In no single collection has Matt Taibbi demonstrated his incredible observations and gifted writing skills so excellently than in his recent work, The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at The Twilight of The American Empire. Taibbi has done a splendid job in demonstrating how issues such as The Church, the 9/11 Movement and the political system have played significant roles in defining the American society in an insightful, acidly humorous manner evident in virtually all his articles and past books.The book’s aim is to analyze the degradation of the American politics and the rising desperation of the American citizenry caused by their mistrust in the government. Best known for his 2004 US presidential campaign collection Spanking the Donkey and later on Smells like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from Rotting Empire, Mathew C.
Taibbi is arguably America’s youngest political writer and reporter.Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone’s chief political reporter has been likened to journalistic giant Hunter S Thompson for his incredible work in American political and national affairs. His work, nonetheless, has been found controversial, with his irreverent 2005 column in the New York Press, “The 52 funniest things about the upcoming death of the Pope” which led to his departure from the paper. Born of an NBC journalist Mike Taibbi, Matt Taibbi started his journalism career in college about two decades ago.
He later traveled to Eastern European countries such as Uzbekistan in 1992, where he was “kicked out” of the country for writing about the president’s steps to suppress political parties. Other jobs that he did were in the Moscow Times and the Exile, before later traveling to Buffalo, New York in 2001 to start the Beast with another Exile member. He later graduated to write for big places such as The Nation, Play boy and the New York Press, and is now on contract with Rolling Stone. (Bullpen: NYU Journalism, 2004)Matt Taibbi’s background information is vital in understanding the book’s context and scope. As presented in The Great Derangement, the American society is increasingly losing its confidence and trust in the political systems and the government and its citizenry has resulted to various figments of the imagination, in an attempt to seek solace due to the political class’ alienation.
Taibbi has brilliantly demonstrated this by recounting his experiences as an undercover reporter for Rolling Stones.He joins the End Times ministry of controversial televangelist John Hagee whose endorsement of Republican Presidential nominee John McCain was received with numerous criticism from the media. Haiti also writes of the 9/11 Truth Movement, whose view points he finds, surprisingly, similar to Hagee’s evangelical movement. Taibbi later on demonstrates how another part of the derangement is featured in the political system and the government. (Taibbi, M, 16) The role of religion in the American society has been categorically acknowledged and is presented as one of Haibbi’s important issues in the book.
In a great section of the book, the author has recounted his experiences at John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, commonly referred to as ‘Jesus Camp’. He makes up a fake name, dons the effete polo and glasses of a Gump-melts-Christopher Guest movie character and goes about the weekend-long ritual of freeing himself of demons (with other participants), and letting “Gah-uhd” into his life. Taibbi finds its fun at first, like when he has to reveal his “wound”, the childhood experience that made him turn away from God.He makes up a tale about his father, a circus clown, who used to beat him with his oversized shoe, save for that brief period when he gave up clowning and went to work as a Carvel Ice cream mascot. His trick, “he chased me into the bathroom, laid me across the toilet seat and hit me with his fins, which underneath were still a man’s hands” to his amazement, works.
The retreat culminates with the participants, vomiting demons into three-cent paper bags. (Radaronline. com, 2008)A main idea strongly brought out in Matt Taibbi’s work is the general feeling of powerlessness in the American society, which is retreating into ideologies and beliefs that are incomprehensible. His weekend retreat at Hagee’s church makes him (Taibbi) sympathize with the congregants, whom he feels that the practices and activities they indulge in their quest for "the truth” in events such as the September eleven attacks are beyond mental reasoning. Once you’ve made a journey like this – once you’ve gone this far-you are beyond suggestible.It is not merely the informational indoctrination, the constant belittling of homosexuals and atheists and Muslims and pacifists, etc.
, that’s the issue. It’s that once you’ve gotten to this place, you’ve behind the mental process that a person would need to form an independent opinion about such things. You may take this journey precisely to experience the ecstasy of beating on the same big gristly heart with a roomful of like-minded folks. Once you reach that place with them, you’re thinking with muscles, not neurons.American dispensationalism, an ideology which has been appropriately described by Kevin Phillip in his book: “American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed money in the 21st century “has been well represented in the weekend retreat. The lack of the American society to have a commonly accepted group of facts to debate on and instead come up with versions of reality has contributed to a large extent the degradation and stagnation of its politics.
(Taibbi, M, 45-47)From one side, the religious right who sees September eleven attacks as divine retribution against the United States for sins like being too permissive to homosexuals, to on the other side, the 9/11 conspiracists who argue that the Bush administration was responsible for carrying out the horrific 9/11 attacks, the society has resulted to formulating all sorts of explanations and justifications to global issues. Unfortunately, instead of the great derangement inspiring the involved politicians to lessen their estrangement with the typical citizen, it actually works in favor of he politicians.This is so because when people such as the followers in Hagee’s church focus on such irrelevant matters as aforementioned, they end up ignoring that their politicians are not doing what they were put in Washington to do. (Salon. com, 2008) One of the most dangerous elements of such End Times prophesies and beliefs are the influence they have on the American society. Televangelist John Hagee, for instance, has been making predictions and prophesying for years about catastrophes, predictions which, however are in most occasions inaccurate.
Such prophesies make the followers view the world with a doom perspective, and such people, who may be fascinated with the end of the world, are likely to have a similar fascination with global war as well, which to majority of them, even view it as ordained by God. Moreover, the interesting scenario from the church experience where after giving a tepid response to Hagee’s son, (who is also a pastor) to his comparison of Iranian president Mohamed Ahmadinejad to Satan, the congregation, instead got excited when talking about themselves and their own problems is clear evidence of the people’s lack of a kind support system.Taibbi describes the trade-off for the people, which is that by joining the church, which is as a result of loneliness and desperation, it alleviates their responsibility to think for themselves, a very dangerous approach since then such people are vulnerable to go along with whatever nutty politics are being pushed at them. (Salon. com, 2008) Another significant issue addressed by the author was his interaction and his controversial comparison of Hagee’s church followers with members of the 9/11 Truth movement.
The 9/11 Truth movement, whose main idea is that the Bush administration played certain roles in the attacks of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was compared to John Hagee’s congregants on various respects. Firstly, in what Matt Taibbi calls the “cross fire” paradigm, he believes that one of the things that is really interesting is how both groups are suspicious of the humanity of anybody who is outside the group.According to Taibbi, if one is not a believer in the Truth movement, then she or he is someone that is part of a conspiracy, an enemy, whose life really is not worth a whole lot. Secondly, the Truthers have a religious belief in their conspiracy theories, in the same way that pastor Hagee’s congregants have religious beliefs in their religion. (Salon.
com) One factor which has contributed significantly to the author achieving his initial goal of writing the book is his severe criticism of both of the Democrats and Republicans, towards the end of the book.Both parties have received an equal share of his critique. Matt Taibbi’s assessment lacks bias in any political side, an issue which has strong evidence in his attacks on President Bush’s remarks after the 9/11 attacks as well as the democrat’s inability to effect change in the congress in 2006. Taibbi says of President Bush, “‘they hate our freedoms’ was possibly the dumbest, most insulting piece of bullshit ever to escape the lips of an American president”.The democrats, are not spared either, whom Taibbi says that although they swept into office in 2006 in response to the Iraq war.
Hurricane Katrina and other Bush policies, they have done nothing with (or to keep) that mandate. He notes that those mid term elections simply produced a “period where the democrats would prove absolutely that it is possible in America to govern entirely on the appearance of principle – while changing nothing. ” (Prairieprogressive. com, 2008).
From his “the Twilight of the American Empire” to his pessimistic view of a better America if no immediate action is taken, Taibbi pioneers an area in media reporting not commonly assessed. Religion, as presented by Taibbi, should not be used by people to escape reality, and such people should learn to take responsibility of their decisions, beliefs and actions. The political class also, needs to be checked and criticized by the typical citizen to promote change in the political system.Matt Taibbi’s work is a great read for insightful Democrats, republicans and independents, as well as those who miss the civics classes. His work has made significant contribution in informing the citizenry of the increasingly psychological collapse. It is also recommendation to every American for its Washington DC politics revelations.
Future research is however vital on the political system of the US and the contributions of various cultural aspects, since it is after the derangement has reached uncompromising levels that change will be unavoidable.
