American Absurd • noun • (uh-mer-i-kunn ubb-serrd)
Definition: the dystopian and darkly comical aspects of American life which highlight its ethnocidal status quo.
Origin: English
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My book THE CRIME WITHOUT A NAME was released on October 12, 2021 and NPR has picked it as one of the top books of the year!
You can order the book—including the audiobook—and watch recordings of my book tour discussions at Eaton and the New York Public Library at thecrimewithoutaname.com.
It has been a little over a year since the January 6, 2021 attack upon the U.S. Capitol, and in the ensuing year, the absurdity of American life has become unmistakable. Yet as we acknowledge the American Absurd, we must clearly understand the meaning of “absurd.”
Absurd is commonly used to denote the emotion or feeling of when an aspect of life feels so unbelievable that it has drifted into the tragically comical. Absurdity is often a precursor to an increasingly dangerous way of life.
Describing the attacks on January 6 as insignificant could be defined as “absurd” because the significance of that day’s events is so abundantly clear. Our nation’s capital was attacked by domestic terrorists because they wanted to overturn the results of our presidential election, and these terrorists were inspired and encouraged by the actions of outgoing president Donald Trump. If a failed coup d’etat is considered insignificant and meaningless, then American society now must wonder what, if anything, is considered significant and meaningful.
The understanding of absurdity that extends beyond our initial emotional reactions requires a deeper philosophical exploration, and this is where the work of Albert Camus becomes incredibly important. Camus’ philosophical definition of “absurd” can be summarized as the quest to find meaning within a meaningless world. Yet Camus’ definition still prompts a significant question: what makes life or the world meaningless?
For Camus, the world became meaningless due to the removal of God and therefore the absence of an inherent meaning to life. According to Christianity, life had meaning because God made it meaningful, so according to Camus the absence of God made life meaningless and the task of humanity was the cultivation of a meaningful life within a world without inherent meaning.
Regarding the American Absurd on display in relation to the January 6 attacks, we are witnessing a Republican political agenda of linguistic corruption and manipulation intent on turning the meaningful into the meaningless. Despite conservatives frequently invoking religion and Christianity, the absurdity of American life is often instigated by a secular political agenda to make life meaningless. The fight against the destruction of meaning highlights the absurdity of American life.
American Absurd, Ethnocide, and Inherent Meaning
The notion that life is inherently meaningful is incredibly troubling because it articulates that meaning derives from some force or entity that exists beyond humanity. Therefore, under this belief, meaning does not come from the actions of people, but from the capacity to illuminate the meaning of the allegedly divine. This theory makes people irresponsible because their actions are no longer their own, but merely an extension of the will of their god. God is now responsible for a person’s actions. The belief in inherent meaning can create a soulless, irresponsible way of life allegedly justified by the divine.
Inherent meaning and ethnocide have a disturbing connection because the ethnocider often justifies the atrocities of ethnocide by claiming that their actions are the will of their god. Colonizers often justified the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the ethnocide of the transatlantic slave trade as extensions of god’s will. The rampant destruction of human life, civilization and culture by European colonizers aspired to make life meaningless; yet to colonizers, the creation of a meaningless world had become a fount of meaning. Through destruction, they believed that they were creating life.
The dystopian roots of colonization, which in many ways have been justified by notions of inherent meaning, create the American Absurd.
Our society is built upon the normalization of a meaningless world of our own creation and we are tasked with still trying to lead meaningful lives.
The absurdity of this plight impacts every facet of our lives because many of the bad aspects of American life have not only been defined as good things but also the divine will of a Christian God. America still has “In God We Trust” on our currency and America still believes that it is necessary for God to bless us. America still wants for God to bestow upon our society his inherent goodness and we aspire to be an extension of his will.
The inversion of language in which meaninglessness—forged by the creation of an Other so that an ethnocidal society can demonize and exploit the Other for profit—has been redefined as meaningful—due to the short-term wealth it can generate—creates a society where the distinction between good and bad has become hard to decipher and articulate. For example, if meaninglessness is also described as being meaningful, what do you call something that is actually meaningful?
As America reexamines the January 6 attack, we need to pay attention to the many descriptions of the attackers and collaborators that aspire to describe them as “good” people. The alleged goodness of these domestic terrorists exists without any connection to the violence they inflicted upon Capitol police, congresspersons, and congressional staffers on that fateful day.
Frequently, America’s ethnocidal society will apply an iteration of inherent goodness to these individuals based on their skin color, wealth, or religion. America is often reluctant to punish these individuals because the notion of their inherent goodness makes them less responsible for their actions, and instead the fault lies with the evil entity that allegedly corrupted them.
Regarding January 6, the evil entity that allegedly corrupted these domestic terrorists is Donald Trump, the former president of the United States. Despite being a blatantly evil, vulgar, and poshlyi individual, America hoped that the dignity and inherent goodness of the office of the presidency would turn Trump into a good person. Something existing beyond Trump was supposed to make him into a good person.
America’s inherent goodness was supposed to make Trump and millions of his supporters into good people. The inevitable failure of this absurd idea resulted in January 6, 2021, and now our society struggles with figuring out how to hold these “good” people accountable for their dangerous actions.
American Absurd and the American Pozzo
In the chapter “Waiting for Lucky” in my book The Crime Without a Name: Ethnocide and the Erasure of Culture in America, I examine the philosophical and theatrically absurd play Waiting for Godot with a particular emphasis on the characters Lucky and Pozzo.
In the play, Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot as they search or wait for meaning. Pozzo is a slaveowner and Lucky is his slave, and Pozzo derives meaning from making Lucky’s life meaningless. Enslaving Lucky makes Pozzo feel powerful and superior, and Lucky’s enslavement also promises to provide him with wealth either from the profit of selling Lucky or the income generated from his labor.
America’s ethnocidal society was largely built by the proverbial Pozzos who lived in the slaveholding states of the American South, and the status quo of our society has primarily consisted of normalizing and justifying the atrocities and terror they inflict upon others. America aspires to depict the ethnocider as inherently good while also cultivating a meaningless society built upon demonizing and terrorizing the other.
This dystopian status quo exists because America’s Vladimirs and Estragons, who merely want to pursue, find, or wait for a meaningful existence, have long believed it to be essential that Pozzo gets humanized while Lucky remains either demonized or erased. The people allegedly in pursuit of meaning also want to find common ground with the people who make life meaningless. In doing so, they too become the problem, and their actions make it nearly impossible for them to find a solution. Life now becomes a Sisyphean struggle where defeat is inevitable, and we must now aspire to find joy amongst the failures.
America’s absurdity has long worked to legitimize America’s Pozzos and erase Lucky, and the discourse regarding the January 6, 2021 attacks is just one of many examples. Unsurprisingly, when Waiting for Godot is taught in school Lucky and Pozzo are often ignored, and students only learn about Vladimir and Estragon.
The American Absurd is a crisis that has existed since the beginning of America. January 6 makes it harder and harder to ignore. Hopefully, upon recognizing the American Absurd enough Americans will have the will to rebel against our Sisyphean struggle and finally create a meaningful society.