We engaged in a discussion about pop culture last night.  As enjoyable as that was, after a good night’s sleep I feel unease, that there’s little left to talk about.  The examples which we cited were no longer current, freshly minted.  We discussed Dune, the film recently released, October 22 of 2021. The book was written by Frank Herbert in 1965.  The first attempt by David Lynch in 1984 to capture the story in cinema featured Sting.  That one was awful.   This one, directed by Denis Villeneuva did a better job at capturing the ideas informing Herbert’s statement about the fate of empires.

Should not the theme of “empire decline” interest us, as we apparently are living within the decline of “Pax Americana” the post WWII years, to the end of the 20th century?  America was the dominant super-power, with established military bases around the world, and business, aided by foreign policy reached an apogee of prestige around the world.  I recall a comment by an officer of a major corporation at the time saying that Americans were respected in Europe because “they knew how to turn a profit.” 

All of that has changed from the 90s up to the present.  We are not the only ones to “know how to turn a profit.”  Circumstances have changed, we are confronted with the hard reality of global warming, the rise of totalitarian populism, and the threat of society disrupting migration by desperate peoples fleeing war, or seeking to escape years of protracted drought.

We are living on the “inside” of the decline of empire, the erosion of a “middle class” stable, way-of-life.  Pop culture?  I am not sure there is such a thing anymore.  Social media influencers, individuals intent upon seducing their “followers” to make purchasing decisions…  I am so overwhelmed by irony, that I cannot even laugh.  What remains of a popular culture, a common language-game of shared meaning?

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Now for a tune to get-us-through, to ground our sense of self!  The driving chords of Springsteen’s anthem will accomplish what we need.  The image of a Harley and the open road is quintessentially American. The metaphor of America as a Amusement Park is on target.  Are we not all “born to run?”

Born To Run

By Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

In the day, we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night, we ride through mansions of glory
In suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin’ out over the line
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Yes, girl, we were

Wendy let me in, I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
Oh, will you walk with me out on the wire?
‘Cause baby I’m just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild, babe
I want to know if love is real
Oh, can you show me?

Beyond the palace, hemi-powered drones
Scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you, Wendy, on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

(1, 2, 3, 4) The highways jammed with broken heroes
On a last chance power drive
Everybody’s out on the run tonight
But there’s no place left to hide
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul
Oh, someday girl, I don’t know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go, and we’ll walk in the sun
But till then, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run

Oh honey, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
Come on with me, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run