It's the Day's Day of Days! Because National Kid.
As we see Muir continue his distorted vision of the recovery efforts from Helene, what strikes you is how amused Muir is by it all. He takes joy in the thought of the government failing, because he is incapable of imagining it succeeding. There is no true morality in Muir's vision, just as there is no true patriotism or humanism. Muir all but gloats at this because his default setting is bad faith.
The fascinating thing is how the failures Muir is basing this on undermine so much of what he claims is the truth. His FEMA thugs stopping rescue pilots are based on a single local air marshal exceeding his authority, and getting quietly swatted down by the Feds--in essence a mirror image of Muir's world where the local authorities are the source of all that is good. But he'd have to look to see that. So he won't look.
Again, you've done a good job of expressing something that I've basically expressed before, but in a less incisive and cutting way than you managing to just cut straight to the bone.
ReplyDeleteAs I've expressed it, what gets me about Muir's characters is how nothing ever surprises them. They're never surprised by anything that happens. Because in the world they live in, every bad thing that happens is the only thing that COULD happen, so no matter what it is, it's all totally predictable and fits perfectly into their view of how the world works.
It'd be easy to parody this.
"Hey, the whole city just collapsed!"
"Mm-hm. That's what happens when liberal engineers are in charge."
"Hey, the city is still standing even though liberal engineers built it!"
"Mm-hm. With Soros propping up everything with band-aids and glue, the illusion can keep on going."
To your core point that was missing from my take --- the amusement. That loathsome amusement. Yes indeed --- there is no morality in that vision. None at all.
A big part of this is Muir's cast is pretty much all Muir wearing different hats, so they only parrot what Muir is thinking and he is constantly thinking how smart and on the ball he is. Thus every time he twists things around to reassert his eternal correctness in a world that refuses to get the notice, they just shift effortlessly and assert that it has always been that way, we've always been at war with Eastasia.
DeleteThe other thing is the utterly bankrupt vision of governance Muir puts forward. Underneath the magitech bullshit and nasty put-downs, Muir's vision of successful government is--and essentially always has been--authoritarianism and corruption practiced by his approved in-group. Which he thinks is fine, because that's how it should naturally be.