There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed.
The cleavage of men into actor and spectators
is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed
with heroes who live for us and whom we punish.
If all radios and televisions were deprived
of their sources of power, all books and paintings
burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed,
all the arts of vicarious existence…

We are content with the “given” in sensation’s
quest. We have metamorphasized from a mad
body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes
staring in the dark.

— Jim Morrison   1943-1971

So, how do you like the show, I mean this sad shadow-play that we are all watching?  We are spectators, are we not?

Yesterday a friend commented that the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was ordered to direct media attention away from the charges of multiple levels of criminal behavior entailed in the impeachment charge against the President.  If I were writing the script for this shadow play, that would be the natural plot line for a piece of theater which has a predicable end.  The end is certain to be more blood, maybe a lot of blood.

Have we not long delegated responsibility for our lives, for assuming the risk of taking action on our own account — to our heroes, Reagan, the Bushes, and now the flashy carnival barker-bully, emerging from his shiny corporate jet?

We continue to ‘hang on’ in this casino of 21st Century America, broke, asking to be dealt one-more-hand, mesmerized by the illusion that our luck is about to change……. The devil smiles and cuts us in for another hand.

As I have done so often, in order to hold onto my sanity I offer this rock and roll tune.  The youtube video is germane to our times.

We must get off of our asses, be an actor, be a mad dancer on the hillsides.  Or die.

Lyrics follow the video.

Told You So

By Miguel

I am gonna show you
The world, and all that you desire
I said I, I don’t wanna control you
I wanna set you free, just come with me

Oh, and I know, yeah
I know you sense a pleasure in my eye
As long as you know, baby
Every pleasure you taste has its price, babe

Oh, I don’t wanna say I told you so, oh
But I told you so, no
I don’t wanna say I told you so
But I told you so

I already know you
And your ways, and all that you desire
I said I, I don’t wanna control you
I came to set you free, yeah come with me

Oh, and I know, yeah
I know you sense the devil speak on my tongue
As long as you don’t forget
Where all your pleasure came from, babe

Oh, I don’t wanna say I told you so, no
But I told you so, no
I don’t wanna say I told you so
But I told you so

I got plans, I got plans for you
Oh, yeah
I got plans, I got plans for you
Yeah, yeah, yeah…
I know you sense the sentiment in my eyes
As long as you know, baby
Every pleasure you taste has its price, babe

Oh, I don’t wanna say I told you so, no
But I told you so