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PCIntern

(28,502 posts)
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 08:51 AM Friday

When I was involved in literature and drama eons ago,

the one group of authors and playwrights I was not particularly fond of was the absurdists such as Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, and Cocteau. I was involved in several dramatic productions and readings of these authors, and I was never thrilled but I certainly understood their significance in the literary pantheon.

The one thing I never considered would be that I would be living in an absurdist existence in which up is down, in is out, small crowds are large crowds, adultery, thievery, bribery , and extortion are admired, and the protagonist, the star, paints himself orange for the cameras.

And nobody whose words might set this situation right says a fucking thing. The response of the media, of law enforcement, of intelligence agencies has been as surreal as the play itself. It is as though a reviewer for the New York Times attended a Broadway production of a surreal drama and reviewed it utilizing word salad.

The entire society has lost its collective mind. Yes…we are all now insanely driven in one direction or another. Half the nation wakes up asking “Is he dead yet?” And the other half or one-third or whatever pledges their fealty to what might possibly be the most bizarre individual who is not presently incarcerated in the US of A.

Years of collective therapy awaits us all after this utter disaster.

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When I was involved in literature and drama eons ago, (Original Post) PCIntern Friday OP
Kafka freaked me out, but not as much as this current regime has. John1956PA Friday #1
And here's one from 1952 which freaked me out when I was a kid. If you know, you know. John1956PA Friday #10
A great big giant green canary. usonian Friday #15
And it stands as the strangest entry in all of the Stooges' two-reelers. John1956PA Friday #24
This message was self-deleted by its author sop Friday #2
Maxwell Stupid Kid Berwyn Friday #3
Look at the expressions NJCher Friday #7
Yes, things are pretty absurd these days. Haggard Celine Friday #4
Maybe you are the Godot you've been waiting for nuxvomica Friday #5
And '1984' could be regarded as an absurdist novel. erronis Friday #6
I will no doubt NJCher Friday #8
I'm honored PCIntern Friday #12
We are inundated in evil... Escape Friday #9
everything that can be has been said bigtree Friday #11
We had a defining election in 2008 PCIntern Friday #14
I'd think the nation, this generation, especially, has learned a bit about republicanism bigtree Friday #22
I am constantly reminded of ChazInAz Friday #13
Child: "But the Leader doesn't have a head!" Mme. Defarge Friday #16
We ARE living in the Twilight Zone usonian Friday #17
Absurdist America! Jean Genie Friday #18
K&R WestMichRad Friday #19
I disagree, the entire society has not lost its mind. There are still many pockets of sanity. However the general Fil1957 Friday #20
Pockets of sanity? PCIntern Friday #25
I would say that DU is a pocket of sanity. And there are others. I would also say being agitated, hostile or on edge Fil1957 Friday #26
I understand and take your point: PCIntern Friday #27
I also understand and take your point. Fil1957 Friday #28
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m Friday #21
Deleted a post that became a rant jfz9580m Friday #23

John1956PA

(5,072 posts)
24. And it stands as the strangest entry in all of the Stooges' two-reelers.
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 01:57 PM
Friday

It was one of the few entries in which the Stooges' respective characters were not acquainted with one another.

I think Larry portrayed a drunkard, but I am not sure.

The part which freaked me out the most was the bird doing a bit of a dance and flapping its wings.

The Stooges' shorts arrived TV syndication in the late 1950s, I think.

If would be safe to assume that Trump, in his youth, was familiar with the Stooges' two-reelers.


Response to PCIntern (Original post)

Haggard Celine

(17,873 posts)
4. Yes, things are pretty absurd these days.
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 09:35 AM
Friday

We can't agree on reality anymore, and that causes some absurd situations. People believe proven liars over truth-tellers, just because the liar tells them what they want to hear. People who want to destroy the government get elected to government offices. The most religious people in the country support the most evil man to ever be President. The absurdities are endless. And it feels like we're at the end of the line. What can follow times like these? Will we start sharing a common reality again after the Trump era? It just all seems so broken right now.

nuxvomica

(14,160 posts)
5. Maybe you are the Godot you've been waiting for
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 09:38 AM
Friday

Last edited Fri Apr 24, 2026, 12:07 PM - Edit history (1)

You can look at it that way.

erronis

(24,237 posts)
6. And '1984' could be regarded as an absurdist novel.
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 09:43 AM
Friday

I would agree with your feelings about being in a performance of many of these. Only sat through Waiting for Godot once.

Escape

(500 posts)
9. We are inundated in evil...
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 10:05 AM
Friday

Only the Republicans can save us, but those in power appear to be feverishly dedicated to Trump's Fascist doctrine.

Across the country, the tide seems to be turning, but Republicans in the House and Senate and those in Trump's Circus Cabinet are working day and night on ways and means to steal the approaching elections.

bigtree

(94,555 posts)
11. everything that can be has been said
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 10:14 AM
Friday

...countless times.

I think it's more interesting how all of this flailing around about someone confronting Trump has occurred while Trump is being confronted. The airwaves and print are packed with resistance.

What's missing is a defining election; an inflection point for Americans to weigh in with a significant effect. In fact, that's the ONLY limiter to our advocacy and opposition; the fact that we haven't yet had another defining vote that would restore some of the balance of power.

We're operating in a period where all sorts gaslighting is advantaged while our democracy gives heed and ability to republicans behind the last defining election's results.

I think thie energy in this angst can be better focused on the next election where we should see the true measure of whether most of us have lost our collective minds; this opportunity coming after most of us lost our collective will to materially confront republicans last election.

PCIntern

(28,502 posts)
14. We had a defining election in 2008
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 10:25 AM
Friday

The Republicans used it as jiu-jitsu to permit the explosion of expressed racism and hate of all types, just as they stated with extreme falsity and hypocrisy that we were now living in a post-racial era.

All this with a complicit media which in the end was guilty of both-siderism in extremis.

bigtree

(94,555 posts)
22. I'd think the nation, this generation, especially, has learned a bit about republicanism
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 11:51 AM
Friday

...as many of us are desperately defending what's left of the Democratic legislative progress that's defined our nation's progress for decades before republicans let Trump run roughshod over them.

Too many got caught up in their game of defining those advancements by the denigrations they make about our political leaders. Maybe we can get on with standing those back up and moving forward again.

Mme. Defarge

(9,038 posts)
16. Child: "But the Leader doesn't have a head!"
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 10:30 AM
Friday

Crowd: “But he doesn’t need one!”

The Leader by Eugene Ionesco is a production I was part of back when I was a student of French as an undergraduate. The crowd waits for hours for the Leader to appear, and when he does, well…

usonian

(26,206 posts)
17. We ARE living in the Twilight Zone
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 10:32 AM
Friday

With some Star Trek thrown in.

I eagerly await Trump being served.



Got some others on the disk drives.

Fil1957

(788 posts)
20. I disagree, the entire society has not lost its mind. There are still many pockets of sanity. However the general
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 11:16 AM
Friday

premise of your post is correct.

PCIntern

(28,502 posts)
25. Pockets of sanity?
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 04:40 PM
Friday

Either you’re with these motherfuckers or you’re spending a fair percentage of your time agitated, hostile, on edge, dealing with sequelae of their policies, or scared for the Nation. That’s not a state of mind which stability and sanity necessarily prevails.

Fil1957

(788 posts)
26. I would say that DU is a pocket of sanity. And there are others. I would also say being agitated, hostile or on edge
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 05:59 PM
Friday

is a perfectly sane reaction to current events. I also said the basic premise of your post is correct. But I don't believe "the entire society has lost its collective mind", although large segments definitely have.

PCIntern

(28,502 posts)
27. I understand and take your point:
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 07:49 PM
Friday

my contention is that all of us have been warped by this awful 12 year turn of events and will never be able to respond the same way we used to again. I’m not saying that it’s an “insanity” but that we have all had our psyches altered, and not necessarily for the better.

Response to PCIntern (Original post)

jfz9580m

(17,587 posts)
23. Deleted a post that became a rant
Fri Apr 24, 2026, 12:34 PM
Friday

Thanks to noise polluting creeps on the street outside.

Absurdism is on my mind a lot PCIntern. As I return from an induced state of mechanical, zombified thought to normal human ones.

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