Back in my high school years, I had discovered James Joyce and became a fan of his literature. In fact, I was so much into him that I decided to enter a regional English literature essay competition. There I won a second prize award for an essay dealing with his autobiographical work. I have been keeping my award ever since, together with my personal documents and school transcripts, in a safe place at home.<\/p>\n
Part of those years I spent deepening my knowledge into his works, and particularly in Dubliners, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegan\u2019s Wake. Although regarded as an apolitical author, Joyce was, in fact, sympathetic to the radical political movements of his time, particularly in anarchism, syndicalism (revolutionary unionism) and socialism, which, in those years, were influential for the avant-garde writers on their road to literary modernism.<\/p>\n
These days, shortly after Donald Trump became President-elect of the U.S.A., playing by all the rules of the democratic game, our nation has started to be confronted with a resurgence of the left (both moderate and\u00a0 anarchist-radical), who was the big loser of the 2016 elections.<\/p>\n
Soon after the elections were called, anti-Trump rioters erupted in the cities of Baltimore, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Portland. The rioters went passive-aggressive. From cry to anger, from defense to offense. They seem to have forgotten the rules of the game. Now, albeit in minority, they want to change the rules.<\/p>\n
I have seen scenes of \u201cre-Joyce\u201d (no pun intended) for destruction, during an \u201cOdyssey\u201d where, after their \u201cElection Day Wake,\u201d \u201cPortlanders\u201d have morphed into \u201cPortraits of Anarchists as Young Men.\u201d Then, I started to wonder, like Seinfeld: \u201cWho are these people?\u201d And I think I know.<\/p>\n
Let me attempt to \u201cpaint\u201d a \u201cportrait\u201d in 15 quick brushstrokes (in no particular order). They are the Generation of \u201cMe,\u201d consisting of those who:<\/p>\n
(1) Are told they are \u201cspecial.\u201d<\/p>\n
(2) Are told they are still \u201cwinners\u201d when they lose.<\/p>\n
(3) Receive awards for getting on the 5th place or lower.<\/p>\n
(4) Play games without keeping scores.<\/p>\n
(5) Call their parents by their first names and treat them as their \u201cbest friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
(6) Don\u2019t see their fathers much or at all.<\/p>\n
(7) Are peaceniks in times of war and warriors in times of peace.<\/p>\n
(8) Text to each other when they sit at the same table.<\/p>\n
(9) Text when they stay, text when they walk, and don\u2019t hear when you ask them for directions.<\/p>\n
(10) Use their reproductive system for sex, but don\u2019t accept it for reproduction.<\/p>\n
(11) Want to change the \u201cfamily\u201d definition by ignoring family\u2019s basic function of natural reproduction.<\/p>\n
(12) Believe Marxism is an \u201cinteresting\u201d philosophy, but \u201cincorrectly applied.\u201d<\/p>\n
(13) Say that \u201cproperty sucks,\u201d but demand that everyone is entitled to a \u201cfair\u201d share.<\/p>\n
(14) Play \u201cpolitically correct\u201d when they run out of arguments.<\/p>\n
(15) Love democracy when they win, and secession when they lose.<\/p>\n
In the end, there is a silver lining for the left, during the next four (eight?) years of Trump administration, and particularly for:<\/p>\n
(1) Alec Baldwin, who will keep his SNL job as a Donald Trump impersonator.<\/p>\n
(2) Bruce \u201cThe Boss\u201d Springsteen, who will sputter with his voice the same linear \u201cprotest songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
(3) Beyonc\u00e9, who will shape the \u201cFormation\u201d of a new generation of young African-American girls, teaching them about the moral values of being \u201cbootylicious.\u201d<\/p>\n
(4) Madonna, Cher, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Amy Schumer, Adele (oops, she\u2019s British!), and all the cohort of Pantsuit Nation feminist \u201cb*****s\u201d (how they like to be called), who will make us \u201chear them roar\u201d about their \u201cvagina monologues\u201d and \u201cgirls\u2019 power.\u201d<\/p>\n
(5) Spike Lee, who will realize that \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d is not \u201cover\u201d yet.<\/p>\n
Instead, he, the father, will return to his abandoned home. And, with the former single mother, together they will try to fix their broken family. And get their sons and daughters back to school or work, where they belong. Sons and daughters who are rioters now. And who are looting the cities of Baltimore, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Portland.<\/p>\n
This is The Generation of \u201cMe\u201d on steroids. Back in my high school years, I had discovered James Joyce and became a fan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6468,14273,14274,14275],"class_list":["post-240613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-donald-trump","tag-election-day-wake","tag-james-joyce","tag-snl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240613\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0
\nTIBERIU DIANU has published several books and over 100 articles in law, politics, and post-communist societies. He currently lives and works in Washington, DC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"