibly shadows of Tony's past, almost like a flock of birds, indignant birds,

Everyone in the family but Meadow is seated at the table and as she is rushing in to join them, they all place one onion ring in their mouth, possibly last rites...we see Tony's face and the screen blacks out.

"The darkness drops again; That twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Could that mean Tony, Carmella and AJ were whacked? Could Paulie have ordered the hit to bring the "empire" down, once and for all? Would that make Paulie the "rough beast"? Is Paulie the falcon spiraling up into the sky ignoring the calls of its master, Tony?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

The Sopranos is not just a show about a mob family, quite the contrary it's an expository on the broader idea of American family dynamics. David Chase's use of symbolism fearlessly explores the dualism that exists at the core of our political system and the dualism that exists at the core of our humanity. The mafia is the perfect vehicle to express, so vividly, this dualism because there is the family and there is the Family.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

I was thinking maybe Paulie represents George Bush or the Bush Administration taking over after Clinton was President. Tony was no saint but he at the very least tried to run the organization with a certain amount of logic or rational thought whereas Paulie gives the impression, like George Bush, that superstition may take the place of thought and that brains may not either one's greatest attribute.

Having said all that, poetry has always eluded me but I thought I'd add my two cents for fun.

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