We're Here, We're National Socialists.It must be magazine week here at SwD (That's short for Surfeited with Dainties). As soon as I saw an article in G.Q.  about Prussian Blue, a white supremacy pop duo featuring two young blonde girls, I thought: this is the most sought after type of article by magazines. It has a mix of quirkiness and familiarity.  Marshall Macluhan said that people read the morning news as if they were getting into a bath. C'est vrai! And now I think we read these kinds of magazine articles with the same feeling that comes with an afternoon nap.  It is a relaxing escape into unusually strange dreams. The images are scary but they are cartoonish enough - so they aren't too scary.

The article is a vehicle for exploringthe newest wrinkles in extremist ideology. Oh, white separatists want to have the Pacific Northwest for themselves. How interesting! But these cute girls who sing songs about racial warfare like the same music our daughter's like. That's comfortably unsettling. And funny too.

For what it was, it wasn't a terrible article. It ended on an up note with the hope that these girls still have plenty of growing up to do and may reject the ideology that has brought them national press attention. However, I couldn't help but feel that one of the most interesting parts of the story that is ignored is the relative political sophistication of these girls. Of course they say the sort of noxious things that extremists say. But the following quotation regarding Jews  contains an incorrect (and noxious) but for a tween sophisticated analysis:

"I mean, they've been kicking out of every country in Europe. The history of the persecution -- or prosecution -- of the Jews didn't start with Adolph Hitler. Now, why do you think that is?"

This could have been a parroted sentence. But it is amazing that at such a young age these girls have internalized the activist style of speech. The provocative question that simultaneously skirts over its own presumptions and puts pressured on the listener. Who hasn't heard "Now, why do you think that is?" from a Black Isrealite, or a member of the Nation of Islam or some other extremist? Also, the emphasis on the legal authority of the state in this quote is similar to other statements they make. They have not only absorbed the animosity towards other groups but have embraced in a pretty thorough way the ideology of National socialism and it's historical view.

Anyway, it's something that surprised me. What also surprised me was finding Prussian Blue in Blender magazine - on the exact same day. Now I find out that Teen People is doing a piece on them.

It should serve as a tip for freelance writers. This work seems to have an edge but it really just wraps up a few generally (and correctly) recognized moral and political values in a neat package.  No one actually thinks Prussian Blue will achieve broad success - and so the threatening aspect of their politics is dulled into something precious and cute.  The same packaging works in fiction and television too. We see this in Big Love - HBO's look at American polygamists. They are transgressive but often seem just like us. Threatening in their lifestyle but so tiny a minority as to be insignificant.

I said in my predictions that my work would appear in a magazine this year. Anyone have suggestions for cute extremist movements? Maybe some Muslim extremist is also an aspiring hip hop artist? Maybe a nun is running a prostitution ring somewhere. Perhaps some radical communists are helming a hedge fund somehwere. E-mail me if you have a tip.