Comrade Laski, C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.)

Joan Didion, author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem, had a series of essays written, one of them being called “Comrade Laski, C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.).” In this essay, she discusses the subject of counterculture, the main subject being toward a person named Laski and his counterculture group. What Didion sees in Laski’s group is partly for it and against it.

Laski has a strong determination to get something done with what he believes in. As for Didion, she respects his determination but is against the actions that are being done in the group. Joan quoted, “As it happens I am uncomfortable with the Michael Laskis of this world, with those who live outside, rather than in, those in whom the sense of dread is so acute…” This specific quote tells us how Didion really feels about the group. She sees how it can be positive in a way, but she also looked at the negativity that comes out of his group. At the end of the essay, there was a conversation going on back and forth between Laski and Simmons, and it ended as, “It’s always bad the day before welfare and unemployment checks arrive…you see what the world of Michael Laski is: a minor but perilous triumph of being over nothingness…” Here, it shows that the blame was put on other people who were on welfare. It was something to convince others that a new sort of government was needed and they rely on people who do nothing. This appeared to be very ironic and filled with flaws.

Even if counterculture groups represent people’s differences, there can be goods and bads that come out of it. Didion’s message about Laski’s group was clear that she approved of how he took his beliefs to a higher level but the actions he and his groups chose were unacceptable.

What about counterculture?

Counterculture has and always will be a part of the human society. To me, it is a way to express individuality or for people to share their similar interests. There are various countercultures made up all over the world and each has its own unique identity and groups. It can be a past group, such as the hippies, or it can be something more present such as the “hip hoppers” and the “rockers.”

Hippies were a part of the 1960s counterculture and they had their belief in world peace. They had large celebrations, one being the Woodstock Festival which was large enough to make history. The hippies had a style of their own; rose colored glasses were common among the style. They also used certain drugs to get a “high” in life or to feel peaceful. As for the current hip hop group, they listened to hip hop of course. It was a certain genre in music and it attracts a certain type of audience. This hip hop culture had a “so-called” association with gang violence. The hip hoppers’ styles tend to be loose, baggy clothing for the males and with the females, it varies from extra tight to loose fit clothing. When it comes to the rockers, they had their taste in the rock genre of music and those outside the likes of rock considered the music “dark music.” Their style in clothing mainly revolved around chains, all black fabric from head to toe, and wild hair. Excessive piercings are also another distinguishable part of the rocker group.

The three countercultures mentioned above were just some of the many examples here in this world. Not only is it just in America, but it expands out to every city, state, country, and continent here on earth. The various countercultures are examples of the uniqueness we hold here on earth.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

From one place to another, as different as they all may seem, each area share many things in common with other areas. Not every town or city is perfect and not every person is flawless. The people of Haight-Ashbury represent the people of the society we have in America. In Joan Didion’s essay, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” she presents a message that says something about our American Society as a whole.

At the very beginning of the essay, Didion writes, “…It was a county of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements…commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children…abandoned homes and vandals…children were missing…parents were missing…those left behind filed desultory missing-persons reports, then moved on themselves.” This quote specifically explains how the lives of many Americans are. If they aren’t living that life themselves, it is something they eventually end up seeing or hearing about at least once in their life. It proves people wrong when it comes to the thought of America being such a perfect society. There is always one sort of problem going on; never is there a time for perfection in a country. California was expected to be the land of gold, where poverty lays nowhere and everyone is happily living their lives. “There are only three significant pieces of data in the world today…God died yesterday and was obited by the press…fifty percent of the population is or will be under twenty-five… third is that they got twenty billion irresponsible dollars to spend,” Chet says in Didion’s essay. What he was trying to say is that out of the many things going on today, those were some things that the society was or will be going through.

America really isn’t the perfect land that many people thought it would be. People didn’t travel to the area just to experience the same things they had in their previous locations. Overall, the perfectly-seeming society is actually imperfect and certain things that happen in one area of the country are most likely occurring somewhere else.