I’ve been a lifelong fan of Frank Zappa. Initially attracted to the sardonic vulgarness of his lyrics, teaming with social commentary. Then I discovered the absolute virtuosity and versatility of his music. What a sharp wit and brilliant intellect. I really miss Frank, especially during these times. Gone far too soon. I like to think at the end of this clip (if he were alive today) he would have leaned in and starred down the camera and uttered “Fuck you Trump!”
The man was somewhat of an oracle. In his appearance on “Crossfire,” in 1986 (see video below) he used the term “fascist theocracy” to express his concern about what he saw as a growing trend in American society. He didn’t provide a strict dictionary definition of the term during the show, but it can be inferred from his comments that he was using it to describe what he believed to be a dangerous combination of elements in the political and cultural landscape of the United States at the time. He was foreseeing the Trump era and the current fall of the American empire.
Great clips. Also a Zappa fan! Are you familiar at all with the American journalist and satirist, H. L. Menken (1880-1956)? He too, was prophetic:
He predicted both Trump and Trudeau…
“As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
…and the Democrats…
“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”
“When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.”
… and the Climate Change debacle…
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”
“The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”
…and Political Correctness…
“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong.”
…and gender identity, and infinite personal pronouns…
“The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic.”
…and Social Justice.
“Equality before the law is probably forever unattainable. It is a noble ideal, but it can never be realized, for what men value in this world is not rights but privileges.”