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Compulsory Happiness

"The admonition to be happy, voiced in concert by the... sanatorium director and the... propaganda chiefs of the entertainment industry, have about them the fury of the father berating his child for not rushing joyously downstairs when he comes home irritable from his office.  It is part of the mechanism of domination to forbid recognition of the suffering it produces, and there is a direct line of development between the gospel of happiness and the construction of camps of extermination so far off in Poland that each of our own countrymen can convince himself that he cannot hear the screams of pain." 

- Theodor Adorno, German Philosopher - 1951

Fill up the Accord at the Blue Canoe in Wakefield and it's "Little Drummer Boy" on busted tinny outdoor speakers.  Christmas lights are springing up everywhere.  Fake snowflakes abound. The sound of sleigh bells infects seasonal commercials.  I hear sleigh bells in my sleep.  Women with snowman sweaters slam down aisles at Costco.  Toddlers are being dressed in red outfits.  Almost every business establishment I go to, I am advised (admonished?) to "Have a happy holiday!" 

What evs.

I've always resented the compulsory nature of "holiday" happiness.  Smile or else. Be cheerful or else. Laugh or else.  It was such a breath of fresh air to run into Mr Adorno's quote in the Sun Magazine this month (one can find it all over the web as well).  He puts his finger right on the button.   Culturally mandated happiness helps to paper over not only the suffering all around us, but life itself in all its monstrous beauty. 

This year as our president gets ready to send 34,000 more of our children into the meat grinder to "Finish the job" (apt choice of words that - one wonders what job will be finished), the marketing of cheerfulness, and snowmen, and reindeer, and tinsel, and drummer boys, and all the products you just have to have if you're going to be happy during "the holidays" strikes a deeply discordant note.  

Fall Studio Show

 

 

 

  

 

Barberry Hill Pottery
102 Main Street
West Newbury, MA
978 363 2245



Fall Studio Show
of
Ceramics, Paintings, Weaving
November 14 through 22, 11am-5pm

Reception November 21, 11-3pm

Barbara Haack,  Diana Philip,  Jim Selman

 

 

 

 

 

Cheech and Chong STILL don't work at Reeds Ferry Sheds

Before the great blog purge of ‘09, I had a couple posts about a local talk show personality Jay Severin and his penchant for using racial stereotypes in his ads for Reeds Ferry Sheds.  At the time I had even contacted Reed Ferry Sheds (multiple times) to see what they thought of Jay’s use of racial stereotypes.  Reeds Ferry Sheds never responded. 

Earlier this year Jay was given a ‘timeout’ for his ignorant, racist rants about Mexican people.  For weeks on end, the airwaves were blessedly free of his ostentatious bloviations.  During that time, many of Jay’s advertisers dropped him.  I don’t know if Reeds Ferry Sheds backed him during his heady “Mexicans are exporters of women with mustaches and VD”  days.

In the end – WTKKK knew that Jay’s kind of bitterness sells ad space so they put him back on the air.  When Jay first came back he was oh-so-careful about racially tinted rants.  I remember that he stopped (for a while anyway) with his mock Hispanic accent when he mentioned Sonya Sotomayor.  I think the new behavior took its toll on Jay.  His voice was tight, his manner too-cheery, and he was overly polite with callers that disagreed with him.   Jay had even dropped his reference to Cheech and Chong not working as shed installers for Reeds Ferry Sheds.

Time heals all wounds.

Yesterday when I was flipping around the channels I stopped on WTKKK when I heard Jay lending his considerable diction on behalf of selling the mansion of storage sheds, Reeds Ferry Sheds.  Jay told us all that he used his for a clubhouse (keen).  Then – Jay launched into his old standby – the trusty “Cheech and Chong don’t show up in their panel truck to install your shed.”  Since I don’t listen to Jay much at all any more, I can’t tell whether his return to racial stereotypes is a recent thing or not. 

It’s good to see though that Jay hasn’t changed.

For my conservative readers who say “Oh Jay just means that proud craftsmen work at Reed’s Ferry Sheds, and not pot smoking slackers of any nationality,”  I say this:  If that’s what Jay means, then given all the fine schooling he’s gotten including his fake Master’s degree, his fake Pulitzer, and all the campaigns he’s run where words are so carefully chosen, then Jay should just say “Reeds Ferry Sheds will send superior craftsmen to your home to install your shed.” and be done with it.

Welcome back Jay.