Posted on 01/14/2026 6:57:03 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Reading David Mamet’s new book of essays, The Disenlightenment: Politics, Horror, and Entertainment, I was reminded of how loosely jointed and shape-shifting an essay can be...
Mamet, whose political conversion to conservatism was announced in 2008, has turned full-on MAGA. He believes the United States is in decline but remains hopeful, saying, "Trump is a hero, and his heirs will, God willing, increase the longevity of the American Experiment."
What’s behind our political sickness, according to Mamet, if I read him correctly, is a compound of human failings.
First, there is the mendacity of politicians whom he compares to the shill in a game of three-card monte—the shill being a person who pretends to be a player, encourages others to risk their money, but is working in cahoots with the dealer.
Next is the gullibility of voters about whom it can be said that they basically want to be lied to. Here the similarities between politics and entertainment begin to stand out.
"The lights go down on stage or screen and we are involved in a complicity. We will suspend our disbelief in return for being told a story," Mamet writes.
Finally, there is the all-too-human desire to be accepted into the tribe. Mamet psychologizes this as a misguided attempt to fit in and survive.
"Membership in our various correct-thinking groups is actually an unconscious attempt to reconstitute the family—the group which might offer protection." This natural urge has been cranked into overdrive by the rise of the internet and those devices that keep us connected to it. "The addictive ‘connectedness’ offered by the computer awakens our human instinct for constant connection to the group." Mass psychology takes over and people begin denying their own individual or subgroup identities."
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
bfl
It's a great read. I'll read anything Mamet writes.
Interesting! Sounds like it belongs next to “Return of the Strong Gods” by RR Reno. (He discusses the Open Society movement’s “Therapies of Disenchantment” designed to destroy believe in the Transcendent and metaphysical, and fight “Facism” which is pretty much anything that we would call “Woke”, and to replace “Truth” with “meaning”, and remove strong opinions and convictions).
How could the man who write GGGR be anything but conservative?
Yuri Bezmenov said the same thing. He was taught this in the KGB "propaganda school" (I don't know what they actually called it).
One of the threads that runs through Mamet’s work is his fascination with the con.
I’ve probably watched that movie 20 times by now.
“What’s behind our political sickness, according to Mamet, if I read him correctly, is a compound of human failings.”
It’s something that’s been developing over many years, and the answer is much simpler than this guy proposes. It’s mostly due to the the 19th amendment.
We’re turning into a matriarchy and though women may have a lot of fine qualities, being wise leaders or choosing good leaders ain’t one of them. It’s not in their nature - they’re too emotional and thus think short term and “easy” solutions to soothe the immediate emotions rather than considering what’s best in the long term.
Sadly the Margaret Thatchers are few and far between.
The really big problem is that it will be next to impossible to overturn the 19th, thus I’m afraid we’ll keep heading down this same direction, with some respite along the way with a Reagan or a Trump.
And if the matriarchy keeps advancing, which it probably will, eventually a more masculine power, such as Islam, or China, or??, may end up taking over.
To the extent that there have been matriarchies in history, they’ve never lasted long.
Much as I don’t like Alec Baldwin, his monologue in that movie will always be a classic. He hit it out of the park.
Much as I don’t like Alec Baldwin, his monologue in that movie will always be a classic. He hit it out of the park.
Alec wasn’t acting, he was just playing himself.
My favorite scene was when Al Pacino was going off on Ed Harris....
“Hey, let me buy you a pack of gum. I’ll show you how to chew it.”
And after Ed walks out after all that, Pacino goes to Levine and says....”You were saying....”
I never get tired of that scene.
Someone called GGGR “Death of a $@#!ing Salesman” because of the language.
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