Americathon: or Impoverished People Don't Give a Fig about Democracy or the Republic.

[Octafish]

Lots of great threads in GD about the true state of the economy. Popular themes include the unlimited largess by The Federal Reserve to ensure a flood of liquidity floats the biggest yachts docked on Wall Street and at the Pentagon. Others detail efforts to rip off employee pensions, rip off Social Security, and generally rip off those lucky enough to have had something trickle down to them in the form of a job over the last 30 years.



Anyway: Phil Proctor and Dave Bergman of Firesign Theatre pretty much predicted (or called out) our current predicament way back in 1979. They wrote Americathon, a film about the days when the middle class will consider themselves fortunate to find a car to squat in.

It's not just a telethon; it's an ‘Americathon'

By Franklin Harris
The Decatur Daily
Published: Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.

EXCERPT...

So, in 1979, along came a movie that seemed to sum up how the country felt about itself. It was a screwball comedy called “Americathon,” written by Firesign Theatre's Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman.

Forgotten since the 1980s, “Americathon” is back and available as a manufacture-on-demand DVD from Warner Archive, online at warnerarchive.com. And it seems just as relevant now as when it was in theaters.

Set in the then-future year of 1998, “Americathon” depicts the United States as flat broke, and the mortgage is coming due.

No one can afford a house, so everyone lives in their cars. But that's OK, because no one can afford gasoline, either, and everyone rides bicycles or jogs to work.

SNIP...

And George Carlin narrates the whole thing, which is appropriate considering he spent the last decade of his life telling us all just how doomed we are.

CONTINUED...

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20101216/articles/312169999?Title=It-s-not-just-a-telethon-it-s-an-8216-Americathon-

The movie is hilarious. The reality is, though, most scary: We live in a time when desperate, impoverished people certainly will not even notice the Constitution getting shredded and tossed into the burn bag. They don't have a clue that bag contained what made us the land of the free and the home of the brave.

[bobbolink]

1. Excuse me. I am impoverished, I live in my car, AND I am quite aware of what has happened to the

Constitution.

I'm willing to bet that many of your more affluent friends DON'T know some of the facts that *I* know, so could we please dial back some of the stereotypes a bit? Please?

Oh, and where could I get one of those cool awnings for my car?

[Octafish]

3. I am most sorry, bobbolink.

Forgive me for making a blanket statement. I wanted to write that most people who are in desperate economic circumstances do not have the time to focus on politics. As you are aware, there are more immediate concerns. And as I failed to mention, many, if not most, homeless people also consider the ramifications of our political world.

Here's where to get the awning.

[bobbolink]

5. thank you for understanding. I was surprised to read that coming from you.

I do not wish to keep on something you have graciously apologized for, but I want to stress this... that those kinds of stereotypes would NOT even be considered as applied to gays, or blacks, or women, etc.

Yet, we poor and homeless people get this stuff all the time, and without any thought, it seems. Why is that?

I can't put my hands on it right now, but there is a quote about a study which showed that homeless people elicit not compassion or caring, but DISGUST. Is that what is going on here? Can you imagine what it feels like to a homeless person to read that we are viewed with DISGUST?

I submit to you that because race and homophobia and misogyny and other forms of prejudice are no longer acceptable, especially among "progressives", that poor and homeless people have become the targets of free-floating anger and the need for a feeling of superiority.

IT. HURTS.

[bobbolink]

6. The quotation I couldn't find.

The Empathy Gap by J.D. Trout 2009

p. 30 In the research of Fisk and her colleagues, people were asked how different social groups are viewed by their society. When asked a series of questions about social warmth and the competency of different social and ethnic groups, the answers clustered around four emotional responses: pity, envy, pride, and disgust. For example, people routinely react to the homeless with disgust. This is puzzling enough. You might have thought people would pity the homeless, empathize with their position, and feel sorry for them. Not at all. And in a functional MRI study, when study participants were presented with pictures of members from each social and ethnic group, the medial prefrontal cortex--the site that registers the potential for an object's social action--popped for all but one group: the homeless. The homeless maybe seen as human, but not fully so, not as social actors.14

[sofa king]

9. Yeah, dude, I've been there too.

I'm sure you know the drill. Toss the bad habits first and the good habits last, don't ever pay anyone for a job or a chance at one, and if someone rips you off for a dime you knock that bastard's teeth out so that all the other fucks know you are not to be trifled with. If you lose the ride, don't try to sleep in the best spot under the bridge unless you're prepared to deal with keeping it all night.

Use your free time learning how to maintain your vehicle with duct tape and the tool kit it came with, and remember that Porsche 911s from the 80s and 90s are usually carrying 8 quarts of high quality synthetic oil if you can't afford your own. As I recall, the drain plug is an 8mm Allen, and since it's a rear engine, its' in the back. Be a good lad and put it back after you've taken what you need--so that the owner will be able to fill it back up for you.

Now, everyone else here thinks I'm being some sort of callous ass, but you know that you need to crack a smile before you crack some skulls. Good luck. You write well and your heart is in the right place, so you have a better chance than most in your situation. My least favorite part of homelessness was having to be patient. That and the rain.

[bobbolink]

10. One way to respond to this kind of privation is to get tough.

That isn't my way, but I certainly understand it being the way for others.

Maybe part of the problem here is that I'm not a "dude".

[Octafish]

7. My friend, I have been in your shoes.

In 1986, after a divorce, I lost everything -- most of all, my daughter. I told my boss to shove it, after a bad day, and lost my job. Nothing to lose, I moved to California. Friends put up with me, but after a while, I had to go. So, I lived outta my car for quite a while. Long story short: A relative loaned my money to pay off my debts and go back to school.

Americathon, at the time it was released, was a send-up of materialism gone amok. The real America had problems -- but most people would never at the time think the nation would become a place where the middle classes and poor would be destitute. But that is where we are heading. And that was the purpose of my posting -- hoping we can keep that reality from coming to pass.

It was not my intention to convey anything funny about homelessness with the OP. Anyone with a shard of empathy knows that and can imagine the pain of not having a place of one's own. I hope and pray the angel who helped me finds you, too, my Friend.

[bobbolink]

11. You're right. I haven't seen the movie. Being the butt of "jokes" and ugly attacks has

probably done something to my sense of humor for some situations.

We have something painful in common... I lost a child, also, and that pain doesn't go away. I didn't know that was your experience, and you have my definite sympathy.... it really takes a chunk out of a parent. :pals:

I'm glad you had a personal sollution... I was hoping for one, also, but have come to realize that apparently my job isn't to save *me*, but to sound the alarm. Not that many want to hear it.

Thank you for sharing your experience. We invisible people must make ourselves more visible... rocking the boat, as it were.

[sofa king]

2. And track suits. Don't forget the track suits.

Nobody could have predicted that track suits would become a stupid 80s fashion statement. And yet they did.

[Octafish]

4. FT understands Tantric visualization technique.

It's all in the mind. From the mind comes all.



Even track suits, pay TV, Boobie-Chew and Rat-in-a-Box. John Ritter or John Edwards?

[pa28]

8. I really want to see this one.

DU had a discussion about it a couple of years ago but I was never able to locate the movie online.

The only excerpt I could find was a clip on youtube showing a young Jay Leno getting "sucker punched" (if that's the right way to phrase it) by his mom in a boxing match.

Warner archive has it for $14.95 so I'm getting a copy. Seems prescient and funny from everything I've heard.