Robbo writes, "Gerald Casale, founder of DEVO, has written an open letter in response to the band being inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame."
Casale was an SDS activist who was present at the Kent State massacre and who was friends with the students who were murdered by the National Guard there. He describes how his hope for an society that evolved toward a better world soured with the conviction that the world was devolving, thanks to the "encroaching fusion of technological advances with the centralized, authoritarian power of the state."
Casale describes a 40-year career on the sidelines of America where "the capacity for critical thought and reasoning were eroding fast" thanks to right-wing dumbing-down, and the commodification of rebellion, right up to the 2016 election, with "our vile, venal Mobster-in-Chief (who makes Idiocracy's Macho Camacho look fit for office) and his corrupt minions rob the nation's coffers in a shamelessly cruel, Grab-'Em-By-The-Pussy Kleptocracy."
He proposes that Devo was inducted into the Hall of Fame "because Western society seems locked in a death wish" -- they're "the house band on the Titanic."
This is amazing stuff, especially played against Capital in the 21st Century, which describes the same phenomena in terms of capital flows: during the years when Casale was cultivating his belief in human progress, power and wealth were broadly distributed. The capital destruction of the World Wars had weakened the grip of the rich on policy outcomes, letting everyone else get a turn, with the result being a massive surge of innovation, prosperity and social programs to ensure inclusion. Read the rest
